Chicken and Ham Pie with Cheesy Crumble Topping – Creamy chicken and ham pie topped with crispy panko crumbs, cheddar cheese and shredded ham. You’ll be going back for seconds!
Is there anything more comforting on a cold Autumn evening then sitting the family around the table and tucking into a large, homemade pie?
The look of anticipation on the kids face as their portion is served up…
…..all the veggies eaten with no arguments or cajoling (anything dipping in this creamy chicken sauce is going to taste delicious)….
…..and the sneaky fingers picking any leftover pastry from the pie dish when all the plates are clean.
Yeah, we love this Chicken and Ham Pie with Cheesy Crumble Topping.
I often start to make the filling for this pie first, and then just end up eating it as soup because it’s so darn tasty. Â However, the thought of the crispy, cheesy topping won me over and I made it through to the end.
You may find you have a little leftover filling anyway, so you can have the best of both worlds and enjoy it as soup for tomorrows lunch.
I use ready-made pastry for this pie – purely for convenience.
It needs a bit of blind-baking first as the filling is quiet liquid-y.
If you find that the pastry is browning a little too quickly in the oven, you can shape a strip of foil to cover it whilst the cheesy topping is continuing to brown.
Since the filling already contains carrots and potatoes, I find that serving it with some green veg is enough to fill everyone up (and that’s coming from a carboholic).
Hope you enjoy! xx
The Chicken and Ham Pie with Cheesy Crumble Topping Recipe:
Chicken and Ham Pie with Cheesy Crumble Topping
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 300 g ready rolled shortcrust pastry
- 1 cup dried beans for blind baking
Filling:
- 3 chicken breasts cut into small chunks
- 3 carrots peeled and chopped into chunks
- 3 medium sized potatoes peeled and chopped into small chunks
- good pinch of salt and pepper
- 2 sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
- 850 ml chicken stock water plus 3 stock cubes is fine
- 4 slices thick cut ham shredded
- 50 g butter
- 1 large onion peeled and finely chopped
- 50 g plain/all purpose flour
- 300 ml milk half or full fat
- Juice of 1 lemon
Topping:
- 100 g grated cheddar cheese
- 50 g panko breadcrumbs
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 sliced thick cut ham shredded or 2 tbsp shredded ham hock
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200c/400f. Unroll the pastry and line a 24cm (diameter) pie tin with the pastry. Cut off any excess pastry and pinch the edges to make a bit of a pattern on the crust. Use a fork to make holes all over the pastry in the base of the dish.
- Cover the pastry with baking parchment, then pour a cup of dried beans on top (this will hold the pastry in place whilst you 'blind bake' it). Place in the oven for 10 minutes, then carefully pour out and discard the baking beans (or save for future 'blind baking'). Remove the baking parchment, and place the pastry back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Then take out of the oven and put to one side.
- Now make the filling. Add the chicken, carrots, potatoes, salt, pepper, thyme and stock to a large saucepan.
- Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 15 minutes and then turn off the heat and stir in the shredded ham.
- Take another large sauce pan and add in the butter and onions. Heat on medium and cook the onion for about 5-6 minutes until soft. Add in the flour and mix it into the onions and butter using a balloon whisk. It should form into a creamy paste (or roux). Allow the roux to cook for a minute whilst stirring with your whisk, then add in a ladle of the stock from the chicken broth (try to get mostly stock - not the chicken/veggies). Use the whisk to stir the broth into the mixture. Repeat this until you have ladled out most of the stock from the chicken pan (leaving the chicken and veggies behind). Then pour in the milk. Heat through whilst stirring with the whisk. The sauce should thicken as it's heating.
- Once the sauce is almost at boiling (don't let it boil) add in the chicken, ham and veggies. Bring back to almost boiling and add in half the lemon juice. Give it a stir and taste. Add the rest of the lemon juice if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared pastry until approx 1cm from the top (you may not need all of it, but if you have any leftovers, it makes great soup!).
- Mix the cheddar, panko and black pepper. Sprinkle on top of the chicken mixture, then sprinkle on the shredded ham.
- Place back in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the the top is golden brown and the cheese melted. Take out of the oven and decorate with a few sprigs of fresh thyme, then serve with green veg.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Really nice chicken pie! The crumble topping on the chicken pie was a really nice change. The filling was tasty too, and as I had some left I saved some to have as soup the next day. Next time I would probably not bother with the pasty base, purely to lessen the fat content.
Unbelievably delicious! The texture of the chicken is truly tender next to the flaky crisp of pastry and the light crisp of cheese and breadcrumb topping!
Our family CANNOT eat onion nor garlic so I adapted the herbs to enhance flavors, plus a splash of white wine along with the lemon in the recipe. This WILL be a family favorite forever. We all love homemade stock and it’s a true delight in this recipe!
Hello Nicky
simply fabulous!
I went to all the trouble of making the pastry myself (perfect, crumbly with a dry bottom I might add), but the filling was so delicious my girls ignored it and suggested in future I forget the pastry and tray-bake it, so as not to waste time eating the pastry!
Another winning recipe – #Brava
A really tasty recipe
Love this unusual pie, a pie with a crumble topping – genius. We shall definitely making this again.
The ultimate comfort food.. this looks SO amazingly cheesy and delicious. Love a classic pie!
Thanks Thalia – you can’t beat a good pie. I always get smiles all round when there’re a giant pie in the middle of the table 🙂