By: Casey Archibald
I remember my grandmother; she always smelled like a perfume called Beautiful. She spent hours trimming her rose bushes on hot summer weekends, she had a big, stinky chocolate lab named Peppi, she collected hundreds of nativity scenes and figurines—and she made the most delicious, creamy, chicken pot pies. They were perfect on rainy Seattle days.
Though I wasn’t a huge fan of veggies, when grandma surrounded them a pool of creamy goodness and topped them with a buttery, flakey crust, the peas and carrots were just fine.
Chicken pot pies are very versitile. Add celery, potatoes, onions, carrots, green beans, mushrooms, peas, corn, or whatever strikes your fancy.
When adding flour to your base, make sure you do it a little bit at a time to prevent lumpiness. I find it helpful to use a whisk. It’s okay to add more flour than the recipe calls for if you like your gravy thicker.
I like to make a giant, double or triple batch of the chicken pot pie base and freeze it. Then, when I’m ready to make another pie, I defrost the base, top it with a freshly made crust, and bake it. If you refrigerate or freeze your leftovers with the crust on, you may have soggy pot pies.
To make sure you have a flaky, buttery crust, it is important to cut the butter into your flour mixture when you are putting together your dough. Do not whip the mixture. You can mix one beaten egg and one tablespoon of water and brush it on top to make the crust crunchy, golden and flaky.
Try the following chicken pot pie recipes as inspiration to make up your own!
What You’ll Need:
How to Make Mini Pot Pies
It’s easy to make personal pies with mini pie pans. If you have leftovers from a chicken or turkey dinner, it’s easy to use them in these pies. This is comfort food at its best.
For this recipe, you will need leftover chicken or turkey meat, leftover or frozen mixed vegetables, and gravy. For pans, use a set of four mini pie pans. Each pan equals one-fourth of a nine inch pie pan. You will also need pie pastry.
- If you are making a pastry pot pie, you need enough pastry dough for two double crust pies. Roll out and line your pie pans with unbaked pastry.
- Cut chicken or turkey meat into chunks. Mix the chicken or turkey, vegetables, and gravy in a bowl. Pour the mixture into the baking dish or pie shell.
- Cover your pies with pie pastry as you would for a double-crust fruit pie. Crimp the edges together with the tines of a fork. Put slits in the top crust to allow for steam to escape. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the crust begins to brown.
Connie’s Famous Chicken Pot Pies
This is old-fashioned comfort food, individual chicken pot pies. Even your kids will like these little pies.
For the pie crust, use our Just-Add-Water Pie Crust Mix or your favorite scratch recipe.
Ingredients
Pie dough for a double-crust pie
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup 1/4-inch diced carrots
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup diced celery
1 1/2 cups, 1/2-inch diced potatoes
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken cubed
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg for a wash
1 tablespoon water
Directions
- Sauté the onions and carrots in the butter. When the onions are crisp and tender—about one minute—add the celery, potatoes, water, and broth. Cook for another five minutes. Make a slurry with the flour and stir that in. Let simmer for five minutes or until the gravy thickens. The vegetables should be firm and nearly cooked. Add the cooked chicken. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- While the filling is cooking, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick. Cut out 12 circles six inches in diameter. Place a circle of dough in each of six mini-pie pans. Form the bottom crust.
- Add the filling to each pan, top with a crust and seal the edges with a fork. Cut three slits in the top of each to vent the steam. (Or if you choose, you can make a lattice crust.)
- Whisk an egg with one tablespoon of water and brush the crusts to give them a golden sheen after baking.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crusts are golden and flakey.
Get Just-Add-Water pie crust here>>
Chicken Pot Pie with Green Beans in a Cream Sauce
This recipe makes a very good chicken pot pie. Of course it’s going to be good with a creamy white sauce and a flaky, buttermilk biscuit topping.
This is made with fresh green beans but could also be made with carrots and peas or corn and beans, whatever fresh vegetables you have available. Feel free to experiment with your spices and herbs. This recipe calls for sage, thyme, and tarragon and marvelously complements the green beans but we can’t wait to try sage and savory.
You can make your biscuit topping from scratch using this recipe or you can use one of our biscuit mixes. Of course a biscuit mix will save you time and you can choose between Buttermilk Biscuits or New England White Cheddar Biscuits.
Ingredients
medium onion, diced
1 stick of celery, sliced
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cream
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
2 teaspoons dry crushed sage
1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
1/2 teaspoon dry tarragon
2 1/2 cups fresh green beans, snipped and sliced
salt and pepper to taste
For the topping:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
Directions
- Sauté the onion and celery in butter in a large skillet until it is tender. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Place the 1/3 cup flour in a small bowl. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring after each addition until you have a smooth paste. Continue adding the rest of the cream.
- Add the cream sauce and chicken broth and reheat, stirring frequently, until the mixture just starts to simmer and becomes thickened. Add the chicken. Add the sage, thyme, and tarragon. Add the salt and pepper—to taste. (The salt required will vary depending on the salt content of the broth.)
- Parboil the green beans until they are bright green but not quite tender. Add the green beans to the chicken mixture. Place the chicken and bean mixture in a greased 2 1/2-quart casserole dish.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- For the topping, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry knife. Add the buttermilk. You should have a thick batter, almost dough-like. Spoon the batter over the hot chicken mixture.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the top of the crust is a golden brown.
