Never Burn Your Store-Bought Pot Pie Again With This Pantry Staple

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Picking up a pot pie, whether refrigerated or frozen, from your local grocery store, can be a great way to get yourself a quick dinner of a classic comfort food. After all, making it from scratch, or even pot pie's delicious chicken parm variation, can be both labor-intensive and time-consuming. There are plenty of days when you just don't have the hours or energy, as Swanson, the original manufacturers of frozen pot pies, knew all too well. But no matter why you picked one up, or whether you plan to doctor store-bought pot pie to make it taste more like homemade comfort food one thing everyone can agree on is that you don't want it to burn. 

A blackened crust can ruin the dish, but you can avoid it easily thanks to a simple roll of kitchen foil. To keep your pot pie safe using the "kitchen foil method," you should place your pot pie on a baking tray, and wrap the edges of the pie in foil before placing it in the oven to cook. Remember, this tip only works if you plan to cook the pie in the oven. Microwavable pot pies are less likely to burn, as microwaves can be timed exactly to keep anything in them from cooking for too long, but naturally items can't be wrapped in foil before being placed inside. Metal in a microwave can cause sparks and may even start a small fire, so keep kitchen foil out of there.

While kitchen foil is great to keep your pot pie safe from burns and ensure that it comes out of the oven piping hot and ready to eat, there's more than one way you can ensure this happens. While simply watching the pie in the oven, and taking it out if the crust gets too dark, is an obvious strategy at first glance, that can cause issues if the internal temperature of the pie hasn't had the chance to get hot enough. On the other hand, thawing your store-bought frozen pot pie before cooking it can reduce the time it spends in the oven alongside shrinking the risk of burning.

Likewise, simply cooking the pot pie at a lower temperature for longer also helps to reduce burn risk. If you want to really get fancy, you can also try using a pie shield. This is a clever device, which can be purchased online for around $10, which is fitted around the crust of the pie, protecting the thin, burn-prone layer of crust while still allowing the pie to heat through thoroughly. If you choose to buy a pie shield, remember that metal shields, much like tin foil, aren't microwave safe, while silicone or plastic shields may be safe to use when microwaving a pie. So, always check first.