When I started to learn how to cook the first thing I wanted to try making was chicken pot pie because it’s my favorite meal. To me chicken pot pie was everything I wished my childhood was in some ways; it was the quintessential American meal filled with creamy goodness and topped off with a warm pie crust. It seemed so vastly different than the bowl of rice I ate every night growing up, and I just knew I wanted to make it for my family one day. To this day it remains my favorite meal to eat, but my least favorite to make as it’s time intensive and difficult with multiple pots going off because I am not the most efficient cook. This meal can take me close to an hour from prep to putting it in the oven, but I try to make it at least once or twice a month because I just love it so much.

I loosely adapted this recipe, but I really just eyeball after years of making it.

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Ingredients

  • Potatoes
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Mushrooms
  • 1 lb boneless chicken breast
  • Pie crusts (2 if you want top and bottom, one if you cook it in Corning ware and just cover the top)
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • Garlic
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup milk (I use whole)
  • 1 3/4 cup chicken broth

Set out the pie crusts to soften up. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Prep the potatoes, carrots, and celery in a pot and boil until they are all very soft. I usually do this first as the chicken and mushrooms cook faster and are done sooner. Cut the chicken into cubes. Cook with butter and garlic until it is cooked through then put to the side. Brown the mushrooms in the butter and garlic sauce and put to the side.

Next comes making the roux. All rouxs start with flour and butter. Add in the milk and chicken stock, and stir with a whisk preferably. I like my rouxs very creamy so I add a lot more flour and keep mixing it until it’s a nice thick creamy consistency. It can take time for the roux to form, but keep whisking and it will come together. You can add more milk and chicken stock if you want to gauge the thickness and taste. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix in as well. When the roux is done it’s time to combine everything.

Place all the vegetables in, followed by the chicken and then the roux at the end to cover it all up. Stir it so the roux penetrates well, and then cover it up with the pie crust cutting a slit at the top so it can breathe. Place it in the oven for at least 30-35 minutes, but sometimes even longer than that so the pie crust is nice and toasty and brown.

Drake and Juliet both eat this meal well, and I love that I can get veggies into Drake this way.  Nothing beats that first bite of deliciousness after a long meal prep in the kitchen.