Rustic Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken, veggies, in a souped-up flavorful suprême sauce and baked in a pie crust creates quite the hearty dish. Pot pies can be easy to make. This recipe focuses mainly on homemade ingredients including my own poultry seasoning. However, you can make this recipe in no time using pre-made pie crusts, rotisserie chicken, commercial poultry seasoning, or even a jar of Alfredo sauce.
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts or double-crust pie crust recipe store-bought or homemade
- 1 lb cooked shredded chicken such as thighs, breasts, tenderloins rotisserie or ground chicken or turkey
- 40 g (⅓ cup) all-purpose flour
- 5 g (1 tbsp) poultry seasoning store-bought or homemade
- 6 g (1 tsp) salt
- 1 g (½ tsp) ground black pepper
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) oil avocado, olive, canola, etc.
- ½ small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 130 g (1 cup) frozen mixed vegetables green beans, corn, carrots, peas, etc.
- 175 g (1 cup/1 medium) Russet potato diced (size of other veggies)
- 100 g (1 cup) fresh or frozen mushrooms (cremini or bellas) chopped (size of other veggies)
- 76 g (⅓ cup/5¼ tbsp) butter salted or unsalted
- 420 ml (1¾ cup) chicken broth or stock or other broth like vegetable or beef
- 160 ml (⅔ cup) milk whole is preferred but any kind will work
- 170 g (1½ cups) Colby Jack cheese (or mix of cheeses) shredded & divided
- additional salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Make the Filling:
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220˚C) to blind bake the pie crust.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, poultry seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Set aside.
- Add oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add onion and cook until softened ~ 2-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then, add frozen vegetables, potato, and mushrooms. Add a pinch of salt. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and set aside.
- Add butter to a large saucepan and heat until melted. Whisk in flour mixture consistently for 1-2 minutes.
- While whisking, slowly pour in chicken broth and milk. Reduce heat and continue to whisk while simmering until thickened, about 5-15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.TIP: The mixture will thicken more quickly if pouring in warmed broth and milk. Consider heating the broth and milk together in a measuring cup in the microwave prior to pouring it into the saucepan.
- To the sauce, stir in 113 g (1 cup) of cheese, all meat, and vegetable mixture. Taste mixture and add more salt and pepper to your tastes. Set aside to slightly cool.
Assemble the Pie:
- Place one rolled out pie crust (12 inches) into a 9-10-inch pie plate or 1½- 2-quart casserole dish and form it to the dish allowing the crust to hang up and slightly over the dish. Sit the casserole dish on a foiled-lined metal baking sheet.
- Blind bake the pie crust by adding a sheet of opened, crumpled parchment paper or foil to cover the inside bottom and sides of the dough and add pie weights, dried beans, or dried rice to cover the bottom. Bake for 10-15 minutes just until the dough is no longer raw and still pale. Once removed from the oven, lift the parchment paper or foil edges to remove it and the weights. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (177°C).TIP: If dough is still wet or raw after removing the paper/foil and weights, return the pie crust to the oven (without the paper/foil and weights) and bake another 2 minutes until dry.
- Scatter the remaining cheese (56 g or ½ cup) over the par-baked crust to act as a barrier between the crust and the liquid ingredients. Scoop filling into the par-baked, crust-lined casserole dish. Fill to the top, if not slightly above, in the center. Trim off the overhanging pie crust edges with only the top exposed.
- Roll out the other pie crust rustically to about 10 inches or to a couple of inches beyond the casserole dish/pie plate. Place 2nd pie crust over the filling allowing the crust to hang rustically over the dish. Use a knife to cut 3-4 slits in the top crust for vents to allow steam to escape during baking.TIPS: If you want a "clean" look, trim off excess pie dough that’s more than 2 inches beyond the dish edge and tuck and crimp the edges against the dish like a regular pie. While any pie crust should work, a shortening-based pie crust (as opposed to butter or mix of butter/shortening) holds together better when hanging rustically down along the dish.
- Place the pie on the baking sheet in the oven to bake for 50 minutes or until the crust is light golden brown.TIPS: Baking the pie on a larger baking sheet prevents any leaks or crust from falling off onto the oven floor. During baking, some crust may separate and fall off onto the baking sheet. No worries, allow the crust to bake the same duration of time as the pie. Serve the fallen off crust with the pot pie.
- Once baked, allow the pie to sit for 15 minutes to set before cutting and serving. Dig in a enjoy with a side of additional pie crust to dip into the pie filling. The pie will still be runny. Serve along with a salad, roasted veggies, yeast rolls, biscuits, etc.
Video
Notes
Serving Suggestions:
Serve chicken pot pie along with a salad, roasted veggies, yeast rolls, biscuits, cornbread, or whatever your heart desires. There are no rules. For us, this is comfort food on a cold winter day, so we prefer a side of bread and roasted veggies.
Storing Suggestions:
This chicken pot pie stores very well covered in the fridge for several days. Once chilled, the filling firms and holds its shape making it much easier to cut and scoop out onto a plate. The crust remains crunchy even days later. When ready, scoop out desired amount onto a plate and heat until warm in the microwave or oven. Eat and enjoy with more crust!
Ingredient Substitution Suggestions:
Short on time? Here's a quicker way to make a pot pie or to adjust the ingredients. For commercial substitutions or ingredient substitutions, consider...
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- rotisserie chicken in place of boiling and shredding the chicken yourself,
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- 16 ounces (1 pound) of cooked, crumbled tofu in place of meat for a vegetarian option,
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- vegetable broth or stock in place of chicken broth or stock,
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- cheddar, mozzarella, or other melting cheese in place of Colby Jack,
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- 1 cup of any other vegetable to replace each mushrooms or potato,
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- any 3 cups (total) of vegetables you have or like (consider broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, diced squash (delicata, acorn, zucchini, yellow squash, etc.)
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- commercial bottle of poultry seasoning or make a homemade version ahead of time,
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- two store-bought pie crusts instead of homemade or make the pie dough a day ahead of time,
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- store-bought Alfredo (pasta) sauce and heat it up. Stir in poultry seasoning, cooked chicken, cooked veggies. You may or may not want 1 cup of additional cheese in the sauce. You decide! Then follow the recipe as described.