Something must be in the air because wherever I turn it seems that people are making chicken pot pies! I made it recently for my family and doubled the recipe to share it with my dad and son, both recovering from Covid…the next day a close friend told me that she made it on the same day, then on Facebook I saw another friend and a local café sharing their pot pie pics! What the heck is going on??? My interpretation: we all need comfort food now more than ever, and what’s better than a delicious chicken pot pie!

Many years ago, Ginger taught me how to make chicken pot pie completely from scratch – the crust, the veggies, the chicken, the sauce…that’s what I made for years and yes, it was very good…fast forward to 2021: I have made some shortcuts that save lots of time without sacrificing taste…such a no-brainer! This is what I will share…:-)

You want to start by filling a deep baking dish with about 3 cups of shredded chicken (no crust needed on the bottom)…I still boil my own chicken and use the homemade broth, but you can buy the cooked chicken and canned broth if you want REALLY easy. 🙂 Add a generous cup of peas, and a cup of cooked carrots. I used frozen veggies that I pre-cooked briefly…

Now is the only part that needs close attention – making the sauce…

Ginger’s White Sauce

7T butter

7T flour

2 c chicken broth

1 cup milk, light cream, or half & half

2T cooking sherry

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter; with a wire whisk, add flour to the melted butter, stirring continuously over a low flame for 5-10 minutes. Then add the liquid while continuing to stir with the whisk. (Stay with it!) Continue to stir over low heat until thick, add sherry, salt and pepper. (For a less rich pie you can eliminate the milk/cream and use 3c of broth) Yumm, yumm, yummy! You can easily double the recipe (as I did above) if you want to make two pies.

Add the sauce to the chicken and veggies, using a spoon to be sure it gets evenly distributed…

Now for the crust! Take one Pillsbury Pie Crust, cover the chicken mixture, crimp the edges, and cut a few slits in the top…paint the crust with an egg wash (1 egg yolk thinned with a bit of milk). The egg wash will make the pie a beautiful, golden brown. Put the pie in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 and cook for about an hour, or until the crust is golden brown.

Serve with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and watch it disappear! (We were so excited to dig into my pies that I never stopped to take any photos…this pic below is from the internet…)

What about all the calories??? Glad you asked.

It’s all about portion control. Have a small/medium portion and don’t go for seconds. Make a salad and put that on the same dish to fill the plate. It’s not going to kill you to eat a rich dish once in awhile.

Stay well. Eat well. Enjoy the NOW.