The Best Chicken Pot Pies
Ingredients
Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup (4.5 ounces) cold cream cheese, cut into large chunks
- 1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2-3 tablespoons ice water plus more if needed
Chicken Vegetable Filling
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion cut into half inch cubes
- 1 cup celery cut into small cubes
- 1 cup carrots peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 pounds boneless chicken thighs and/or chicken legs
- 5 ½ cups chicken broth or enough to cover chicken
- 1 cup butternut squash peeled and cut into half inch cubes
- 1 cup green beans trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup frozen peas thawed
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour plus 2-3 more tablespoons if needed to thicken the sauce
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- 1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water to be used as an egg wash
Instructions
Make the Pie Crust
- In a food processor, pulse flour, salt and baking powder until well blended.
- Add cream cheese and pulse until pea-sized pieces form.
- Add butter cubes and pulse just until pea-sized pieces form.
- Add the vinegar and 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until wet clumps form.
- Feel the dough and if it is too crumbly add another 1 tablespoon or more of water.
- Pour mixture into a bowl and gather into a ball of dough.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into a 1 inch thick disk.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Make the Chicken and Vegetable Filling
- In a large soup pot, add the olive oil and heat to medium-high. Add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic.
- Sauté until the vegetables have softened (approximately 5 minutes). Stir often.
- Add the chicken pieces into the vegetables and cover with the chicken broth.
- Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer, partially covering the pot, for approximately 45 minutes or until the chicken is done and no longer pink inside.
- Remove from the heat and place the chicken into a large bowl.
- Using a slotted spoon, take the vegetables out and place them in a separate bowl. Allow the stock to cool. You should have approximately 4 ½ cups.
- When cool enough, tear the chicken into small pieces, removing any bones or skin.
- Add the vegetables into the chicken and set aside.
- In a small bowl, toss the butternut squash with approximately 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Place onto a sheet pan and roast in a 425° Fahrenheit oven for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the squash is tender. Allow to cool.
- Blanche the green beans in a small saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes. Shock them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. When cool, drain the water.
- Add both the butternut squash and green beans along with the thawed peas into the chicken and vegetable mixture.
- In a large saucepan, heat the butter until melted and bubbly over medium-high heat. Whisk in 4 tablespoons of the flour and cook for approximately 30 seconds to remove any starchy taste. Whisk in the onion and garlic powders along with the salt.
- Over high heat, slowly whisk in the reserved chicken stock and whisk constantly until a nice, slightly thickened sauce forms. If the sauce is too thin, combine 2-3 tablespoons of extra flour into enough cold water to form a slurry, the consistency of heavy cream. Gradually whisk the slurry into the sauce and bring the sauce to a boil, whisking constantly. The sauce should become thicker. The sauce should not be too thick.
- Take the sauce off the heat and set it aside.
Assemble the Pot Pies
- Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit.
- Place the crockpots or ramekins on large sheet pans depending on the size of your pot pies. Be sure they have a little room between them.
- On a floured surface, roll out the pie crust to a large circle that is approximately ¼ inch thick.
- Using a small bowl or cookie cutter cut out circles that are slightly larger than your crockpots or ramekins. Cut out as many circles, re-rolling the dough if necessary, to create as many circles as there are pot pies.
- Using a small sharp knife, create some cuts for steam holes in each pastry circle.
- Fill each crockpot or ramekin with some of the chicken and vegetable filling and ladle some of the sauce over the filling.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the outer rims of each crockpot or ramekin with some of the egg wash.
- Place a circle of dough over each potpie. Firmly press down on the edges to adhere the pastry to the crockpots or ramekins.
- Brush the tops of each potpie with egg wash.
- Bake the pot pies in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the filling bubbles through the steam holes and the pastry is nice and golden brown.
- Serve at once.
Notes
Makes approximately 4 large (5-6 inch diameter) chicken pot pies or approximately 8 smaller pies