Pie Crust For Chicken Pot Pie
Y’all. This crust is a total game-changer! It will transform your pot pie into a restaurant-quality dish, and it couldn’t be easier to make from scratch. I first came across the all-butter pie crust recipe in pastry chef Erin Jeanne McDowell’s book, The Book on Pie. For years, I assumed that homemade pie crusts should be made with at least a little bit of shortening, but Erin’s all-butter recipe has changed my mind. It’s more flavorful than your average crust , and when I put it into a cast iron skillet for my favorite chicken pot pie recipe, it baked up golden brown, flaky and crisp — not a soggy crust in sight! Of course, you can substitute with a package of refrigerated store-bought pie crusts, but trust me here…your chicken pot pie just won’t be quite as good.
Can Chicken Pot Pie Be Made Ahead
Yes, you can make this homemade chicken pot pie recipe in advance. Just make the filling and let it cool completely in the fridge stored in an airtight container. The crust can also be made in advance and chilled in the fridge or even frozen.
When ready to bake, roll out the crust and use it to top the pie. Then bake like normal.
Or you can make both the filling and let it cool completely. Pour the filling into a pie dish and top it with the crust, then freeze the whole pie. Just defrost overnight in the fridge before baking.
Ingredients For Chicken Pot Pie:
A chicken pot pie is a meal in itself loaded with vegetables and protein. The high quality ingredients and generous filling really differentiates this from the ones youll find in the freezer section. Once you try homemade, theres no going back. This also requires simple ingredients:
- Double Pie Crust Youll need two pie disks for the top and bottom.
- Chicken Use shredded cooked chicken from a rotisserie chicken or cook your own chicken breasts.
- Butter & Flour These make the roux or base for the gravy sauce
- Onion, Carrots, Mushrooms, & Peas this is loaded with vegetables
- Garlic and Parsley These aromatics and simple salt and pepper balance this savory pie.
- Chicken Stock& Cream form the creamy gravy sauce
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The Chicken Pot Pie Crust
This is hands down my favorite chicken pot pie crust recipe. Ive used it in many recipes, and I think it is perfect for this.
Instead of water, I like to use buttermilk in pie crusts because a) it keeps them very moist, and b) adds richness, and c) helps achieve a nicer golden brown color.
5 ingredients only!
Tips From The Betty Crocker Kitchens
- tip 1 For a pretty finish to the crust, brush it with an egg wash and sprinkle lightly with a coarse salt.
- tip 2 Use the small cutters to create steam vents in the top crust or just cut slits in the pastry with the tip of a paring knife.
- tip 3 For a lump-free white sauce, use a medium wire whisk to stir in the flour and then to constantly stir the sauce as you pour in the broth and milk.
- tip 4 To roll the pie crust rounds into a square, place the pastry on a lightly floured counter, pastry cloth or sheet of parchment paper. Then, carefully press the pastry into more of a square shape before rolling it into a 13-inch square. next, fold the dough in half and lay it into half of the baking dish. Finally, unfold it and gently press it into the corners of the pan to create the bottom crust, being careful not to stretch it. The dough should extend just a little over the edges.
- tip 5 Swap in 1 1/2 cups of any frozen vegetable combo for the peas and carrots, slicing larger pieces into smaller pieces so they blend more evenly in the sauce.
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Brush With Egg Wash And Bake
Place the pot pie on a baking sheet. Beat the egg and water together in a small bowl. Brush over the pastry.
I had enough filling to do two pot pies using one large and one medium gratin dish. So I needed two sheets of puff pastry. You’ll just have to judge based on the size of your dish and the amount of filling you make.
Bake for 10 minutes. Cover the pastry loosely with aluminum foil to prevent burning and cook for an additional 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Assemble The Pot Pies
- Distribute the filling evenly among six ovenproof bowls or ramekins that are 2 to 3 inches deep and hold at least 2 cups.
Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature, about 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick rectangle. With a round cookie cutter , cut 6 dough circles that are slightly wider than the inner diameter of the bowls . Cut one small X in the center of each circle.
Top each bowl of stew with a dough round. With your fingertips, gently press the dough down into the edge of the stew, so that it flares up the sides of the bowl.
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How To Make Chicken Pot Pie
Making pot pie is like making a double batch of old-fashioned gravy, with chicken and veggies added. Its super easy to do, and takes very little time.
Make The Chicken Filling
In a large, deep skillet, melt the butter and oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced chicken, salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is no longer pink.
Sprinkle the flour over the chicken in the pan. Stir for a minute or two until the chicken is well coated and the flour is just barely cooked.
Add the milk slowly, stirring all the time. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes or until the sauce is thickened.
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How To Make It
Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
Chicken pot pie is a classic, old-fashioned savory pie that’s traditionally made with a flaky, buttery pie crust and a creamy chicken and vegetable filling. There are endless ways to prepare this dish — from single crusts to double crusts, puff pastry to biscuit toppings — and everything in between. This traditional chicken pot pie recipe is the absolute best, and will convert even non-pot-pie-lovers into true, raving fans.
You just can’t beat the made-from-scratch all-butter crust, which gets perfectly flaky and crisp in a cast iron skillet. Add a thick, rich filling and you’ve got an instant winner of a dinner. It’s a great way to use up leftover meat, but it’s also simple enough to prepare with a store-bought rotisserie chicken. When comfort food is calling your name, this is the only homemade chicken pot pie recipe that you will ever need!
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Tips For The Best Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
- A cast iron skillet conducts heat far better than a casserole dish or pie plate, so the crust on your pot pie becomes very crisp and flaky. You can substitute with a deep-dish pie plate or a 2-quart casserole dish, but the cast iron skillet yields the best results.
- Place the skillet on the middle or bottom rack in your oven. This helps the bottom crust become nice and crisp, since it’s closer to the heating element.
- Do not poke holes in the bottom pie crust.
- You know that the pot pie is done when the crust is golden brown on top. All of the filling ingredients are already cooked through, so if the inside is bubbly and the top is browned, it’s finished!
- Allow about 20 minutes for the pie to rest before slicing and serving. This will give the filling a chance to set so that it doesn’t run out when you cut into it.
Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients
Chicken pot pie can be made as a double-crusted pie with regular pie pastry or in individual bowls and topped with pastry or puff pastry.
VEGETABLES We use an assortment of fresh vegetables but frozen veggies work in this recipe too.
CHICKEN Rotisserie chicken is my go-to for this recipe but any cooked/shredded chicken will work. Use leftover chicken if you have it on hand.
SAUCE The sauce is from scratch and while it takes a little bit of time, its not difficult. Cream and chicken broth are thickened and seasoned with onions, garlic, and herbs. Dont use low sodium broth, the salt adds great flavor to this recipe!
PASTRY To make this even quicker, use prepared pie dough in place of homemade pie crust. You can also use frozen puff pastry in this recipe too .
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Notes About This Recipe:
- You can use bone-in, skin-on breasts or thighs instead of a whole chicken with no changes to the recipe. The recipe needs approximately 3-4 cups diced chicken.
- You can use boneless, skinless breasts in this recipe BUT you will need to cook them in chicken broth instead of water. The recipe needs approximately 3-4 cups diced chicken.
- You can also use rotisserie chicken and store-bought broth if you’d like.
- When cooking the chicken and making homemade stock, I use 2 teaspoons salt then 1 teaspoon each pepper, thyme and garlic powder .
- Not sure if the dish you want to use is big enough? The recipe makes about 6 cups of filling so just measure 6 cups of water then pour it into the dish to see if it fits.
TIP!! When I make this recipe, I almost ALWAYS cook enough chicken for two recipes. Its just so much easier to go ahead and chop up the chicken and save the broth for another delicious homemade meal later in the week! Here are some recipes I often make when doubling up on the chicken:
Homemade Chicken & Dumplings – An old-fashioned recipe for tender stewed chicken in a rich stock with soft dropped dumplings or use the same recipe for rolled and cut dumplings.
French Onion Chicken Casserole – An easy, creamy chicken noodle casserole with French onion soup, topped with toasty buttered bread cubes and crispy fried onions.
Chicken & Stuffing Casserole – An addictive comfort food casserole recipe with Pepperidge Farm stuffing, sour cream and chicken.
A Thick And Creamy Filling
The ideal consistency of your filling when you’re cooking it on the stovetop and before going into the pot pies should be creamy and thickened. It will thicken a little more in the oven as the pot pies bake, so at this point, you want it to be slightly less thick than the finished dish.
If at this point your filling seems soupy, like heavy cream, let it simmer until it thickens up enough coat the back of a wooden spoon. If it seems like it’s not thickening up as fast as you like, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the sauce, whisk in a tablespoon or two of flour until no more lumps remain, and then whisk this mixture into the skillet.
If it seems like the filling thickened up too much and it starting to seem stiff, then whisk in a little broth or water to thin it out again.
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Assembling The Chicken Pot Pie
Then all you need to do is get that dough out and roll it to about 1/4 inch thick. You may need to let it sit at room temp for a bit so its easier to roll out.
Then its dough+filling+dough. Seal the dough by folding the dough on top under the bottom pie dough. If youre unsure how to make the pie crust borders, you can use press down with a fork to create the borders and seal the pie. Turns out just as pretty!
To create the border I made, seal the dough, and the grab a section with your thumb and index finger, and press outward from the middle using a your other index finger. Repeat. If youre unsure how to do it, heres a quick video of Sarah Carey from Everyday Food doing this. Skip to minute 6:15.
Finally, make a few slits for the steam to escape.