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?? 😂)
Delicious! Made thus tonight and it was a winner; my partner said it’s up there in his top 10 dishes of all time.
The other small issue was the filling seemed to split/separate so it wasn’t a thick creamy sauce like in your video. I followed the recipe but baked the pie in an enamel dish, so am thinking perhaps the dish just got too hot and split the milk? It didn’t affect the flavour though, so will definitely be making this again!
Thanks Nagi
I am about to pop this into the oven, Thank you its looks amazing!
Enjoy Lizzie!! N x
Made today for my family for dinner, I decided to add a spoon of curry powder to the poaching broth and wow, they turned out amazing!! Thanks for a great recipe Nagi!!
I love this idea Dannielle!!! N x
Wow!! this was awesome. I made a few tweaks. (what cook doesn’t) I cooked two chicken breast in the crock pot. Put in 1 med onion, roughly chopped , a few baby carrots and 2 ribs large chunks celery…added salt and pepper and little dried thyme..and (in this case—frozen) chicken breast–Salt and Pepper covered with water, turned pot on hi and covered the whole thing with a large bath towel This trick holds in the steam and cooks 2 times faster.That gave me time to do other chores and errands. Took about 2-3 hours—including cooling chicken
and chicken. I strained my homemade broth and followed your instructions there on out.. THE BEST! You are the bomb. Finished leftovers today,…Maybe better than the first day. Thanks so much. BTW: My 2nd review ever. I did add a few more seasonings…garlic power and pinch of sage.
I couldn’t find puff pastry, would Phyllo dough work instead?
Sounds fantastic Mae! N x
Very simple and easy to make and actually much better than some of the more intricate recipes I’ve used. I will be using this recipe in the future! The only tweek i made, was that i omitted the thyme because my husband personally doesn’t like the spice
I cook these in the Kmart pie cooker till firm but not completely cooked then cool and freeze. We then defrost and either stick them in the oven or pie maker to crisp up. Yummy. I thrown in leftover ham if we have it.
Hi Nagi, just making this recipe now but I’ve accidently split the milk. Is it still useable or should I start again?
TIA
I’m making this recipe tonight, everyone liked it. Next time I’ll put a little less Parmesan.
Thank you for this great recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Caraellz!
Nagi: Does it have to have cheese??
Hi Charlie, you don’t have to add cheese but you may want to up the seasoning a little to account for not having parmesan in it. N x
Thank you Nagi!
Your recipes are wonderful! This was delicious. I used the clever adjustable recipe serves function on the website to reduce the amount to three people. Made 8 pies in small ramekins.
I just cut the puff pastry square into quarters and lay a square over whole pie… rustic and allows more pastry per person with no wasted off cuts
Pie was perfect consistency and loved by all. Couple of us needed a tad extra salt.
Love all your recipes! My husband can’t ear store bought pastry. Do you have a recipe for puff pastry?
Absolutely wonderful. My whole family gobbled it up and I have some picky eaters in my home. Thank you for sharing your talents. xoxo
Sounds like this will be on regular rotation in your home! That’s awesome!
This is the BEST chicken pot pie I have EVER made. I can’t thank you enough for sharing! A bit time intensive, but pretty easy overall and definitely worth the effort.
Thanks so much Laura!
I have always made pot pies in ramekins too with puff pastry on the top! But I hate the way the pastry sticks so hard to the sides of the pot and find myself scraping away at it to get every last bit of goodness! Any suggestions??
Hi Linda, just spray the edge of the ramekin with a little oil, it should help it to stop sticking as much 🙂
Hi Nagi, I’m keen to have this recipe on hand for left over turkey at Christmas as suggested. What would I use instead of reserved broth being as the turkey will already be cooked? Thanks
Hi Sarah – you’ll still need to make the broth up as you’ll use it in the pie – you just wont need to cook any chicken in it. 🙂
I am not keen on cheese, at all. I live in Denmark so not sure, if something else can be used? Looking forward to making it, once I know what to use instead. Sounds amazing.
Hi Anna, just leave it out – you may need to up the salt a little to counter for no parmesan – N x
This was a fun meal to make with my husband. I love the poaching in milk technique. Our onions and garlic tend to be huge, so will adjust for that next time. Also, I will allow myself 2 hrs to prepare this meal.
I’m so glad you loved it May!
Hi Nagi. Thank you for all your recipes. I made your Chicken Pot Pie recipe in a baking dish and put mashed potatoes on top. The dish was 7×11 inches. Should I still bake it for 35-40 minutes? Also, is there a reason why you don’t use fresh thyme in the filling? Many thanks. Love your recipes!
Another amazing burn the mouth cause I’m eating this right out of the oven
Simply lip smacking
I poached 3 bone in breasts in homemade chicken stock then let it cool in the broth until it cook enough to handle ( tip learnt from Rachel Ray)
I put my store bought frozen puff pastry in the fridge quite a few hours before needing it then take it out just before using. Overnight or morning is best
This is the best Chicken Pot Pie. Love Doozer we were blessed with 3 incredible Goldie’s over the last 20 years. When Indy passed away 2 years ago we brought a Portuegse Water Dog into the family for allergy reasons but man I miss my Goldie’s
Love seeing Doozer pics
I do that ALLLLLL the time 😂 I’m so glad you still enjoyed it Jodi! Give your pups a big belly rub from me – N x
Hi Nagi, do you have a recipe for easy puff pastry made using stand mixer? The store bought ones always dry out as I’m thawing it ☹️
Hi Zubie, I don’t sorry – I usually buy store bought. Keep a damp paper towel over the pastry whilst thawing to prevent it drying out – N x
I’m on a spree cooking all your recipes so you’ll need to excuse my frequent commenting, but I just have to let people know how GOOD they all are! This pot pie was absolutely devoured – I made it as one family sized pie and everyone fought over who was going to lick the dish after dinner 😂 (I won). Really simple and delicious. I made extra puff pastry tops because, you know, you can never have too much pastry! Totally excessive but I regret nothing.
Sounds like you nailed it Bree!!
Oh sorry I forgot to mention I’m making this tomorrow so I’m in a rush with planning things out before they get home ☺️