Make-Ahead Mini Chicken Pot Pies
This recipe takes time to prepare, so it's best done when you're not in a rush. It's a favorite make-ahead meal, perfect for gifting to friends or family. This recipe makes 6 mini chicken pot pies.
This recipe takes time to prepare, so it's best done when you're not in a rush. It's a favorite make-ahead meal, perfect for gifting to friends or family. This recipe makes 6 mini chicken pot pies.
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 3/4 lbs. boneless chicken breasts
- 48 ounce light & fat free chicken broth
- 1 1/3 cup sliced carrots
- 1 1/3 cup finely diced celery
- 1 shallot, finely diced (optional)
- 1/4 cup milk (1% is fine)
- 1 1/2 cups frozen petite peas
- 15. ounce. box pillsbury ready to roll pie crust
- 1 egg (for egg wash)
- Carbohydrate 17.4935319444444 g
- Cholesterol 86.9004175916667 mg
- Fat 8.1765528215 g
- Fiber 3.03077777716849 g
- Protein 34.0638374012917 g
- Saturated Fat 3.11585043390278 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (466g)
- Sodium 215.542220145833 mg
- Sugar 14.462754167276 g
- Trans Fat 0.912886406125001 g
- Calories 287 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Rinse the chicken under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken on both sides. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 8 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside to cool. Pour the broth into a large bowl and set aside.
- Melt the butter in the empty Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and shallot. Stir occasionally and cook until lightly browned. Add the flour to the vegetables and whisk for 1 minute. Add the broth and milk and whisk until it thickens, about 5 minutes or so. Set the sauce aside to cool.
- Using a fork, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken to the sauce, season with salt and pepper, and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until completely cooled.
- Remove the 2 wrapped pie crust rolls from the box. Let the wrapped crust rolls sit out on the counter for 15 minutes or so. Unwrap one pie crust, unroll it on a flour dusted counter. Turn an empty mini loaf pan over on the pie dough and cut around it 3 times to get 3 pie crusts. Repeat with the 2nd pie dough. Cut 3 steam vents in each crust.
- Remove the vegetable/sauce mixture from the refrigerator. Uncover the bowl and mix in the frozen peas.
- Spoon the mixture into 6 mini loaf tins evenly.
- Top each with a pie crust.
- Wrap well in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Label each chicken pot pie. Freeze up to 2 months. I made these little Heating Direction cards on the computer. All you have to do is tape them on with a little packaging tape.
- No need to thaw out the chicken pot pie! Unwrap the pot pies. Place them on a sheet pan. If you want to brush the tops with egg wash, do it now. (Egg wash: whisk one egg in a small bowl)
- Reuse the foil to cover the chicken pot pies (loosely). Cook at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover and cook for 35 minutes. If the center of the crust looks like it needs to be cooked longer, turn the oven to broil and watch it carefully for up to 1 minute as it will brown the crust quickly.
Starch degradation ruins more frozen pot pies than incorrect baking temperatures do. When flour is cooked with butter and chicken broth to create a velouté base, the starch molecules must reach a full simmer to gelatinize properly; otherwise, the sauce will break down into a watery pool once thawed and baked. Browning the boneless chicken breasts first in a Dutch oven builds the necessary fond, while simmering the meat gently in 48 ounces of broth for exactly 8 minutes prevents it from turning stringy. Shredding the cooled chicken by hand yields better texture retention than cubing it with a knife because torn muscle fibers absorb more of the vegetable and milk sauce during storage. Allowing the velouté base to cool completely in the refrigerator before adding frozen petite peas stops the legumes from prematurely softening and losing their bright color. When cutting the 15-ounce Pillsbury ready-to-roll pie crusts using inverted mini loaf pans as templates, leaving the dough on a lightly floured counter prevents tearing while ensuring precise dimensions for the 6 individual tins. For the final bake, transferring the frozen pies directly to a 400 degree F oven without thawing keeps the pastry fat solid until it hits the heat, producing flaky layers rather than a soggy bottom. Covering the tins loosely with foil for the first 40 minutes protects the pastry from burning before the dense interior reaches a safe internal temperature, followed by 35 minutes uncovered to crisp the top. Dietary adjustments are straightforward, as whole milk can be swapped for plant-based alternatives with similar fat percentages, and gluten-free flour blends work effectively in the roux if the whisking time is extended by two minutes to eliminate grain grittiness.
