Mini Chicken Pot Pies hold tender chicken and veggies in gravy tucked in a pastry crust. And you can freeze them for later!
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What a perfect comfort food: a savory, gravy-laden filling in a flaky pie crust!
I remember as a teen buying little 4-inch diameter frozen chicken pot pies (Swanson? Marie Callender?) that held about three tablespoons of chicken and gravy and yet took upwards of an hour to bake.
That store-bought, teeny, supposed convenience food was never worth the wait. However, if you're baking up a frozen, homemade chicken pot pie, you know it will be worth the bake time, and definitely worth the wait.
Here's a seemingly random, but actually related side note. Though it's been a very long time since we've watched the late 90's TV show Just Shoot Me, my husband and I remember this bit very clearly, and we love it.
We sang the ditty many, many times while making and eating these mini Chicken Pot Pies. Watch the quick clip above and you will understand.
Another tasty, cool-weather dish: Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Rosemary!
Why you'll love this recipe
This recipe makes six individual chicken pot pies, and there are directions for freezing some or all of the pies. They'll be great to have on hand for a future dinner - just bake them up.
The filling is the classic mixture of chicken breast, carrots, celery, and onion. Peas are also a favorite ingredient, and they're listed as an option. (I left them out of our pot pie because we have many anti-pea people in this house!)
The crust is the savory version of my Perfect All-Butter Pie Crust. Flakes of Maldon Sea Salt are gorgeous scattered across the tops!
🔪 How to make Mini Chicken Pot Pies
Ingredients:
- Chicken: Use cooked chicken breast—leftover or from a rotisserie chicken
- Pie Crust Dough: I recommend my All Butter Pie Crust with savory spices
- Veggies: Chopped carrots, celery, and onion. And peas if you like 'em!
- Spices: Parsley, salt, and pepper. Plus flaky sea salt for the top crust
- Garlic: Freshly minced garlic adds lots of flavor
- Butter: This is part of the roux to thicken the gravy
- Flour: All-purpose is fine, it's also for the roux
- Stock: Chicken stock adds even more flavor to the filling
- Egg: This is for the egg wash to make the baked crust shine
Step 1: Make the filling
Cook the chopped vegetables in butter until they're soft. Sprinkle flour over the mixture, then add in stock and milk. Cook until the liquid thickens, then stir in the chopped chicken. Let the filling cool.
Step 2: Roll the bottom crusts
Divide the All-Butter Pie Crust dough into 6 pieces. Roll them out into circles, and fit them into the mini pie plates.
Step 3: Add the filling and the top crusts
Spoon filling into the crusts. Divide and roll out the rest of the dough. Fit the dough circles over the tops of the pies and crimp the edges.
Step 4: Bake
Brush the pies with egg wash, then bake them for about 30 minutes until the crusts are brown and the filling is bubbling. Let the pies cool a little, then enjoy!
Tips:
- These pies are made with the savory version of my All-Butter Pie Crust - tap here for the link.
- If you don't have the All-Butter Pie Crust available, you can use store-bought pie crust dough.
- To freeze some or all of the pies, see the note in the recipe card below.
Alright, sing it with me: "Chicken Pot, chicken pot, chicken pot piiiie!"
The recipe for Mini Chicken Pot Pies is below, and here are some other warm and hearty Savory Pies!
💬Let me know what you think: leave a comment below!
📖 Recipe
Mini Chicken Pot Pies
Equipment
- 6 mini aluminum pie tins (5-inch diameter)
Ingredients
- All Butter Pie Crust dough, full recipe, savory version
- 2 carrots (about 7 ounces) peeled and chopped into ½-inch pieces
- 2 celery ribs (about 7 ounces) chopped into ½-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion (about 7 ounces) diced
- ½ cup frozen peas (optional)
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
- 1½ cups chicken stock or broth
- ¾ cup milk
- 3 cups cooked and chopped chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup water
- Maldon Sea Salt Flakes
Instructions
Make the filling:
- In a large bowl, combine the chopped carrots, chopped celery, diced onion, peas (if using), diced garlic and parsley. In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add in the vegetable mixture. Stir to coat the veggies with the melted butter and cook them over medium heat until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle the ½-cup of flour over the top and stir into the mixture. Cook the mixture for 1 minute more, and then slowly add in the chicken stock and milk. Bring the mixture to a simmer and simmer it, stirring frequently until the liquid has thickened a little, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the chicken, salt and pepper. Set the mixture aside to cool.
Prepare the dough:
- Take half of the chilled All-Butter Pie Crust Dough and use a knife or bench scraper to cup the dough into 6 equal pieces.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into an 8-inch circle. Fit each circle into a mini aluminum pie tin, pressing the dough over the bottoms and up the sides of the tins, and allowing excess dough to hang over the sides.
- Check the temperature of the filling: it should be lukewarm or cooler. (Any warmer than this and it will start to melt the butter in the dough as you fill the pies.) If the filling is not yet cool enough, loosely cover the dough in the tins with plastic wrap and refrigerate them while you wait.)
Assemble the pies:
- Once the filling is cool enough, preheat the oven to 425° F. Move the rack to the lower half of the oven. Have a large baking sheet ready to set the pies on.
- Add a generous cup of chicken-vegetable filling to each of the pie shells. If you still a little filling left, divide evenly between the pies.
- Take the other half of the All-Butter Pie Crust from the fridge and divide it into 6 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion out into a 6-inch circle.
- Place a dough circle on top of one of the pies. Trim the edges to be just slightly larger than the overhang of the bottom crust.
- Roll both the lower and upper crust edges under, all around the pie to make a thick edge. Firmly crimp the edge all around onto the edge of the tin.
- Cut a few slits in the top crust for venting. Repeat these steps for the other 5 pies.
- Note: if you're planning to freeze the pies, skip the next step and refer to the Freezer Directions at the end of the recipe.)
- Beat together the egg plus ¼ cup water. Brush this egg wash over the tops of the pies using a pastry brush. Sprinkle a few Maldon sea salt flakes over each pie.
- Place the pies on the baking sheet and pop them into the oven. Bake the pies for 30 minutes, until the crusts are nicely browned and the filling is bubbling. Serve the pies immediately.
Freezer Directions:
- Wrap the assembled pies in a few layers of plastic wrap and set them in a single layer in your freezer. Once they are frozen solid you can stack them, and keep them in the freezer for up to one month.
- When ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 400° F, and move the rack to the lower half of the oven. Unwrap the frozen pies and place them on a baking sheet.
- Beat together an egg plus ¼ cup water. Brush this egg wash over the tops of the pies using a pastry brush. Sprinkle a few Maldon sea salt flakes over each pie.
- Bake the pies for about 50 minutes, until the centers are cooked through and bubbling, and the crust has browned. (If the crust is browning too quickly, you can tent the top with a piece of aluminum foil.)
Option: Make Your Own Poultry Seasoning
- To make your own poultry seasoning blend, stir together 1 teaspoon ground sage, 1 teaspoon thyme, ½ teaspoon marjoram, ½ teaspoon rosemary, and a dash each of ground black pepper and ground nutmeg.
Notes
- These pies are made with the savory version of my All-Butter Pie Crust - tap here for the link.
- If you don't have the All-Butter Pie Crust available, you can use store-bought crust.
Janet S Buckley
Is it 1/2 cup or 1/3 cup of flour? List of ingredients says 1/2 cup but instructions say 1/3 cup.
Nancy Mock
Thanks for flagging this, Janet! It is 1/2 cup of flour and I fixed it in the instructions.
Joshua Armstrong
6 mini chicken pot pies? Lame!
How about SIXTY! You got it Six. Zero. 60 pot pies!
I used the recipe and scaled to make 60 pot pies. The food processor was my friend here. I just took it one ingredient at a time and added it to a large bowl mixing bowl.
I used 4 lemon pepper rotisserie chickens. Ripped the meat off the bones and chopped the chunks in the food processor. I kept the skin on and it chopped just fine in the food processor. I do wish I had a bit “chunkier” chicken but I wasn’t chopping chicken for 60 pot pies by hand that’s nonsense.
I realized I forgot chicken stock/broth. Then I realized that I could likely take all my bones and veggie shavings and I made my own homemade stock. (I popped on Google and found an easy recipe.) Despite the 3 hour detour, making my own stock turned out to be exactly the right choice and the extra time was ABSOLUTELY worth it.
“Since they are “mini” pot pies so they can be like a treat…” I said to myself as I threw in extra butter with the veggies. I was careful not to overbook them and they retained a nice soft crunch.
I was going for that real restaurant taste - so I got bold and used heavy whipping cream instead of milk.
I let the gallon and a half of pot pie filling chill overnight because I was I had found the wine and was getting quite drunk at this point and needed to go to bed. This was also a good thing because the flavors really had time to cuddle in the fridge while I slept it off.
Today we are having a homemade pie crust making party with a pretty talented baker. I promised her if she helps/teaches me how to make the crusts - I’d give her a cut of the pies.
Once the pies are all ready we will freeze these bad boys and bust them out on board game nights, movie nights, or if I feel like making a poor food choice after a Friday night out without spending a bunch on delivery.
I spent about 80 bucks on all the ingredients. Making each pie just $1.33.
Finally, and most importantly, these are the best pot pies I’ve ever had!
Nancy Mock
Hi Josua - WOW! Scaling a recipe up for a quantity like that can be tricky, but it sounds like you nailed it. I'm happy that you chose my recipe and that you think it's the best you've had! That's a great idea to keep a bunch in the freezer for an easy meal/snack when friends are over. Thank you so much for sharing your pot pie adventure with me! Have a great day. 🙂
Heidi
I love chicken pot pie and your recipe looks so delicious!
Nancy Mock
Chicken pot pie is the best!!!!
Mock!
I can not imagine adding peas to these! They were so tasty and the crust was PERFECT! Good on you!
Nancy Mock
Good on you too Mock! #nopeasforme