This Creamy Chicken pot pie with puff pastry and vegetables is comfort food bliss! Read on to find out how to ensure you don't get a soggy bottom!
We're going shop-bought on the puff pastry and homemade on the filling, and oh my gosh, this filling is sooooo good. I could literally eat it by the ladle full.
In fact, I do by the ladle - in the form of my chicken pot pie soup - one of my absolute favourite soups that I discovered whilst trying to make this pie. I made the filling and found that I couldn't stop eating it (like to the point where there wasn't enough left to fill a pie), so I just dished it up and labelled it soup!
How to make it
First the chicken and veggies are cooked in stock for about 15 minutes:
Then we fry up some onions with butter. Coat in flour and cook for a minute before gradually stirring in the liquid from the chicken and veg pan. Then we add milk and lemon juice too (sounds crazy to add the lemon juice when there's milk in there, but it won't split, and it makes a big difference to the taste).
The chicken and veggies are added into the now-thick sauce. This is the point where I usually start eating the pie filling! If you have leftover pie filling, just save it as soup.
When I do make it past the soup stage, I like to wrap it in puff pastry. Not a puff pastry lid (convenient, but always a little disappointing), a full-on pastry chicken pot pie.
I did go for the convenience of using ready-made puff pastry as I'm generally too lazy to make pastry from scratch.
It might sound a little strange using puff pastry for the base of the pie (since all the puffiness is going to be squashed down with pie filling), but it works, and it saves the effort of using a different type of pastry for the base.
How to prevent a soggy bottom
Pro Tip: To prevent the 'soggy bottom' (that must be in the UK common phrasebook now - thanks Mary Berry), it's best to blind bake the pastry base. Just line your pie dish with the pastry, prick with a fork:
Cover in baking parchment (scrunch it up first, then un-scrunch - this makes it easier to get in the corners) and fill with baking beans or dried beans or a mixture of dried beans and uncooked rice. Ten minutes in the oven is enough.
Once the base is blind baked and the filling is cooked, pour the filling into the dish, then place a pastry lid on, crimp the edges (see the video for how) and brush with egg wash:
Bake for around 25 minutes until golden brown:
Put this on the table and you're bound to have a happy family dinner - only slightly ruined by everyone clamouring to pick the last bits of pastry off the side of the dish (or is that just my tribe?).
Can I make it ahead?
Yes, you can make the filling ahead, then cover and refrigerate for a day or two. Then make up the rest of the pie (reheat the filling before ladling it into the pie tin)
Can I freeze the chicken pie?
Yes, you can make and cook the pie, then cool, cover and freeze. Defrost thoroughly in the refrigerator, then cover in foil and reheat at 180C/360F for approx 30-35 minutes - until it's piping hot in the middle. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Can I make it vegetarian?
Yes, replace the chicken with leeks and mushrooms or with quorn pieces. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.
Other Pie Filling Ideas
- Add some fried pancetta or bacon to the filling.
- Swap the chicken for leftover cooked turkey (cook the veggies without the meat, then stir the cooked shredded turkey into the creamy sauce before it's poured into the pie dish.
- Add mushrooms and/or leeks
- Add a good dollop of Thai green curry paste to the sauce, swap the lemon juice for lime, and a splash of fish sauce to make a spicy Thai version. You could also swap out the veggies for green beans, brocolli and peppers if you like.
More Delicious Pies
Still hungry for more pies? Why not take a look at some of these:
- Chicken & Mushroom Pie (with bacon)< as Chris says, "Everything tastes better with bacon"
- Steak Pie
- Cottage Pie
- Shepherds Pie < I still think mash potato topped things deserve thier place amongst the pies.
- Fish Pie
- Individual Cheese & Onions Pies
- Chicken & Ham Pie with Crumble Topping
We have LOADS of amazing comfort food recipes, so be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to stay up-to-date with new recipes.
Creamy Chicken Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 x 320g/11oz rolls of ready-rolled puff pastry
- 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
- 2 ½ cups (600ml) chicken stock - water plus 3 stock cubes is fine
- 3 ½ tbsp (50g) butter
- 1 large onion - peeled and finely chopped
- 6 tbsp (50g) plain/all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups (300ml) milk - half or full fat
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 egg - slightly whisked with a fork
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 200c/400f.
- Line a 10 x 8 inch pie dish with one roll of the puff pastry.
- Prick the base several times with a fork and cut off any large overhanging bits of pastry.
- Line the pastry with baking parchment so that it completely covers the pastry, then fill with baking beans (or dried beans) and place in the oven to 'blind bake' for 10 minutes. PRO TIP This helps to prevent the pie having a soggy bottom. Because it's puff pastry the sides will puff up a bit (which I don't mind), if you want to prevent this, just fill up with more baking beans.
- Take out of the oven and put to one side.
- Meanwhile, place 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.
- When the chicken and stock is nearly cooked, take another large sauce pan and add in the butter and chopped onion. 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). Stir the broth into the mixture using the whisk. Repeat this until you have ladled out most of the stock from the chicken pan (leaving the chicken and veggies behind).
- Now pour in the milk. Heat through whilst stirring with the whisk. The sauce should thicken as it is heating.
- Once the sauce is almost at boiling (don't let it boil) add in the chicken 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 and a more seasoning if you think it needs it.
- Remove the baking beans and baking parchment from the pie and fill the pie up with the chicken mixture.
- Brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash, then top the pie with the remaining piece of pastry.
- Pinch the edges to seal, then brush the top with more egg wash and pierce a couple of small holes in the top of the pie with a sharp knife.
- Place back in the oven (still at 200c/400f) and cook for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve immediately with some green veg.
Video
✎ Notes
Can I make it ahead?
Yes, you can make the filling ahead, then cover and refrigerate for a day or two. Then make up the rest of the pie (reheat the filling before ladling it into the pie tin)Can I freeze the chicken pie?
Yes, you can make and cook the pie, then cool, cover and freeze. Defrost thoroughly in the refrigerator, then cover in foil and reheat at 180C/360F for approx 30-35 minutes - until it's piping hot in the middle. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.Can I make it vegetarian?
Yes, replace the chicken with leeks and mushrooms or with quorn pieces. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken. Nutrition info is for one serving of this recipe.Nutrition
Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food’s Chicken and Ham pie.
Equipment
In order to make this Creamy Chicken Pie recipe you will need:
- A good Kitchen knife. I have recently bought this Dalstrong one and love it.
- Chopping Board
- Pealer
- Measuring Jug
- Juicer
- Measuring Spoons
- Pie Dish
- Baking Beans HINT: Use these to ensure you don't get a soggy pie bottom!
- 2x Large Saucepans
- Wooden or Silicon Coated Spoons. We have just bought these and love them.
- Enamel Baking Dish. We used a 26cm one.
This post was first created in January 2016. Updated for 2018 with video, process photos and extra tips.
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Pat King says
I think you mean peeler (not pealer!) but love your recipes!
James says
Nice pie. Switched to mixed herds as didn’t have Thyme and it was lovely.
Mariam says
Perfectly simple instructions with alternate ingredients. Nothing missed here and one extremely delicious pie. We used halal chicken. Goodness me this was a hit! Will definitely be making this again. Glad I stumbled across your blog! Thanks for sharing x