Individual Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry

Alton Brown

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2010

Show: Good EatsEpisode: A Bird In The Pie Is Worth Two In The Bush

Rated 5 stars out of 5
  • Rate This Recipe
  • Read 20 Reviews
Total Time:
3 hr 40 min
Prep
45 min
Inactive
2 hr 10 min
Cook
45 min
Yield:
4 servings
Level:
Difficult
x

Save To My Recipe Box

Please limit to 20 characters

Saving Recipe

Adding Recipe

Or Do Not Add

Success

This recipe was saved to your Folder_Name folder.

x

Save To My Recipe Box

Please sign in to save this recipe to your Recipe Box!!

25 Characters Max

Enter Time:

:
:

You can create up to five timers

Ingredients

Filling:

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs and/or breast, skin and bone removed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/4-inch thick
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
  • 2 medium celery stalks, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
  • 2 ounces unsalted butter
  • 3 ounces all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups 2 percent milk, room temperature
  • 8 ounces frozen green peas
  • 1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme
  • 1 teaspoon freshly chopped tarragon

Pastry Crust:

Egg Wash:

  • 1 large egg beaten
  • 1 tablespoon water

Directions

Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F.

For the filling: Place 1 tablespoon vegetable oil into a 10-inch cast-iron skillet and set over high heat until it shimmers. Add the chicken, season with 1 teaspoon of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is no longer pink on the outside but not dry, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside in a medium bowl.

Decrease the heat to medium and heat the remaining tablespoon vegetable oil in the skillet until it shimmers. Add the onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery, garlic, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, black pepper, dried thyme, and dried tarragon, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the butter and melt. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually stir in the chicken broth and milk. Bring to a simmer, stirring continually. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the peas, thyme, tarragon, and reserved chicken. Cover and set aside.

For the crust: Combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Place in the freezer for 1 hour.

Place the flour mixture and butter in a mound on a clean work surface. Use a bench scraper to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly and the butter pieces are about the size of almonds. Add the ice water, 2 tablespoons at a time, and mix into the dough, using the bench scraper, until it just barely comes together. Do not add too much water, it will come together.

Shape into a rectangle and pound with a rolling pin until it is about the size of a sheet of notebook paper, approximately 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

Use the bench scraper to fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Pound with the rolling pin until the piece of dough is again the size of a sheet of notebook paper and rotate 90 degrees. Repeat the pounding, folding, and rotating 2 more times for a total of 4 turns of the dough.

Pound with rolling pin and fold the shorter sides of the rectangle in towards the center, from top to bottom, and then fold in half, like a book. Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the egg wash: Combine the beaten egg and water in a small dish and set aside.

To build the pie: Divide the warm filling into 4 (16-ounce) ramekins and place on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

Remove the puff pastry from the refrigerator. Divide in half. Return one half to the refrigerator. Sprinkle lightly with flour and roll to 1/4-inch thick and, using your ramekins as a guide, cut 2 circles that are 1/2 inch wider than the rim, using a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Refrigerate excess dough for another use.

Brush each dough round with egg wash and place egg washed-side down onto the top of each filled ramekin. Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes. Decrease the heat to 400 degrees F and bake until the crust is puffed and golden brown and the filling is bubbly, another 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before serving.

Print Recipe

COMMENT ON THIS PROJECT

    

Sign in

All fields are required.

E-mail Address:

Password:

Remember me on this computer

Signing in

Please enter your email address and we will send your password

E-mail Address

Your password has been sent and should arrive in your mailbox very soon.

Not a member?

Sign up for My Food Network to share photos, show off your style, and connect to an enthusiastic and helpful community.

It's free and easy.

Review This Recipe

You must be signed in to review this recipe.

Newest Ratings and Reviews

Read all 20 reviews

  • on April 20, 2012

    Flag

    5 Stars even tho made changes, but Alton Brown deserves the credit for flavoring of filling! Hubby has yearned for his Grandma's. He said flavor even beats her's! Love Alton Brown & Good Eats! Hubby does too!

    My changes - did cook & bake in 12" iron skillet.
    1. No Tarragon - didn't have any.
    2. Had bacon grease so used in place of 1 Tbsp oil.
    3. 10 pearl onions + 1/2 med. onion.
    4. 2 extra carrots & celery stalks.
    5. 2 teap. jarred minced garlic - had handy.
    6. half & half - open carton in fridge.
    7. 1 can peas, drained; had them so long!
    8. Boiled fresh whole chicken; used breast, legs, thighs. Browned chicken in bacon grease - yummy - I kept eating it!
    9. Didn't want to mess with crust, so covered top w/store bought refrigerator tube-type biscuits; were big ones & bottoms took long time to cook; next time will use thin ones; tented biscuits after browned; 35-40 minutes to get the bottoms done.

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
  • on January 08, 2012

    Flag

    Tasty, Easy, Time Consuming, Modified Recipe - Like others I used store bought puff pastry but all the chopping still took some time. Made two batches and froze one. Reduced chicken to 1 lb/recipe, used half as many mushrooms, doubled the carrots and celery. Instead of a whole yellow onion used half and added 4 ozs of fresh pearl onions. Also substituted 1/2 c of white wine for 1/2 c of the chicken broth. Agree with other reviewers, took longer than stated for sauce to thicken. Suggest cooks taste the tarragon before adding it. I skipped it altogether and substituted a blend of sage, rosemary, celery seed and a little fresh parsley. Also agree with reviewer who translated ounces of butter and flour to 4 T of butter and 5 T of flour. That worked perfect. This is a very forgiving recipe, alter seasonings to taste. My family thought pearl onions were one of the best ingredients. They take slightly longer to cook down than regular onions, (maybe 2 more mins -- delicious!!

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
  • on December 09, 2011

    Flag

    I can't speak for Alton's puff pastry recipe, but the chicken pot pie filling is excellent. I think I would prefer a lower chicken-to-vegetable ratio - two carrots wasn't quite enough. The mushrooms were a tasty addition. This is a minor complaint, though...I was very pleased with how this turned out.

    Instead of the suggested crust, I topped the filling with buttermilk biscuits (made from the Good Eats recipe, of course. This one is going into the regular rotation. It takes a while to prepare, but it's so much better than those salty, gloopy frozen things with the rubbery chicken chunks. *shudder*

    people found this review Helpful.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Next Recipe

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie

By: Tyler Florence
Rated 3 stars out of 5
Advertisement

Free Recipe of the Day Newsletter

Let Food Network chefs plan what's for dinner, with quick and easy recipes delivered to your inbox daily.

Ads by Google

© 2012 Television Food Network G.P. All rights reserved.