The BEST Chicken Pot Pie - The Pioneer Woman

I've had a craving for a good homemade chicken pot pie for a couple weeks now but since I'm watching my calories I hadn't given in...until last night. I decided I was just going to save almost all my calories for dinner and go for it and I am SO glad I did! I made the Pioneer Woman's chicken pot pie and oh my goodness it was delicious! 

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie

Recipe used from FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients

•   One 2-3 pound chicken fyer, cut up (I used one whole shredded rotisserie chicken)

•   3 celery stalks

•   3 medium carrots, peeled

•   1 large yellow onion
•   4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

•   1/4 cup all-purpose flour (next time I will use 1/3 cup to make it a little thicker)

•   2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or stock
•   1 chicken bouillon cube 

•   1/4 cup white wine, optional. (I used a house chardonnay and DON'T skip this, it made the recipe!)

•   1/2 cup frozen peas

•   1 cup heavy cream

•   2 sprigs fresh thyme
•   1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more as needed

•   Black pepper

•   2 pie crusts (She made her own thyme pastry that you fill find in the recipe link, I used frozen 

     pre-made roll out crusts)

Instructions

1. If you are cooking your own chicken: start by putting the chicken in a pot and covering it with water. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 45 minutes, and then remove the chicken from the pot. Set the chicken aside to cool briefly. Shred the chicken with 2 forks, reserving the bones. For the stock, return the bones to the pot and boil for 20 minutes. Remove the bones from the pot and discard. (Since I used a rotisserie chicken to save time I just shredded my chicken first thing and then set it aside.)

2. If your crusts is frozen whether it be her thyme recipe crust or pre-made remove it from the freezer and allow it to sit on the counter to thaw slightly, about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3. Begin by finely dicing the onion, celery and carrots. Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Saute until the vegetables start to turn translucent, a couple of minutes.

4. Add 2 cups of the shredded chicken and stir to combine. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the vegetables and chicken, and stir to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently.

5. Pour in the 2 cups of chicken broth, stirring constantly. Stir in the bouillon cube and wine if using. (Again, I highly recommend using the wine. It made the entire recipe and really made it delicious!) The flour will combine with the chicken to create a delicious gravy. Next, add the peas.

6. Pour in the cream and stir. Allow the mixture to cook over low heat, thickening gradually, about 4 minutes. Season with thyme, salt and pepper and remove from heat. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.

7. I like my pot pies to have double crust- bottom and covered. So I rolled out one crust and stretched it across a large deep pie pan. Then pour the chicken mixture over the crust. Then roll out your second crust and lay it over the top covering the mixture. Press the sides down gently to seal and cut a few small slits into your crust.

8. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 30-40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. (I also used a pie crust saver ring to ensure my edges didn't burn)

I can't recommend this recipe enough. The husband raved and raved about dinner, it was a complete success! Even with saving on time and using a rotisserie chicken and pre-made crusts we could not tell, at all. A lot of times I will skip on the wine if a recipe calls for it just simply because we don't drink dry white wine so I don't typically have it on hand but I'm so glad I stopped and picked some up for this recipe. It wasn't overpowering but definitely set it apart from other pot pies. Enjoy!

 

 

Oh and because we couldn't leave our fur baby Haddock, he had Rachael Ray's chicken paw pie for dinner with us! He also enjoyed it. :)