Keto Chicken Pot Pie Turnovers
Published April 20, 2019 • Updated March 3, 2026
This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy.
I wrap creamy filling in a crispy crust and bake these keto chicken pot pie turnovers until the edges turn golden and almost crackle when you bite in.
I’ve been making these chicken pot pie turnovers for about two years now, and the cream cheese in the filling was kind of a happy accident. I was trying to thicken the sauce without adding more coconut flour and grabbed cream cheese on a whim. It melted into the broth and created this rich, silky filling that I can’t make any other way now.
The format is what sets these apart. Most keto recipes for this dish give you a casserole or a single pie, but turnovers are portable. I pack them for lunches, my kids grab them cold from the fridge, and they reheat without turning soggy. If you’ve made my chicken pot pie casserole, think of these as the grab-and-go version.
The fathead dough is what makes or breaks this recipe. I’ve tested it enough times to say this confidently: use a food processor, not a stand mixer. When you beat melted mozzarella with a mixer, the cheese clumps around the beaters and you end up hand-kneading anyway. A food processor pulses everything together in about 30 seconds and the dough comes out smooth. Roll it between two sheets of parchment to a quarter-inch thickness, and you get a crust that actually holds up under a loaded filling.
For the filling, I use about 3 cups of shredded chicken (rotisserie works perfectly if you’re short on time). Saute your onion and mushrooms in butter, stir in coconut flour to absorb the moisture, then add broth and let it thicken. The cream cheese goes in at the very end on low heat so it melts evenly without separating. Fresh parsley, salt, and pepper to finish.
I bake mine at 375 degrees for 17 to 18 minutes, not the full 20 that some recipes call for. You want the crust golden but not over-browned, because the dough goes from perfect to tough fast. Pull them when the edges are just starting to darken and let them cool on the pan for a few minutes. The crust firms up as it sits.
The batch makes about 18 turnovers, which is perfect for meal prep. I usually eat two or three with a side salad and that’s a full low carb dinner. Leftover turnovers keep in the fridge for 3 days, and they freeze better than most low carb baked goods (more on that in the FAQs below). These remind me of the handheld comfort food I grew up eating, just without the carb crash. If you like portable meals, try my keto pizza pockets or chicken taquitos for different fillings, or my chicken divan for another creamy chicken dinner.
How to fold and seal the turnovers
The trickiest part is getting the turnovers sealed without the filling leaking out. I roll the dough to a quarter-inch thickness between parchment, cut it into rectangles, and add just a spoonful of filling to each one (not a heaping spoonful, or it’ll burst). Fold the dough over and press the edges with a fork to crimp them shut. Brush with egg wash before baking for that golden color. I’ve found that chilling the filled turnovers in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking helps the dough hold its shape better.
Pot Pie Mixture Ingredients
3 cups chopped cooked chicken -
½ cup diced onion
-
3 garlic cloves, minced
-
1 teaspoon thyme
-
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
-
½ tablespoon coconut flour
-
1 cup chicken broth
-
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
-
3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
Dough Ingredients
-
7 cups mozzarella cheese
-
3 cups almond flour
-
2 eggs
-
2 teaspoons baking powder
-
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
-
egg, beaten
-
1 tablespoon water
Step by Step Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Preheat oven
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Shred chicken
Shred cooked chicken or cut into cubes. Set aside.
Melt butter
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat.
Sauté onions
Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Cook mushrooms
Add garlic, thyme and chopped mushrooms. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Keep them cooking
Continue to cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes.
Add broth
Mix in coconut flour. Whisk in broth and continue to cook until mixture is thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
Simmer
Add chicken, turn heat to low.
Make it creamy
Stir in cream cheese and cook until cream cheese is melted. Turn off heat.
Season
Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.
Melt cheese for dough
Meanwhile, prepare the fathead crust. Heat mozzarella cheese in glass bowl at 60 second intervals until cheese is melted.
Mix eggs and cheese
Beat eggs into the melted cheese using an electric mixer.
Whisk dry ingredients
In a separate bowl, mix almond flour, baking powder and xanthan gum.
Finish the dough
Slowly add almond flour mixture to the cheese and beat until combined.
Knead time
Knead dough on a lightly almond floured surface to further combine.
Parchment sandwich
Working with half the dough, place dough between two pieces of parchment paper.
Roll da dough
Roll out dough into a rectangle shape to a ¼-inch thickness.
Cut into squares
Using the tip of a knife or pizza cutter, cut the edges off the dough to form a rectangle. Cut the dough into 9 small rectangles.
Add filling
Scoop a spoonful of chicken pie filling onto each rectangle and fold over. Repeat with remaining dough.
Fold and brush
Brush the tops of the dough with egg wash (beaten egg + 1 tablespoon water).
Bake
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 17 to 18 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Nutrition disclaimer
The nutrition information provided is an estimate and is for informational purposes only. I am a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); however, this content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or other qualified health provider before making any lifestyle changes or beginning a new nutrition program.
Your Macros. Your Recipes. Calculated in 60 Seconds.
Get personalized keto macros and instantly see which recipes fit your targets. No more guessing what to eat.
Get My Macros + Recipes →Frequently Asked Questions
Can I freeze these turnovers?
I freeze them all the time. Assemble the turnovers, brush with egg wash, then lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid (about 2 hours). Transfer to a freezer bag and they'll keep for up to 3 months. When I'm ready to bake, I go straight from freezer to oven at 375 degrees and add about 5 extra minutes to the bake time. The crust comes out just as crispy as fresh.
Why does my fathead dough clump in the mixer?
I had this exact problem when I first started making fathead dough with a stand mixer. The mozzarella cools too fast and wraps around the beaters instead of incorporating. My fix: use a food processor instead. Pulse the melted cheese with eggs first, then add the almond flour mixture. The whole thing comes together in 30 seconds with no clumping. If you don't have a food processor, microwave the cheese in shorter 30-second bursts and work quickly with your hands.
Can I add peas and carrots to the filling?
You can, but I usually don't. A quarter cup of green peas adds about 4g net carbs and a small diced carrot adds around 3g. That bumps each turnover up by 1-2g depending on how many you make. If the classic look matters to you, I'd go with just a small handful of peas stirred in at the end. I think the mushroom and onion filling is plenty flavorful on its own, and I'd rather keep the count lower.
How do I reheat these without losing the crispy crust?
I reheat mine in the oven at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. Don't use the microwave unless you want a soggy crust. The oven brings back that crackly edge. I've also reheated them in an air fryer at 350 for 5 minutes, which works even better because the hot air crisps up all sides.
How many net carbs are in each turnover?
My batch makes about 18 turnovers. I count roughly 3-4g net carbs per turnover depending on the exact size and the brand of almond flour I use. I track mine with Bob's Red Mill super fine almond flour and consistently get about 3.5g net carbs each.
What can I substitute for mushrooms?
I've tried diced zucchini and it works, but my favorite swap is diced celery. It gives you that classic savory bite without adding much in carbs, and it holds up in the filling without getting watery like zucchini sometimes does. Bell peppers work too if you want a little color.
Is there a dairy-free option for the cream cheese?
I haven't tested a dairy-free version of the filling myself, so I can't vouch for the texture. The cream cheese does a lot of heavy lifting here (it thickens and enriches the sauce). If I were going to try it, I'd use a nut-based cream cheese alternative and add a little extra coconut flour to compensate for any thinness. The crust is harder to make dairy-free since it relies on mozzarella.
Swapped in leftover rotisserie chicken and threw a handful of fresh spinach into the filling right at the end. The spinach wilted down to almost nothing but added this earthy note that worked really well against the thyme. Batch two happening this weekend.
Spinach at the end is smart. It practically disappears but that earthy note against the thyme is a real thing. Might steal this for my next batch.
Used rotisserie chicken instead of cooking it myself and the filling came together so fast. The coconut flour still thickened everything up fine, which I wasn't sure about going in. One thing I figured out: press a fork along the seam right when you fold them over, before they go in the oven. Mine were splitting open at the edges until I started doing that and now they hold together clean. Might try a little extra cream cheese in the filling next batch.
Fork them right after folding, yes. That's what fixed the splitting for me too. More cream cheese is worth trying, the sauce handles it.
The crust crackle is real, and the mozzarella base holds better than I expected for something this stuffed. Filling came out underseasoned though. I pushed the salt and added a little more thyme on round two and it clicked into a completely different thing.
Thyme at 1.5 teaspoons is where I land too. The filling has to be seasoned aggressively or the dough swallows it.
Making these for a potluck next weekend and want to double the batch , does the mozzarella dough get harder to work with at that size or does it scale pretty cleanly?
I'd make two separate batches rather than doubling in one bowl. Mozzarella cools fast and a bigger mass gets stiff and clumpy before you can work it. Food processor helps too if you have one.
First time using mozzarella as a crust and it actually held together. Would go lighter on the parsley next time.
Mozzarella always looks like it won't hold until it does. Parsley at full strength is a lot, I usually back off to about a tablespoon when I want it subtle.
I'm on my fourth batch of these and still can't figure out how the mozzarella crust gets that crackle at the edges. Not a crunch exactly, more like the first bite snaps and then you're into the cream cheese filling and the whole thing just works in a way that's hard to describe. I started doubling the mushrooms after batch two because I wanted more of that earthy depth against the broth base, and now I can't imagine making them the original way. The parsley matters more than it seems like it should. I skipped it once and they were noticeably flat without it. Spring has me making a double batch on Sundays because the reheat holds up surprisingly well, which is not something I expected from something with this much cheese in the crust.
The parsley thing catches everyone off guard. Lifts the whole filling. You don't notice until it's gone.
The crackle is the mozzarella at the edges where it's thinner and dries out faster than the center. Double mushrooms is on my list now.
I'm not a mushroom person so I swapped in chopped frozen spinach (squeezed really dry) and the filling came out thicker than I expected, almost creamier. The coconut flour and cream cheese held everything together just fine. Mine took closer to 22 minutes and those edges got properly golden, the kind that crackle a little when you bite in. Going in the weeknight rotation.
Spinach swap is so smart, I never would have thought to try it but the moisture control makes total sense with how the coconut flour absorbs. 22 minutes sounds right if your oven runs a little cool.
On my fourth batch and I finally figured out why the first few were just okay. I was wrapping the filling while it was still warm, so the dough steamed from the inside instead of getting that crackle. Cool it to room temp first. Edges came out golden and almost brittle at the fold, exactly what I was chasing.
Should've put that in the notes. The steam kills the crackle and it's not obvious why until batch three or four.
Chicken pot pie was the first thing I crossed off my list when I went keto two years ago. Just assumed it was gone. Made these last weekend on a whim and sat at my kitchen table for a solid minute after the first bite just kind of processing it. The filling is exactly what I remembered, that creamy, herby thing that makes pot pie feel like a whole hug, and the crust does this crackling thing at the edges where it goes golden and almost shatters. I genuinely could not believe the crust was mozzarella. Made a second batch three days later because one round wasn't enough to convince myself it was real. Already planning a third.
That table minute is real. Took me a while to nail that filling and it shows.
Made these four times now and just tried adding a pinch of smoked paprika to the filling. That little addition on top of the thyme is something else. The whole house smelled like Sunday dinner when they came out of the oven.
Four times in and already improving on me. Smoked paprika with the thyme makes complete sense, that's basically Sunday dinner in a spice rack.
Every keto pot pie I've tried: crust collapses, eat it with a fork. Wasn't sure the mozzarella dough would be different. Edges sealed, crisped up golden, filling stayed put. Finally.
That crackle is what I wait for. Mine usually hits it at 18 minutes, not the full 20.
I figured the dough would just fall apart, but these held together and got that golden crackle Annie talks about. My seams kept splitting on the first batch, but even the ugly ones were freaking good. Already planning a second batch.
The ugly ones eat just as good, every time. For the seams, press harder than you think you need to and run a fork along the edge before they go in. That crimp holds.
Let the mozzarella dough cool for two minutes before folding it around the filling and it won't tear on you.
Good call. Two minutes, sometimes 3 if my kitchen is warm that day.
I've tried so many pot pie recipes trying to find one with a crust that actually works and this is IT. The fathead dough comes out crispy (not soggy like other low-carb versions I've made) and the cream cheese makes the filling so rich I can't tell it's keto.
The soggy crust thing is real with fathead. Cream cheese in the filling was kind of a happy accident but now I can't make it any other way.
How do you keep the cheese from clumping on your mixer? I ended up hand mixing mine. Flavors are good but need some tweaks for my family's tastes and the dough came out nice and fluffy.
Using a food processer works the best for blending the dough. Glad you liked the recipe.