Chicken Pot Pie
When I tell you that this is probably my all time favorite dish that I make, I am telling you the truth. It makes my heart happy just thinking about eating this Chicken Pot Pie on a cold fall evening. It is filling, warm, flavorful, and full of wonderful flavors that will have you coming back for more.
I will be honest, it is one of the more time-consuming recipes that I have posted… BUT I’m telling that it is worth it. An hour and a half later, you will forget about all of the work when your home is filled with amazing smells and your stomach is full and happy!
Give this recipe a try and enjoy :)
Time needed:
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: Varies on crust instructions (mine took 30 minutes)
Ingredients
3 chicken breasts (or the equivalent of rotisserie chicken)
20 oz bag of frozen vegetables (I use two 10 oz bags of mixed peas, carrots, corn, and green beans!)
2 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth if you want to make it vegetarian and omit the chicken breast)
1/8 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp flour
2 pie crusts
Olive oil
2 tbsp all purpose seasoning (I used a mixture of 21 Salute Seasoning from Trader Joe’s and Vegeta seasoning)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste (about 2 tsp of each)
This recipe feeds:
6-8 people
Let’s get cookin’!
Prep your chicken! First thing’s first, chop up your chicken breasts into bite sized pieces before cooking them. This will make the cooking process faster and much easier. Drizzle some olive oil on your pan and drop in all of your chicken. This will cook until the outside of your chicken turns a light tan color; it does not have to be fully cooked because it will also cook along with your vegetables, broth, AND in the oven for about half an hour. You can also use rotisserie chicken to make your life easier too! Just shred it up and skip this step.
Make the rest of your filling! This step has a lot goin’ on, but all it is is throwing in your ingredients and letting them all cook! Once your chicken no longer has pink on the outside, toss in all of your vegetables. This will cook for about 3 minutes until the vegetables start to become soft. Next, add in the broth and heavy cream, mix it, and let cook until the liquid just starts to boil. You want to make sure you have enough liquid to form a thick broth but not too much that your ingredients are floating (refer to the first picture above). Lastly, add in all of the seasonings and mix!
Thicken up your filling. Next, we need to thicken up the broth in order to create a chicken pot pie consistency. And, the secret ingredient is flour! You will slowly add in the flour and mix until you reach the desired thickness. I typically use about 2 tbsp in total, but I would recommend starting off with 1 tbsp, mixing, and letting it cook for about 2-3 minutes before checking it and adding more if needed. The trick is to use your spatula to push the filling back; if it immediately flows like soup, it is not thick enough. It should stay that way (as shown in the third picture above) for a second before flowing back together. Make sure to not make to TOO thick to where there is no liquid left! At this point, you can preheat your oven to the temperature listed on the pie crust package (it will vary).
Time for the crust! Grab a decent sized ceramic cooking dish and spread on a thin layer of olive oil. This will help prevent the crust from sticking. Take your pre-made crust from the grocery store (or freshly made if you’re feeling daring) and spread one of them onto the bottom and sides of the dish. Then, add it all of your filling and add more of your crust to the top! Make whatever design that comes to mind or just throw it on; just make sure you have at least a few holes to allow air in. You can see my go-to design above!
Time to bake! Last but not least… it is time to bake! Pop your delicious chicken pot pie into the oven and bake according to the pie crust instructions. Times may vary, but mine took about 30 minutes. As soon as it turns golden brown, it is good to take out!
Plate up and enjoy! Great work! After all that hard work, you are ready to eat. Plate up your masterpiece (yes, even if it doesn’t look perfect, it is a masterpiece) and enjoy! :)