From Scratch Chicken Pot Pie

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Last updated on October 11th, 2021 at 06:11 pm

For me, a good chicken pot pie is the quintessential comfort food. A perfectly golden-brown crust blankets a medley of vegetables, chicken, and sauce to bind it all together. Mmmm mmmm mmmm. It’s an impeccable balance between the flaky crust and velvety guts.

My family has always referred to the filling of a chicken pot pie as the guts. Enough that it took me a minute to remember that it is typically called pie filling. So when I mention the guts here, I am not trying to be gross or off-putting. It just doesn’t feel right to call it by any other name. No matter what Shakespeare said. Though pie guts by any other name would still taste delightful.

Chicken pot pie is one of my favorites. For years, any time I came to visit my parents I would beg my mom to make it. While still delicious every time mom makes it, I can now have it whenever I want. It’s a dangerous skill to have…

How it Started

Learning to make pot pie began as a hungry young teen when I would sneak into the kitchen because I simply couldn’t wait for the food to bake. That was too long and I needed food. So if I was there when the guts were done but before being covered by dough, I could pilfer some creamy filling. Eventually, this led to me being in the kitchen earlier and earlier in the cooking process.

My mom got smart and had me earn my keep – chopping carrots, peeling potatoes, or shredding chicken. I was in the mix and seeing the whole process from start to finish. And because I love chicken pot pie so much, it ended up being one of the very first recipes that I really learned how to make.

However, I never really focused on making the crust. My dutiful sous chef and wife, Brooke, made crusts for me while I focused on putting the pie guts together. A great opportunity to spend time together in the kitchen. I did try my hand at making crusts eventually as well. And now have a post on how to make the ultimate pie crust.

I tend to make too much food. This holds true when I am making the pie guts for chicken pot pie. But my wife and I soon realized we could use this to our advantage and freeze the extra filling. If you make a double-batch then you can freeze the unbaked mixed together pie guts for up to 6 months. Then when the hankering for pot pie strikes, just take the filling into the fridge for 24-48 hours before you are ready to make the pie.

Customize Your Pot Pie

This recipe is especially good for days when you have leftover chicken, or if you just grab a rotisserie chicken from Costco to use. You can also switch it up to a turkey pot pie by simply swapping turkey for the chicken (great for leftovers of your beautifully cooked Thanksgiving turkey). A lot of the recipe is fairly adaptable to whatever you are in the mood for or have on hand. I’ve used sweet potatoes in place of the potatoes and thrown in asparagus, green beans, or corn depending on how I felt.

It is also fun to decorate your pie. For this pie I rolled out some extra dough and used a snowflake cookie cutter to punch out some decorations and place them on top before baking. Plus, I was able to cover up a couple of spots on the top crust that had ripped a little and didn’t look very pretty. Win, win.

You can also cook the chicken in a variety of ways to use in this recipe. My mom would frequently boil the chicken breast. For making the pie in this post, I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, ground sage, dried thyme, and garlic powder. Then I seared the outside on the stovetop for a few minutes and placed it in the oven at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes until it was done cooking. It helped to use an oven-safe pan when searing the chicken so that I could just put it straight from stovetop to oven.

One of my favorite aspects of making chicken pot pie from scratch is how you can make it your own based on what is available or what you enjoy most. Let me know in the comments your favorite ingredient to throw into the chicken pot pie mix.

From Scratch Chicken Pot Pie

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: EntreesDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

40

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

20

minutes

A selection of hearty vegetables, chicken, and sauce baked into a buttery, flaky crust. Comfort food to the max.

Ingredients

• Pie Guts

• 3 large potatoes

• 2 large carrots

• 1 celery rib

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 large shallot (or about half a cup chopped red onion)

• 4 tablespoons butter

• 6 tablespoons flour

• 3/4 cup chicken stock

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken (2 large boneless, skinless breasts)

• Crust

• Follow this pie crust recipe or use any other crust you prefer

Directions

• Crust
• Make ahead or buy a premade crust to use with this recipe – note that my pie crust recipe needs an hour in the fridge after coming together
• Pie Ingredients
• Peel and cube potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces
• Slice carrots into 1/4″ thick rounds
• Thinly slice celery
• Mince the garlic and shallots
• Bring 4 quarts salted water to a boil
• Put potatoes and carrots into the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes until fork tender
• Once potatoes and carrots are ready, turn off the heat and toss in the celery and frozen peas then let sit for 2 minutes
• Drain the vegetables using a colander in the sink
• Roux and Sauce – Can be made while waiting for water to boil for the vegetables
• Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat
• Add the garlic and shallots and let them simmer in the butter for 3 to 5 minutes
• Whisk in the flour to make a roux and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly – note that it will be a relatively thick mixture once the flour is incorporated
• Whisk the broth, cream, salt, and pepper into the roux until it is all incorporated, and turn off the heat
• Assembly and Baking
• Take the pie dough out of the fridge to sit for a few minutes at room temperature
• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C)
• Mix the vegetables, chicken, and the sauce together to make the guts
• Roll out the bottom crust on a floured surface to about 11″ in diameter and place it in a 9″ pie dish
• Fill the pie dish with your filling
• Roll out the top crust on a floured surface to about 10″ in diameter and cover your pie
• Add any decorations, edging, etc. to the pie and cut off any extra overhanging dough
• Bake your pie in the oven for around 40 minutes until golden brown
• Let it cool, cut into slices, and enjoy

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