Everybody will fall in love with this easy Chicken Pot Pie!! With a creamy chicken and vegetable filling lightly infused with herbs, this Chicken Pot Pie made with puff pastry lids can be served in individual pots or made as one big pie.
This Chicken Pot Pie recipe is made by poaching uncooked chicken in stock and milk which is then used as the broth for the creamy filling. Or speed things up by using cooked chicken!
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Pot Pie was a staple in my 20’s. When I was an ambitious lass in the corporate world juggling university in the evenings, Chicken Pot Pie was a handy one-dish freezer-friendly meal that I could cram loads of extra veggies into.
So while fellow uni students were living on instant ramen and cheap sausages, I was making Chicken Pot Pie.
How very homely of me…. Some might even say daggy! 😂
I like to make Chicken Pot Pie in POTS – for maximum pastry to filling ratio!
What goes in Chicken Pot Pie
Here’s what goes in Chicken Pot Pie. Nothing unusual here – but just a couple of comments on some of the ingredients:
Stock powder – this adds more flavour in the creamy white sauce. I like to use Vegeta which is a vegetable stock powder, but any stock powder will do – vegetable or chicken;
Parmesan adds umami (which means savouriness and depth of flavour) rather than cheesiness into the sauce. If you don’t have parmesan, use about 1 1/2 cups of your favourite cheese (cheddar, Colby, Monterey Jack, tasty); and
Peas are missing! 🙂
There’s no definitive way to make Chicken Pot Pie. While some choose to make it like a traditional pie with a pastry base and shortcrust topping in a pie dish, I have always – and will always – make Chicken Pot Pies in POTS with puff pastry lids.
Let me emphasise that in case you missed it – I make Chicken POT Pie in POTS. 😜
Truthfully though, the way I make it has nothing to do with the name. I make it in pots because it’s quicker and easier, and I love draping the pots generously with puff pastry so that the golden flaky lid is fitted tightly on top and around the pots, rather than just a round piece floating on top.
How to make Chicken Pot Pie
There’s nothing really ground breaking in this Chicken Pot Pie recipe, but there are two little things I do that is a bit different to the usual:
Poach chicken and use poaching liquid to make the creamy filling. Most recipes bake the chicken. I prefer poaching so I can use the poaching liquid which becomes infused with extra flavour from the chicken; and
Parmesan in the creamy filling. Not for parmesan or cheesy flavour, for seasoning. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I use parmesan cheese regularly in recipes. It’s because it adds salt as well as umami to recipes, just giving dishes an extra something-something that makes it so good!
Tips for making Chicken Pot Pie
This is a pretty straight forward recipe, especially when made you make individual Chicken Pot Pies like I’ve done. I only have 2 tips to ensure you nail The Pot every single time:
Thicken filling to desired consistency before putting it in the pots. The sauce won’t thicken at all once the lid is on. So keep cooking until the sauce is a nice creamy consistency and not watery. Nobody likes a watery pie filling!
Cool filling before topping with puff pastry. Hot filling = melts butter in pastry that creates layers = less puff.
That moment with this Chicken Pot Pie comes out of the oven, all golden and puffed up, and you know that under that buttery lid the creamy filling is bubbling away with the tender chicken and the vegetables and it just smells so amazing…
….and THEN you crack through that almost impossibly flaky crispy puff pastry to reveal the piping hot creamy filling, and you blow furiously on it, trying to cool it down as quickly as you can so you can shovel a huge spoonful in your mouth without giving yourself 2nd degree burns….
I shouldn’t even joke about that. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve burned my mouth with Chicken Pot Pie. 😂 – Nagi x
More Cosy Pies
Cottage Pie (beef)
Shepherd’s Pie (lamb – because Shepherd’s herd sheep!)
Browse all cosy Winter Warmers
And more cosy Chicken recipes
Slow Cooked Chicken Stew and a faster Chicken Stew (Casserole) – on the table in under an hour!
Watch how to make it
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Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
Chicken & broth:
- 600 g/1.2lb chicken breast (or boneless thighs)
- 2 cups milk , any fat % (Note 1)
- 1 cup chicken broth (stock)
- 2 tsp chicken or vegetable stock powder (Note 2)
- 2 sprigs thyme , optional
Chicken Pot Pie:
- 1 large onion , chopped
- 2 large carrots (3 small). chopped
- 3 celery ribs , chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 50g / 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/3 cup white wine (sub more chicken stock)
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas , no need to thaw
- 2 sheets puff pastry (enough to cover pots, with drape)
- 1 egg , lightly whisked
Instructions
Chicken:
- Place milk, broth and stock powder in a large saucepan. Bring to a very gentle simmer over medium heat, add chicken and thyme.
- Place lid on, simmer gently on medium low for 15 minutes (do not boil, can make milk split).
- Remove chicken, shred or dice (don’t worry if inside a bit uncooked). Cover pot and set poaching liquid aside.
Chicken Pot Pie:
- Melt butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes. Add thyme, carrot and celery, cook for 3 minutes or until carrot is softened.
- Add wine. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pot, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until wine is mostly evaporated.
- Add flour and stir for 1 minute.
- Add about half the reserved poaching liquid and stir until all flour is incorporated – it will be a thick sludge.
- Add remaining milk broth, parmesan, pepper. Stir.
- Add chicken and peas, stir.
- Once mixture is heated (you’ll see steam), cook for 3 minutes to thicken the sauce, stirring regularly. (Note 3)
- Remove from heat. Spoon into oven proof pots – 4 large or 6 small (Note 4). Cool in fridge at least 30 minutes. (Note 5)
Assembly & Baking:
- Meanwhile, remove puff pastry from freezer to partially thaw. Then use a bowl as a guide to cut rounds from the pastry about 2.5cm / 1″ wider (all the way around) than the pots – be generous!
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Brush edge of pots with egg. Top with puff pastry, folding down the edges.
- Brush pastry with egg. Cut a 2cm / 2/3″ slide in the middle with a small knife.
- Bake 35 – 40 minutes until deep golden.
- Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Few snaps from Dozer’s weekend away with my besties! Clockwise from top left: Smiling happily at the sight of his weekend bag, on the road, enjoying the beach and assuming the best position at the dinner table…. (and I think he fell asleep waiting for food to drop?? 😂)
I have made this quite a few times over winter and will do so again before the weather warms up. I don’t have large enough round ramekins but I do have sort of boat shaped ramekins that are 2 cups. The perfect size for 1 serving. I always make 2 and refrigerate 1. Chock full of veggies and chicken. Filling and warming. Absolutely perfect for a winter’s evening. Thanks for this.
Fabulous. Made with scraps from a leftover roast chook; added 1 cup frozen mixed veges instead of peas/carrots. Family have asked for it again.
Hi Nagi, can I poach the chicken with frozen thighs or best wait until they are thawed?
Really great
I followed the recipe exactly- it is magnificent!! Used chicken thighs. Such a nice thing to eat on a cold day. This will be on rotation for sure, although I will increase the amount of chicken next time.
Love this pot pie Nagi !
I always say at the dinner table
My mate Nagi taught me this one 😁
You are my go to for dinner ideas
Thankyou
So delicious. I thought it would be bland but it was so flavoursome!
Absolutely delicious, we have a couple of small changes we make, we use home made stock instead of store bought, I add in a cup of corn, a zucchini and some Broccoli just to increase the veggies.
A family favourite and so easy to make !
Nagi, for health reasons I need to follow a low carb diet. I will swap some of the vegetables for low carb options, but what can I use instead of the flour for a thickener?
You can use arrowroot. I use Bob’s Red Mill Arrowroot to thicken sauces. Just read the directions a tiny bit goes a very long way
Soooo perfect! My whole family liked it very much. The half of food was eaten before we even started dinner! 😅
I made this for Easter dinner tonight, but substituted the chicken and thyme for salmon and dill. Bloody delicious!! Will definitely make again, however will start earlier to give the mix time to cool down 🙂
I loved this recipe. So flavourful!!! I have Nagi’s book and I am so inspired but the one thing I have to mention is most of the recipes take a very long time to cook. I am a busy mum and this recipe said 1.5 hours, in reality it took over 2.5 hours, it would be great if the durations were more accurate
Beth… Go click BY CATERGORY then “Quick and Easy” recipes. on the menu bar. That will help your busy life.
I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed and managed to replicate this perfectly. Thank you for this lesson.
So yeah, I split the milk! So I just strained it and carried on. But there was still some stuck to the chicken when I went to cut it so I tasted it because it’s just cheese right? It was tasty so I carried on and left it there It won’t be noticeable at the end and who doesn’t want a little extra protein? Right now my mixture is cooling and waiting for its pie crust topping. Y pie crust topping? Because I have extra and don’t want to waste it. I do love the puff pastry though!
I made it, instead of using pastry I used mashed potato all the way round as well as on top, also I made it family size in one. Excellent recipe easy to follow, easy to add to. Compliments on how great it tastes & looks. Thanks.
Love this idea! My son adores potato topped pies. Thanks for the tip!
My dog was dying a slow and painful death, so poor little Rafey begged and begged to make this chicken pot pie. We made this dish together and spent his final hours making it, however my bed-ridden mother called in and told us about the tale of the chicken pot pie monster. This monster is menacing, and haunts many pot pies. I thought it was just her dementia however, when we cut open our pies, it was glowing red! I couldn’t look into the light because it was too bright for my eyes however, I heard little Rafey whimpering and start yelping. I looked over towards him, worried for both of our lives and to my suprise, he was in a fist fight with the pie!! The red light was too strong for us and our peepers and Rafey got put to sleep. Overall 6.3/10. Great experience however the pie was a bit burnt.
Turd monster kills pot pie monster, glowing green in the night with an eerie laugh. Beware, for the turd monster comes for you.
My baby boy threw up on the first sight of it and he said it made him fear food for the first time. The peas reminded him of boogers, the carrots reminded him of diahrea particles that appear from the poo and the pie looks like a over loaded ballon with a flat head. 😡😡😡
Absolutely love all your recipes.
Thank you for posting.
Chicken Pies were a huge hit.
I just added mushrooms to the recipe, otherwise no changes.
Very tasty..
Absolutely love all your recipes.
Thank you for posting.
Chicken Pies were a huge hit.
Very tasty..
My dog tried to eat this and personally stood up and told me he despised it. He used his hands and put the whole dish in the rubbish, even the dishes. I tried to stop him, but I threw up at the sight of the inside of this dish. Wasted an hour of my life on this. Never again!
Have you considered therapy?
Thankyou my son loved it any being he is the only meat eater i didnt have to make a huge pie very handy in a pot 💕 did Dozer get some?💋
I love Dozer