Best Chicken Pot Pie Ever
Now that the new year is here, I know I should be posting a diet-friendly recipe—but this chicken pot pie recipe is too good not to share right now! To ease my conscience, here’s a recipe you can incorporate into your New Year’s diet resolutions.
When my kids were young, I used to take the easy way out to make a chicken pot pie for dinner. Other than some carrots and peas—a rotisserie chicken, a Pillsbury pie crust, some milk, and a can of cream of chicken soup was pretty much all it took.
Now that I’m retired and have no time constraints, I’ve found my gold standard for chicken pot pie. It took me a while to come up with the perfect recipe, but it was worth the time and effort. I found a pie crust recipe from King Arthur Flour that is spot on—it’s tender, flaky, and buttery. No need to improve on that!
As far as the filling goes, I took a recipe from the Taste of Home website that had stellar reviews but made some significant changes (eliminated the corn and potatoes, cut the flour in half, and decreased the salt).
I usually make four chicken pot pies using 20-oz. ramekins, but I’ve made notes in case you want to make one large chicken pot pie.
This chicken pot pie is everything you could want. Along with the standard filling ingredients, it has a drool-worthy, lick-the-plate gravy. Once I paired that filling with the aforementioned flaky, buttery pie crust, I had the chicken pot pie of my dreams. I hope you enjoy it as much as hubby and I do–it’s quite frantastic!
Best Chicken Pot Pie Ever
Ingredients for Pie Crust
These ingredients will make enough pie crust to top four 20-oz. ramekins. No bottom crust is necessary.
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tbl. buttermilk powder, optional
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 tsp. white or cider vinegar
- 3 to 4 tbl. ice water
Ingredients for Chicken Filling
- 2 cups sliced carrots (cooked first)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cubed
- 2/3 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt – you can add 1 tsp. and then taste test to your preference
- 3/4 to 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 3/4 tsp. pepper
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup frozen peas (do not have to cook first)
- 4 cups cubed cooked chicken
- 1 egg for brushing top of pie crust
Directions for Pie Crust
In a large food processor, combine the flour, buttermilk powder, salt, and baking powder. Then mix in the butter and shortening until crumbly, leaving some pea-sized lumps. (Later, when you roll out the dough for the pie crust, you should see some little bits of butter here and there. This is what you want as it is what makes the pie crust flaky.) Transfer the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl.
Mix the vinegar with 3 tablespoons of the water. Sprinkle onto the dry ingredients, stir, and squeeze the dough together; if it’s not totally cohesive, add an additional teaspoon or two of water (enough to make the dough stick together nicely, without crumbling).
Shape the dough into a flattened rectangle, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Directions for Chicken Filling
Preheat oven to 375° F. Place carrots in a large saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook, covered, 8 to 10 minutes or until tender; drain.
In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until tender. Stir in flour and seasonings until blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in peas, carrots, and chicken; remove from heat.
Evenly distribute chicken filling into four 20-oz. ramekins.
Take out the chilled pie dough and divide the dough into four pieces. Roll out each section of the pie dough slightly larger than the top of the ramekin.
Place pie crust over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. I usually cut a nickel-sized vent hole in the middle of the pie crust and make several slits randomly across the tops. (I just use a knife to stab through the crust here and there.) Beat egg and brush top of pie crusts. Place pie ramekins on a baking sheet to catch any spills from the filling.
Bake the ramekins in a preheated 375o F oven for approximately 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
Freeze option: Cover and freeze unbaked pie. To use, remove from freezer 30 minutes before baking (do not thaw). Place pie on baking sheets; cover edges loosely with foil.
Fran’s Notes
Feel free to use your favorite homemade pie pastry.
When the edge of the pastry falls inward off the lip of the pie plate, it’s called slumping. You can reduce slumping by letting your fluted crust rest in the refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes. I skipped this step and did not experience any slumping with my pie crust.
I have also made this recipe using six 16-oz. ramekins. I found that the 16-oz. size didn’t fully satisfy my appetite. If you served it with, say, a serving of butternut squash and a dinner roll, that would do nicely.
I haven’t made a 9″ chicken pot pie using this recipe. If you want to do so, I would recommend using a 9″ deep-dish pie pan. If you want a top and bottom pie crust, you will need to double the pie crust ingredients. Also, it is possible that you may have some leftover pie filling ingredients if your pie pan doesn’t accommodate all of the filling. Consider it a bonus and just save it to serve over toast as in chicken a la king.
Source: Crust is from this King Arthur Flour recipe
Source: The filling is an adaptation of this Taste of Home recipe