Chicken potpie, a warm flavorful comfort food that brings to mind cold stormy winter evenings and the warmth and love of a family kitchen. I know, I know, you can buy frozen chicken potpies at the grocery store, but they just are not the same! Trust me. The process may be a little time consuming but with the ability to make multiple potpies at once and the warm yumminess of each and every bite, it is well worth the effort! I promise you will not be disappointed!
I have included a complete recipe below but in case you need a little help let’s walk through the process together. Following this recipe will yield 4 potpies but if you want more you could easily double the recipe.
Step one: rinse and pat whole chicken dry with paper towel, place in a greased roasting pan. Rub with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast the chicken at 375° for about 60-90 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken. The general rule is 20 minutes per pound. Let chicken cool just enough to handle.
Step two: while the chicken is cooling, sauté onion, garlic, celery, potatoes and carrots until bright and slightly softened. A couple of points to note here; you want your potatoes and carrots to be relatively the same size after dicing to allow for even cooking and you do not want to over or undercook at this stage. You do not want to add them raw to your potpie mix as they will not fully cook and will and change the texture of your potpie, but you also do not want them fully cooked as this will cause them to become mushy during the baking of the potpie. Place sauté mix and frozen peas and corn into a large mixing bowl and combine.
Step three: using your fingers, remove the skin from the roasted chicken and discard. Pull all the meat off the chicken, I find it best to use my hands for this as you will be able to get all of the good meat off the bones. Once you have all the meat of the bones, cut or shred the chicken and add it to the mixing bowl with the sauté mix and the peas and corn. You can discard the bones or keep them to boil for chicken broth later.
Step four: add the chicken gravy to your mix. You can use homemade or a pre-packaged mix. I tend to use homemade by pouring the juices and fat from the roasting pan into a saucepan and adding flour, Bisto for Poultry, salt and pepper and ground thyme until a thick paste forms. Then add 6-8 cups of water a little at a time and mix until the gravy thickens
Step five: evenly split the potpie mix into each of your four piecrusts. You can use homemade pastry or pre-made here. I usually use pre-made crusts as I find it save me time and frustration. If you buy 8 deep-dish pie shells you can use four to fill and four you can roll out for tops. Brush the tops with melted butter. Don’t forget to poke a few holes in the tops to allow steam to escape when baking!
Freezing: if you are freezing any of your potpies to enjoy later this is when you do it! Place one pie in a large sealable freezer bag. Seal until you can just fit a straw into the bag and use the straw to suck out the air before completely sealing the bag. Label the bag with the date and baking instructions. Repeat with all potpies that you want to freeze. When you are ready to enjoy a potpie just defrost and bake.
Baking: if you will be enjoying a potpie that evening then bake in the oven at 375° for 60 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown. That is all! Now you have four beautiful, savoury, and ready to go chicken potpies! Sure to be a family favourite. Enjoy with a salad or some steamed green beans. Forgot to defrost? Just add about 20-30 minutes to your cooking time.
Tried this recipe? Let me know what you think in the comments!