Make Ahead

Harvest Chicken Pot Pie

September 12, 2010
4.6
7 Ratings
  • Serves 1 9 inch pie
Author Notes

I went to the local farmers market and I was impressed with the fresh carrots with the green leaves and the orange color. Among the fresh fruits and vegetables I saw an impressive specimen of leeks... and I was seduced by the smells of the freshly picked sage and thyme. I was thinking what can I make with there ingredients and enter it to the contest. Thus this recipe was born. This is what the doctor ordered for those cold and rainy autumn days!!! So I am not a baker and here I would highly recommend two things: 1) use your favorite pie crust recipe or 2) use puff pastry (highly recommended). Yesterday when I made this recipe I tried to make my own pie crust (a modified version of Alton Browns' recipe), it came out okay (I'll take any recipes for pie crust please). I am planing to make the recipe again this week and use puff pastry, I always get good results when I use puff pastry. - adamnsvetcooking —adamnsvetcooking

Test Kitchen Notes

I made the recipe as written and loved the mix of flavors with the leeks, mushrooms, carrots and chicken. I used Tartine's recipe for flaky tart crust (my personal go-to), and brushed the top with a little egg before baking. I think in future I would add a little white wine after I sauté the chicken, it might add a little more depth to the flavors. I loved the note about rotating the egg on the bottom and sides of the dish, I never knew! - Foodloveswine —The Editors

Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
  • pie crust (I highly recommend puff pastry, your favorite pie crust recipe or store bought)
  • 2 Chicken breasts (diced in bite size pieces)
  • 2 cups Leeks, diced and cleaned
  • 1 1/2 cups Carrots, diced
  • 1 cup Shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 15 Sage leaves, julienned
  • 1 tablespoon Of fresh thyme (leaves removed from the stems)
  • 2 cups Good Chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 Egg
  • olive oil as needed
Directions
  1. Pre-heat the oven at 375ºF. To clean the leeks cut a slit from top of the white part to the green parts, and wash them under running water. Dice the leeks. Fill up a prep dish with water and place the diced leeks in the bowl. You should see the fine sand settling on the bottom of the bowl. Dry the leeks using a clean tea towel (or paper towels)
  2. In a large pan place enough olive oil to cover the bottom. ones the oil is heated saute the chicken (you might have to do this step in batches depending on how big your pan is). Season with salt and pepper as you go. To the pan add the diced leeks, saute for about 10 to 15 mins. The leeks will start to caramelize at this point add the carrots and shiitake mushrooms, the sage and thyme. Cook until the carrots soften, about 10 more mins. If needed add more olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, and mix into the vegetable mixture. Cook for about 5 mins (to cook off the raw flour taste) add the chicken stock. At this point the mixture should thicken. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Roll out the pie crust into 2 sheets (or use puff pastry). Place one in greased up 9 inch pie dish (you can used olive oil here). Break the egg and rotate the egg on the bottom and sides on the pie crust. Remove the egg and reserve it. I read somewhere that doing this step when making pies with wet filling ensures that you don't get a soggy bottom crust. It really works!
  5. Add the chicken pot pie filling and cover the pie with the other pie crust sheet. Cut off excess pie sheet and crimp the edges in a decorative pattern. Cut 3 vents on top of the pie dish. Make a egg wash using the egg yoke from the reserved egg and a tbs of water. With a pastry brush cover the pie with the egg wash.
  6. Bake for 20 to 30 mins, until the pie crust is golden yellow/ brown. Remove from oven and let it cool for 5 to 10 mins before serving.
  7. Enjoy!
Contest Entries

See what other Food52ers are saying.

28 Reviews

Stephen S. November 1, 2020
I tweaked this, adding some potatoes and peas. But the core recipe is solid, although I also cut back on the stick to 1 cup.
Michele S. March 1, 2014
What are additional veggies do you recommend? Also, is the sage critical or could you use another herb?
adamnsvetcooking March 1, 2014
onions, root veggies (turnips est), kale… If you don't want to add it you don't have too.
helicopterina January 27, 2013
thanks again for the filling recipe. as a fellow kitchen traveller with a fear of pie crusts....i want to note that i tried your egg technique for the bottom part of the crust and it wasn't successful. bottom was mushy and soggy. next time i will try to do a little blind baking first before filling.
adamnsvetcooking January 27, 2013
Good to know. My husband in on a paleo diet kick so I havent been making a lot of crusts of late :(
helicopterina January 16, 2013
i used your filling recipe as a guideline for a slightly different version (no leeks in the house). started with a slow-cooked jammy base of onions, carrots and celery, along with some minced garlic. Then added pre-cooked and shredded chicken (leftovers from soup) plus your proportions with flour and stock. And lots of fresh thyme and sage, salt & pepper. The fililng tastes heavenly, and it is now resting until tomorrow night when I'll put it in my favorite savory pie crust recipe (very easy to make and uses saffron, olive oil and butter). Cannot wait to sample it after cooking off! Thanks!
tarahj October 17, 2010
I just made it last night. It's the essence of autumn.
adamnsvetcooking October 17, 2010
Thank you! I am very happy that you made the dish and liked it :)
Sagegreen September 30, 2010
Congrats on the ep, adamnsvetcooking! I look forward to making this later this fall.
adamnsvetcooking September 30, 2010
Thank you Sagegreen! Let me know how it will turn out!
luvcookbooks September 15, 2010
I use custard cups or small souffle dishes for individual servings of chicken pie. This is an inspiring version!! Keep trying with the crusts, there is nothing better than a home made pie crust. I do like Dufour Kitchen's Puff Pastry, though.
adamnsvetcooking September 16, 2010
Thanks luvcookbooks! There so many interesting crust recipes posted for the competition and I think I will be giving them a try! I very much like your raspberry rhubarb pie :)
TheWimpyVegetarian September 12, 2010
I love chicken pot pies and make them a lot of small individual ones in the fall and winter and then freeze them. I'm definitely trying your recipe. Looks really inviting!
adamnsvetcooking September 12, 2010
Thank you! I haven't tired freezing pot pies, I will have to give it a try. Do you use ramekins for the individual servings?
TheWimpyVegetarian September 12, 2010
Exactly! The ramekins I use are about 3-1/2" in diameter and about 3" high. I fill the entire ramekin with the chicken pot pie filling that I've put together on the stove as you have. The only crust I do is on top when I do individual pies so people don't feel like they are getting a lot of crust and not so much filling. On the larger pies, I do a double crust as you do.
adamnsvetcooking September 13, 2010
Sounds good. I am going to give it a try this weekend. I love coming home after a long day of work and there is dinner ready to go!
mrslarkin September 12, 2010
Yum! My favorite savory pie. I must say, puff pastry intimidates me for some reason. Must get over my fear!
adamnsvetcooking September 12, 2010
Haha...I am intimidated by the pie crust recipes. Some people just have talent for making them!
lapadia September 12, 2010
Love chicken pot pie, thanks for sharing your version - I like using puff pastry too!
adamnsvetcooking September 12, 2010
Thank you! I am not a baker... and using puff pastry works wonders for me!
Sagegreen September 12, 2010
This looks delicious!
adamnsvetcooking September 12, 2010
Thanks Sage, I can't wait to see what you are going to post!
drbabs September 12, 2010
I can see that I'm going to be baking A LOT of pies this fall--great recipe!
adamnsvetcooking September 12, 2010
Thank you! Congratulation on the red pepper recipe!
drbabs October 17, 2010
I just saw this because I'm making this for dinner tomorrow night--thanks! I'm going to do it as ChezSuzanne said and put the filling in a ramekin and cover it with the pie crust.
adamnsvetcooking October 17, 2010
Ohh cool! Let me know how it turns out :)
drbabs October 18, 2010
Loved loved loved. Such a good pot pie. We ate it for dinner tonight and will have leftovers tomorrow night. Mine was very juicy--is that right? I also always think food needs acid so I added juice of 1/2 lemon to the filling. (Maybe that's why it was juicy?) We really loved it--great recipe.
adamnsvetcooking October 18, 2010
I am so happy that you tried it!! and even happier that you liked it! If you think it was too juicy do 1 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the chicken stock to get it to your desired consistency. Thank you for trying my recipe :)