Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Pot Pie is a favorite at our house. It’s good any time of the year, but especially in the cold winter months. I’ve made this recipe for many years. It’s one that I created after much trial and error. When I first started making it, I prepared it in a deep dish pie plate and had left-overs. As the family grew, (along with the appetites) I had to increase the size to a 9 x 13 dish, then a 10 x 15 dish with no left-overs! I’m again using the 9 x 13 size as the kids leave home. The point is, this is a recipe that can easily be modified to fit the size of your family.
I wanted to have enough chicken for this chicken pot pie plus another chicken dish for later in the week, so I cooked a whole chicken. I typically would just cook two or three boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Ingredients:
approximately 2 cups diced chicken from 1 whole young stewing chicken, or approx. 2-3 boneless skinless breasts, cooked and diced.
16 oz. pkg. frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrot, green bean, green pea mix)
1 onion, minced
3-4 red potatoes, cubed (I like to use red potatoes for this dish because they hold their shape and don’t get mushy like russet potatoes, but if you don’t have red potatoes, you can use russet)
Better the Bouillon base (this is optional, it will just add a little extra flavor and richness to your broth if you want to use it)
enough pie pastry for the size casserole dish you are using (my recipe for pie pastry can be found in another post on this site)
Directions:
Cook whole chicken, or chicken breasts in water. I added a couple of stalks of celery, a quartered onion and salt and pepper to the cooking water for added flavor since I was cooking a whole chicken. If using breasts only, I usually just add salt and pepper and don’t bother with the celery and onion.
When chicken is done, remove and let cool enough to handle. Dice about 2 cups for the chicken meat for the recipe. You can also purchase a rotisserie chicken at the deli and use the meat from that to skip the cooking at home. Meanwhile, place mixed vegetables, minced onion, and diced potatoes in a pot.
Add just enough chicken broth to almost cover the vegetables. You can either use the chicken broth from cooking the chicken or use purchased broth. You can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of Better than Bouillon chicken flavored base if desired for extra flavor. (This can be purchased on the aisle with bouillon cubes)
Add salt and pepper as needed and cook the vegetables until tender. I stir in the chicken after the vegetables are cooked, because I like for the chicken to retain it’s shape. I prefer small chunks of the chicken meat rather than shreds. If you want the chicken to break apart and not be in diced pieces, then add it in now.
While vegetables are cooking, make the pie crust. I made a two crust recipe for the bottom crust, and a two crust recipe for the top crust. This will be plenty of pastry for the 9 x 13 and the 10 x 15 size. If you only need a pie size, make one two crust recipe and use half for the bottom crust and half for the top. (I’ve got a good pastry recipe in another post)
Roll out the crust for the bottom of the caserole dish into the shape you need. Mine was a rectangular dish. Fit it into the bottom and up the sides of the dish, and roll out the top crust and set aside.
When vegetables are cooked and tender, stir in the diced cooked chicken. To thicken the chicken/vegetable mixture, stir together about 1/3 cup of water with 3 Tablespoons flour in a measuring cup with a fork.
As chicken vegetable mixture continues to simmer, pour the flour water through a strainer to catch any flour lumps. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes until the broth has thickened, then remove from heat.
Pour the pot pie filling into the bottom crust.
Place the top crust over filling.
Seal the edges by cutting off any extra top crust and turning under the edges.
Poke a few holes in the top crust with a fork to vent any steam.
Bake at 400 degrees just until crust is lightly browned. The filling is already cooked, so it just has to bake long enough to set and cook the crust. It’ll need to bake between 30-45 minutes depending upon the size of your pot pie.
You can increase or decrease any of the ingredients to make the size you need. You can also assemble this ahead and refrigerate until ready to bake. You may have to add to the baking time if the filling is completely cold.
