This Chicken Pot Pie is the best that I have ever had. My family and friends have been constantly asking me to make it again. This recipe is easy, but a bit time consuming. The best part is you can make it in bulk and it freezes fabulously.
Recently a friend and her family were going through some difficult times and I wanted to make them dinner. I needed something to make in bulk, because I wanted to get three meals out of it. One for my family and two for them. I needed something that would travel well and would also freeze well if they wanted to eat it at a later date. After many hours of contemplation.. Chicken Pot Pie was the answer.
I haven’t made one in years, but I was willing to give it a try. I told everyone if it doesn’t come out good, don’t tell me! Let’s be serious when it comes to comfort food and home cooking, chicken pot pie is in the top ten of all recipes, so I figured it was a good choice.
The most indispensable ingredient of all good home cooking:
Love for those you are cooking for.
Sophia Loren
My thought process was to go to the store and buy some rotisserie chickens and use them to speed up the process (Next time I will do that), but because it was so early in the morning the store did not have any. So I needed to go in a different direction. Therefore, I bought one whole roaster chicken and two large split breasts. I came home and rubbed them with olive oil and salt and pepper and put them in the oven at 375 degrees until they were cooked through. While this was going on, I prepped the vegetables. For the carrots, I decided to roast them instead of blanching them. This was a great idea and they came out great. I will do this again. But you could blanch them or even use frozen if you are in a pinch. I sauteed the diced onions until translucent and add the chopped celery later. That is what I love about this recipe, it is so adaptable to whatever your needs are.
With the pie crusts that I bought (Yes, I bought them, I know my limitations and pie crusts are not my thing. No matter how hard I try) I had enough for 4 pies. My advice is to be prepared for this and have extra on hand. This recipe would also work as a one crust pie. You could put the filling in a casserole dish, cast iron pan or even little individual ramekins and top it with the pie crust, phyllo dough sheets or even biscuit mix. Any of these would work and you could also use a gluten free option to make it gluten free friendly.
Because this recipe made four pies instead of three, I froze one uncooked for a later date. We had it yesterday and it was wonderful. I will be making this recipe again. I served it with rice pilaf and cranberry sauce. It is a perfect home-cooked meal for any day of the week. I would love to hear back if you make it, so feel free to reach out.
Check out my other pages here on my Recipes page of my blog Sunday Chefs.
The Best Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 6 lb Roaster Chicken You could use a rotisserie chicken already cooked, boneless chicken breasts or split chicken breasts
- 3 tbsp. Olive Oil
- 1 32 oz. Chicken Broth I use the low salt version.
- 2 or 3 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
- 1 stick Butter
- 1 large White or yellow onion Chopped
- 3/4 cup Flour
- 1/4 cup Heavy cream
- 2 cups Carrots Roasted in oven whole with olive oil, salt and pepper, then diced
- 3 stalks Celery Diced
- 1 10 oz Package of frozen peas Not defrosted
- 1/4 cup Parsley Minced
- 1 tsp. Thyme
- 1 Egg For egg wash
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2-4 Pre-made pie crusts (regular or deep dish) You need both a top and bottom for both pies.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place your chicken on a cooking sheet. Rub with olive oil and add a generous amount of salt and pepper and roast for: About 40 minutes for split breasts with bone in, 30 minutes for boneless breasts and about an hour at least for roaster chicken. Once the chicken is cool, remove the meat and diced into 1/2 cubes. (Save the bones to make stock!)
- If you bought a rotisserie chicken, you can skip ahead to this and just remove the meat from the bones and dice.
- In a saucepan heat the Chicken Broth/Stock and add the bouillon cubes. Heat until bouillon cubes dissolve.
- In a large pot with a heavy bottom, melt the butter over medium/low heat and sauté the onions until translucent. (About 10 minutes).
- Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly (this is very important) for about 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth and stir until smooth and thick. Add 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper and the cream.
- Now add the vegetables, herbs and chicken and mix well.
- Let it cool down a bit and divide evenly into pie crusts. I found with the pie crusts that I used it made more than 2. Add the top crust, crimp the edges and brush with the egg wash (In a pinch, milk will work in place of the egg wash).
- Cut three slits in the top of the pie to release the steam as it is cooking.
- Cook for an hour at 375 degrees.
- Use a meat thermometer to make sure the interior is at least 165 degrees.
In another big pot add the chicken broth, chicken (if you don’t have leftover chicken for the soup, you can leave it out or add a raw boneless chicken breast and poach it in the broth until its done, then remove it, shred it and then add it back) and spices. Bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes and then add the spinach. It will seem like too much but it wilts down to nothing. Simmer for a few more minutes. Put the tortellini in a bowl and spoon the soup over the tortellini. Top with a little Parmesan cheese and serve with some crusty bread.
I know this sounds silly, but ever since someone told me about this trick, I use it every time. As a parent of a child with food allergies, I always bring the snacks….so I make a lot of brownies. I tend to cook brownies a bit underdone on purpose, which is our family’s preference. The trick is to use a plastic spoon when cutting them. The edges come out perfect and clean and the brownies do not stick to the knife. It is miraculous. Give it a try next time you are making brownies or blondies, you will be amazed.
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