Chicken Pot Pie is a slow recipe, one to make on a cold and gray fall or winter day spent at home. You can drift in and out of the kitchen to attend to various steps at a leisurely pace, and once the pies go into the oven you have an hour to relax (with a book? by the fire?) while the house gradually fills with the warm savory scent of chicken-y broth, woody herbs and buttery pastry.
The best Chicken Pot Pie starts with hefty chunks of chicken. Add tender, small-diced vegetables, and no potatoes, please. Suspend the chicken and vegetables in a creamy broth, seasoned with thyme and rosemary and not overly thickened with flour. Skip the bottom crust, which would only get disappointingly soggy. For the crust on top (my favorite part), store-bought shortcuts like packaged pie crust or – worse – phyllo or frozen puff pastry are not welcome. The homemade dough that crowns these beauties is rich and thick, easy to handle and a dream to roll out thanks to the surprise ingredient: cream cheese. The cream cheese doesn’t make the crust taste cheesy, just somehow more buttery.
The lid of crust is large, and drapes way down the sides of these ramekins. (Did I mention that the crust is my favorite part? The curtains of crust that cling to the outside of the ramekin are a special treat – they bake up crisp and buttery with an almost croissant-like flakiness.) I have a technique for getting the crust to adhere to the side of the ramekin. Place the filled ramekin in the center of the circle of dough and paint the entire exposed surface of the dough with egg wash. Then flip the dough over, egg-wash-side down, center it over the ramekin, and firmly press the dough against the ramekin with your palms until it melds to the side of the dish.
Chill the pot pies for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours before baking, and the dough will firm up and stick even more securely. Before you slide the pies into the oven you’ll brush the outside of the dough with the remaining egg wash, which gives the finished pies their shiny golden tops.
Even with that preparation, on occasion the dough that overhangs the sides of the ramekin will let go as it bakes and pieces of it might slide down the sides and fall off. This happens, and the only way to prevent it entirely would be to make the lid of dough smaller so it sits inside the top of the ramekin instead of hugging it generously – but that would be cutting off our noses to spite our faces, wouldn’t it? So don’t be disappointed if some of the dough from your pot pies slumps to the baking sheet beside the ramekin. Just pick it up off the baking sheet with your finished pie and serve it alongside – it will taste every bit as good.
Making these ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- The filling and crust can be made ahead by up to one day and stored separately in the fridge. The assembled pies, with crusts on top but not brushed with egg wash yet, can hold for several hours before baking. Add the egg wash just before baking.
- Leftover pies keep for a couple of days and are best reheated in the microwave. This crust is sturdy enough to hold up to microwaving without getting soggy, and the deep ramekins full of cold filling take forever to reheat in the oven. Microwave individual pies for 2 minutes, then carefully crack open the center of the crust and gently stir the filling and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes more until the filling is bubbling and hot all the way through.
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
- For the filling:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- ¾ cup ¼-inch diced carrot (2 large carrots)
- ¾ cup ¼-inch diced onion (1 medium onion)
- ¾ cup ¼-inch diced celery (3 stalks)
- 4 ounces cremini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup frozen peas (not thawed)
- Breast meat from 1 large rotisserie chicken, or other leftover cooked boneless white meat chicken, about 16 ounces
- 2½ cups chicken broth
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
- For the crust:
- 1 7/8 cups (8 ounces or 225 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or ¼ teaspoon Morton’s
- ¾ cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, preferably European-style, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 6 ounces cream cheese, cut or torn with your fingers into roughly 1-inch pieces
- 2 to 2½ tablespoons ice water
- For assembly:
- All-purpose flour for the board
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon heavy cream
Directions
- Step 1 Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the carrots and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the onion, celery and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2 While the vegetables cook, shred the chicken breast meat with your hands into large bite-sized pieces and put them in a large bowl. When the vegetables are done, add them to the bowl with the chicken, along with the frozen peas.
- Step 3 Wipe out the skillet and return it to medium heat. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter. While the butter melts, heat the chicken broth in the microwave until hot, about 3 minutes.
- Step 4 Add the 6 tablespoons of flour and the poultry seasoning to the butter and whisk until the mixture forms a smooth paste. Cook, whisking frequently, for 2 minutes.
- Step 5 Whisk in the hot broth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth and no lumps of flour remain. Whisk in the milk and cream. Cook, whisking, until the mixture just comes to a simmer. Whisk in 1 teaspoon of kosher salt if using Diamond Crystal, or ½ teaspoon if using Morton’s, and ½ teaspoon of pepper, plus the thyme and rosemary. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables and stir to combine. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
- Step 6 Spoon the chicken mixture into four 16-ounce oven-proof ramekins. Transfer the ramekins to the refrigerator and chill until the filling is completely cool.
- Step 7 Meanwhile, make the crust. Put the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and cream cheese and pulse until the butter is broken down to the size of peas. Add the water a little bit at a time, while pulsing the machine, just until the dough starts to come together – it will not form a ball, and will look drier and looser than classic pie dough. Turn the dough out onto a board and quickly knead it until it comes together. Shape the dough into short, thick log. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Step 8 Whisk the egg and 1 tablespoon of cream together to make an egg wash.
- Step 9 After the dough has chilled and the filling is completely cold, proceed. Cut the log of chilled dough log into 4 thick slices. Roll one slice out to a circle about 8 inches in diameter on a lightly floured board. Place one of the ramekins full of filling in the center of the dough circle. Using a sharp knife, cut around the ramekin to make a clean-edged circle. Brush the enter border around the ramekin with egg wash. Remove the ramekin, flip the dough over (egg-wash-side down), and drape it over the ramekin. Use your palms to firmly press the edges of the dough against the ramekin to seal it, being careful not to tear the dough. Repeat with the remaining dough and ramekins. Reserve the remaining egg wash.
- Step 10 Chill the pot pies for 30 minutes. During the last 15 minutes of the chilling time, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil.
- Step 11 Arrange the pot pies on the foil-lined sheet. Brush the top and sides of the dough on all the ramekins with the reserved egg wash. Cut three small slits in the top of each pie with a sharp knife for venting steam.
- Step 12 Bake the pot pies for 50 to 60 minutes or until the crusts are golden brown and you can see filling bubbling through the vents in the crust. Cool 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
