The Frozen Chicken Pot Pie We're Not Wasting Our Money On

Chicken pot pie is to Americans what shepherd's pie is to the Brits. It's a comforting blend of soft chicken and vegetables (usually carrots and peas), seasoned with a creamy sauce, sitting inside a crispy crust. Although it's often used as a go-to warming meal when it's time to clear out the fridge, sometimes we just want the hearty pie without the extra work. On those days, it's pretty clutch that we can get it in nearly every grocery store's frozen aisle. Tasting Table took a closer look at 12 frozen chicken pot pie brands and found the one we'll never waste our money on again: Atkins Crustless Chicken Pot Pie.

This pie was specifically made for people who follow the Atkins diet, which is known for being low-carb and weight-loss-oriented. That's the reason for no crust. Now, if a chicken pot pie is going to come without the satisfyingly crispy crust, the filling better be phenomenal. Unfortunately, Atkins has failed to create that. Our taste tester and writer, Dani Zoeller, found the filling to be completely lackluster — in both flavor and variety.

The packaging of Atkins Chicken Pot Pie advertises a rich, colorful meal. Many shoppers fell for the promising picture and were ultimately disappointed to find a few meager pieces of chicken and carrots, while the main star of the show was ... broccoli. Many customers lamented the purchase in their reviews, branding Atkins' spin on this classic dish as a sad, broccoli-centered rendition.

Even if you're the biggest broccoli lover in the world and can look past the fact that Atkins chicken pot pie is severely overdoing this one particular ingredient, you're still likely to find an issue with the pie's texture. Instead of being creamy, it's watery, mushy, and overly greasy. We understand that texture is always somewhat of a coin flip with frozen dinners, but it feels like Atkins exceptionally dropped the ball on this one. Eating a watered-down, underseasoned broccoli dish with two tiny pieces of meat is nobody's idea of chicken pot pie, for sure.

But there's another reason why you might be better off leaving this one on the shelf. In October 2024, Atkins Crustless Chicken Pot Pie was recalled because of listeria contamination concerns. This was part of a larger nationwide outbreak when 10 million pounds of meat and poultry were recalled for listeria risk.