My Favorite Chicken Pot Pie

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

Good Monday, friends! I am sorry for the unannounced break last week - Andrew and I were both traveling, and that travel sent us in opposite directions for the weekend. I drove home Monday morning just in time for work, a day in advance of Andrew. Which, of course, prevented me from writing this newsletter, so I decided to push it off for a week and give your inbox a break.

I think there’s something very cozy about being the first one home, whether of a common workday or a weekend out of town. Soup is often the obvious answer for a “welcome home” meal - nearly everyone feels up for soup after a day of being shaken around airplanes and airports (both of which leave me, at least, feeling tepidly unwell and in need of some protein.) 

But it didn’t feel like a time for soup. I wanted something heartier, something I haven’t made in a year, something we love very much, and more to the point, something I have yet to share with you. In short, it was time to make a chicken pot pie.

This recipe is built off the bones of one given me years ago (nearly twenty at this point) by my friends, the Wilsons. The recipe came from several generations back in their family, and it is a simple, delightful, not-remotely-stodgy meal. Over the intervening years I have fitted it to my own taste: added vegetables and mushrooms; deepened the flavor of the sauce; used butter rather than shortening in the crust; found that if you add peas at the very last moment before slipping the pie into the oven, they’ll stay lovely and bright green, and un-shriveled. The end result is just lovely; exactly what you hope for when the words “chicken pot pie” are said, and exactly what a frozen, store-bought version isn’t. At first glance the recipe will appear long and involved but please don’t worry - I wrote it so that each step is clearly defined and explained with the hopes that even the newest cook would find it easy to follow. After all, the main steps are simple, when it comes down to it:

• chopping vegetables and cooked chicken

• briefly cooking these

• stirring up a sauce on the stove

• whipping together a crust in a bowl - but only a top crust! No fussy bits to this!

• stirring the sauce into the pie filling

• assembling

• shoving into the oven

• end scene

I don’t know anyone who is incapable of those tasks. Read the recipe before you begin, keep a clean workspace, and in a modest amount of time you’ll be digging into a chicken pot pie of legendary flavor. This pie is meant to be saucy - you have done exactly the right thing if, when you break into it, the filling pools creamily into your dish with a pert bit of crust nesting on top. You will not be able to lift out a slice like, say, apple pie, and see it keep its form. Admittedly, it’s quite a homely-looking food. It wins no beauty pageants (particularly if you’ve forgone peas and said yes to mushrooms because then it is fifty shades of beige), but it is pure comfort.

My bare toes are freezing against our floor as I write this, and it’s a bold forty-two degrees outside. Not long till the first frost. A chicken pie seems exactly the thing to share with someone you love.

Chicken Pot Pie (one large 9” version)

For the top crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

6 tablespoons cold butter

1/2 cup whole milk

1 large egg (for making an egg wash)

Flaky salt

For the filling:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely grated

2 small ribs of celery, chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

Salt and pepper

2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (I like using meat from a rotisserie chicken, but use what you have)

For the sauce:

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cups whole milk

1/2 tsp. Freshly cracked black pepper

Salt to taste

1. Begin with making the crust: Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut butter into 1/2” pieces and rub into flour with fingertips (or a pastry cutter) till coarse crumbs form. It is all right if there are some pea-size pieces of butter remaining.

2. Add milk, and bring dough together with a fork until it begins to form a cohesive mass. Carefully knead a couple times in the bowl. If it is still crumbling, add a splash more milk. When it can form a ball of dough, cover it and set it in the fridge to chill while you work on the filling.

3. For the filling: heat the olive oil in a large skillet on the stove over medium heat, and to this add the onion and garlic. When fragrant, add the celery and carrot and saute until the onions are translucent and the carrot and celery are somewhat softened and tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. When everything is done cooking, add the cooked chicken, mix well, and set aside off the heat.

4. For the sauce: melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. When melted, add the flour and cook for three minutes, whisking continuously until the flour has taken on a somewhat golden color. If it still looks as white as before, whisk a little longer. This will keep the sauce from tasting pasty.

5. When the flour has taken on the desired color, add chicken broth and milk, and whisk thoroughly. Keep the heat on medium or medium-low and stir frequently. The sauce will begin to thicken, and as it does season with salt and pepper. I like to taste it at this point and adjust the seasoning. If you have mushroom powder it is a nice addition, or even a careful sprinkle of red cayenne pepper for a small kick. If desired, you can also add a splash of vinegar or lemon juice to balance the dish. I find each batch wants something different, so trust your own palate.

6. The sauce is finished when it is the approximate thickness of a Hollandaise sauce: smooth and rich, not gloppy. Pour over the chicken and vegetables in the skillet and mix thoroughly, then pour all of the finished filling into a deep-dish pie pan.

7. To roll out the crust: generously dust a large cutting board or countertop with flour, then take the pie crust from the fridge, and begin to roll it out into a circle. I like to flip it a few times while rolling to make sure everything below and on top of the crust is well-floured - this will make it easier to heft onto the pie pan! Roll out into a large circle, as large as you dare without the dough splitting and tearing. I like to aim for 12” in diameter, though any diameter wide enough to fit the top of your pie pan is fine. You can trip the edges or do I ask do: roll any excess edges onto the rim of the pie and crimp the edges neatly, or press them down with the tines of a fork. This is purely ornamental, and to try to keep any pot-pie filling from escaping under the top crust and over the edge of the pie pan. If it doesn’t look beautiful, that’s okay. It will be delicious no matter how rough and ready it looks.

8. To finish the pie: beat together one large egg and two tablespoons of cold water till totally smooth. Paint with a pastry brush over every bit of the crust - this will give us a beautiful glossy top to our pie. Scatter a few pinches of flaky salt over the egg wash, then take a knife and cut a few slits for the steam to escape in the center of the pie. This can be decorative or merely functional. Slide the pot pie into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top crust looks golden brown. Since the interior of the pie is pre-cooked, you do not have to worry about whether it is “done” or not. Simply bake it to the shade of your liking!

9. Remove from the oven, allow to cool briefly, then serve and enjoy!

Baker’s Note: This pie can also be pre-made to the stage just before baking, then frozen on a flat tray. Simply thaw before baking, and bake as usual according to instructions. This is a great meal to bring to a sick, sad, or recovering friend! Additionally, the vegetables in the pie can be swapped out for whatever you wish with little effort. If I use peas, I like to add them at the stage when I add the chicken, as I find they stay much tastier and intact without being pre-cooked.