Yet another vegan crock pot recipe from my new cookbook, The Vegan Slow Cooker: Simply Set It and Go with 150 Recipes for Intensely Flavorful, Fuss-Free Fare Everyone (Vegan or Not!) Will Devour.

I love pot pie, so I was looking forward to trying this recipe. It’s very easy to make and very flexible. You can use whatever leftover veggies you have (I always keep a few bags of frozen items on hand for meals just like this), and you can add beans in place of the seitan if you so choose.

For the stew:

1 small onion, minced (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)

1 large stalk celery, minced (optional)

1 1/2 cups cubed chicken-flavored seitan, store bought or homemade (I used some that I made and froze in this post) or use crumbled, cooked, vegan sausage or diced tofu, beans, or potato

1 pound frozen mixed green beans, carrots, and peas (you can use fresh leftovers instead)

1 cup water, add more if needed

2 tablespoons vegan chicken-flavored bouillon

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons flour, if needed

For the biscuits:

1 cup white, whole wheat, or gluten-free flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon thyme (optional)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup plain or unsweetened nondairy milk

The night before:

Place the cut-up onion, garlic, celery, and seitan in a large airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

In the morning:

Oil the crock of your slow cooker (skip this step if you use a liner like I do). Combine all of the ingredients for the stew except for the flour in the slow cooker. Add 1 to 2 cups extra water if you will cook it longer than 8 hours, or if your slow cooker runs a little hot. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

About 30 minutes before serving:

Add more water if the mixture is too thick, or add the flour if the stew needs to thicken up a bit. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

To make the biscuits:

Combine all of the biscuit ingredients in a bowl and work until it comes together into a dough. Turn the mixture out onto a floured cutting board (or cover a cutting board with parchment paper as I did), roll out 1/2 inch thick (or smush it with your fingers like I had to – couldn’t find a rolling pin anywhere!), and cut into circles with the rim of a drinking glass. Place in the slow cooker on top of the filling. Turn the slow cooker to high. Prop open the lid with the handle of a wooden spoon, or place a clean dishtowel under the lid to prevent condensation from dripping onto your biscuits (I just set the lid back down and a slight angle so that some steam could escape). Cook an additional 30 minutes.

The bag of frozen veggies that we had on hand was peas, carrots, and corn, but no green beans. I added the extra water as suggested and it definitely came out watery. I added the flour and a few tablespoons of cornstarch, which thickened it up nicely. The biscuits took a long time to cook… I left it on high for one hour and they were still pale in color and a little doughy.

However, the final product was delish! I loved it and went back for seconds. The slightly doughy biscuits seemed a little more like dumplings, but that’s fine by me! In my opinion, it would have been perfect even without the seitan, but Eric really liked having it in the pot pie stew. He said that it mimics the texture enough and is masked by the flavor of the vegan chicken-flavored bouillon in the stew, so you would just assume it was chicken if you weren’t told otherwise. I have folded down the corner or this page because this recipe will be a regular one in our house!