As much as I love cooking projects like all-day lasagna, porchetta, and sourdough bread, I, like many busy parents, cook a lot of one-pot and one-pan recipes. Most evenings, I’ll whip up pasta, stir-fries, or a simple salad. And when the weather dips below 60ºF, hearty soups, stews, and pot pies start to make appearances. One of my favorite things to prepare when sweater weather rolls around is chicken pot pie with plenty of vegetables, tender morsels of meat, and a creamy sauce encased in a flaky crust. It may sound like a time-consuming affair, but it doesn’t have to be. 

Our version below, which comes from Liv Dansky, our Birmingham, Alabama-based test kitchen colleague, comes together in a single cast iron skillet, making it a meal that’s light on both effort and clean up. To make it, you sauté bite-size pieces of chicken with aromatics—carrots, celery, leek, and garlic—then add a touch of flour, which helps thicken the filling once you add the chicken broth and cream. Frozen peas add a pop of sweetness and color, and the acidity of lemon zest brings brightness that cuts through the creamy filling. 

Unlike many pot pie recipes, which may have you make dough from scratch for a double-crusted pie, Liv calls for store-bought puff pastry here. All you have to do is thaw and roll the dough out before placing it on top of the pie, brushing it with egg wash to give it a nice sheen, and placing it in the oven to bake. The result? An easy, ultra-comforting chicken pot pie with a shatteringly crisp crust.