The One With The Chicken Pot Pie

If you live in the south, you know all about feeding people. When someone has surgery, a baby, a death in the family, or just any sort of issue going on, you feed them. It’s what we do. We may not be able to do a lot else for you, but we’ll keep your belly full of good food.

(For the record, when I sign up to take food to someone, I always think of the scene in Steel Magnolias when Ouiser and Clairee are shopping at the Piggly Wiggly. Clairee starts loading up on cans of Pork ‘n Beans and Ouiser pipes up, “Clairee! This is just a gesture. We are not feeding Drum ‘till the end of time.”)

I have a few “standby” things for when I sign up to take a meal. Chicken Enchiladas is one of them. Another is Chicken Pot Pie. Because if you don’t like one of those things, there’s something wrong with you.

Anyway, I recently took Chicken Pot Pie to Jenna and Chris after Brody was born, and she texted and asked for my recipe. I sent it to her with a lot of phrases like “just toss in” and “to taste” which is fancy recipe talk for, “I really don’t measure stuff, I just dump it all in and hope it tastes good.”

But apparently things like that aren’t all that bad, because it’s been popular each time I’ve taken it to someone. And I’ve gotten a few more requests for the “recipe,” so here it is!

One thing, though. You have to promise not to tell anyone how easy it is. Pinky swear.

Pull out two refrigerated pie crusts. You can also use a frozen pie shell on the bottom and a refrigerated one for the top. Or if you’re feeling really fancy, make your own.

Put the bottom crust into your pan and brush with egg wash. Set aside.

Dump cream of chicken soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, and seasonings in a bowl and stir to combine. (I usually cook my chicken with garlic, but I added it here this time because I was using leftover turkey from Christmas.)

Add chicken (or turkey, in this case), frozen veggies, and potatoes (I usually use frozen hash browns, but I was out and had to use a real potato. Truth be told, I like the hash browns better.)

Stir to combine. Your mixture should be thick and look like a messed-up version of potato salad.

Pour into the bottom crust and spread evenly. Don’t worry if you need to mound it just a little. It will cook down some during baking.

Lay out your top crust and brush egg wash on one side.

Carefully pick up the top crust and place it, egg wash side down, on top of the pot pie.

Seal, trim, and crimp your top crust. Brush egg wash on the top and cut slits to vent.

I always put foil around the edges so they don’t brown too quickly.

Bake until the crust is golden brown and the insides are hot and bubbly.

Enjoy!

I know, it looks like there are a lot of steps. But it’s super easy, I promise.

And? It freezes beautifully. I usually double this when I make it and freeze one. Sometimes I just put the filling into a Ziploc baggie to freeze, and sometimes I go ahead and put it in the crust (in a foil pan) to freeze it. Either way, it works great as a frozen meal and is easy to prepare. If you bake it from frozen though, add about 15-20 minutes to the baking time.

Chicken Pot Pie

2 Pie crusts

1 egg (for egg wash)

1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas, green beans) (You can also use canned Veg-All or toss in whatever you have in the fridge/freezer)

1/2 – 1 cup Southern Style Hash Browns (I just dump these in until I think there’s enough)

1-2 chicken breasts (or whatever kind of chicken/turkey you want to use). I usually cut the chicken into small chunks and sauté with minced garlic and pepper. You can leave it raw in small pieces and bake it in the pot pie, but you have to be sure it gets thoroughly cooked. I’ve never had trouble with it, I just prefer to cook it ahead of time when I can.

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup (or so) sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste; any other seasonings desired

To prepare:

Cook the chicken with garlic and pepper.

Dump soup & sour cream in a bowl and stir together. Add salt, pepper and any other seasoning desired.

Add frozen veggies, potatoes and chicken, stir until all combined. The mixture should be thick.

Place bottom crust in pan; Brush egg wash on the inside of the bottom pie crust.

Dump the veggie mixture into the crust and smooth.

Roll out the top crust. Brush egg wash on one side, place the egg wash side down on the pot pie.

Cut off excess crust, crimp pie crust as desired. Brush egg wash on the top of the crust. Cut slits to vent.

(I put a foil ring around the edge so it doesn’t brown too quickly)

Bake at 375 for 45 min – 1 hour, until crust is golden and the insides are bubbly.