You asked for it…. a savory recipe! I am sure that some people think that I sit around eating desserts all day, everyday. The truth be known, I don’t! 😉 I just like re-creating them so when I get a sweet tooth, I at least have plenty of recipes to pull out of my arsenal. Therefore I am not even tempted by the sugary and wheat laden foods I see on TV and at the store! I hope everyone enjoys this yummy recipe. And yes, I will be using this crust to make a pie! 😉
Pot Pie, it’s what’s for dinner!
Am I the only one that grew up eating frozen, $1 chicken pot pies?? We usually had a stash of them in our freezer for a quick meal. My mom worked full-time out of the house, so she didn’t have time to make many things homemade. The price was also right so this was sometimes our go-to meal. We also had plenty of great food in the freezer like fresh veggies and lots of fish and deer, but a couple of times a month, it was Pot Pie night.
Brace yourself for the ingredients in a Banquet Turkey pot pie:
Filling :, Chicken Broth (Water, Chicken Stock, Yeast Autolyzed, Extract, Soy Protein Hydrolyzed, Salt, Chicken Fat, Whey, Chicken Cooked, Flavoring) , Turkey Meat Cooked(Turkey Meat, Water, Salt, Sodium Tripolyphosphate), Carrot(s), Potato(es) (Calcium Chloride) ,Turkey Mechanically Separated, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Flavoring Natural, Citric Acid, Food Starch Modified Contains 2% or less of the Following: (, Peas, Chicken Fat, Flavoring, Beta Carotene (Cottonseed Oil Partially Hydrogenated and/or, Soybean(s) Oil Partially Hydrogenated and/or, Corn Oil Partially Hydrogenated) , Emulsifier(s) (Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate) , Sugar,Vegetable(s) Base (Sauteed Vegetables [Carrot(s), Celery, Onion(s)], Sugar, Maltodextrin, Corn Oil, Salt, Corn Starch, Yeast Extract, Spice(s) and, Flavoring Natural [Sodium Benzoate] , Flavoring Natural, Oleoresin Turmeric, Paprika) , Crust :, Wheat Flour, Shortening (BHT), Water,Dextrose, Salt
Nutrition Facts for Banquet Turkey Pot Pie:
Even though the label reads no trans fats, that is a lie. If a prepared food contains less than .5 grams, they don’t have to label it but when it comes to trans fat, even small amounts are VERY harmful to our body! When I look at the ingredients in the pot pie and all of the BAD carbs, it’s no wonder I weighted 155 lbs in the 5th grade!! Wow! Frozen meals are the worst… lots of fake ingredients, preservatives and typically poor food quality!
About My Chicken Pot Pie recipe.
Honestly, I have never had a homemade pot pie that didn’t consist of Bisquick over some chicken and canned cream of mushroom gravy. This Chicken Pot pie FAR exceeded my expectations! It not only looks but taste so GOOD! I can’t wait to make a Turkey Pot Pie with leftovers from Thanksgiving!
Here are some tips:
- Feel free to make the filling ahead of time. That’s what I did when making the large pot pie.
- Instead of using wheat flour or cornstarch to thicken the gravy, I use Arrowroot powder. Arrowroot is an excellent non-grain thickener but must be added at the end of a recipe or it will turn a gelatinous texture if overexposed to heat.
- Use leftover meat in your Pot Pie. The first one I made I cut up raw chicken breast but for the second one, I used the meat from one roasted chicken. I then used the carcase to make my homemade chicken stock. The key to a good gravy is GREAT chicken stock. Do NOT buy it, make it!
- Use leftover veggies from the fridge. Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, zucchini and diced sweet potato would be great in this pot pie.
- Measure the dry ingredients ahead of time and store in the fridge. Then all you will have to do is add butter and egg white.
- Save the egg yolk to make a Crème brûlée or ice cream.
- Make single serving pies using 8 oz ramekins or for a large, family size Pot Pie, use a 2 quart baking dish. There is enough dough to make 4, 4 inch round crusts or an 8.8-9 inch round crust. Feel free to use a square or rectangular cooking vessel but you may need to double your crust.
- If making 4 small pies, I cut out 2 crust and then re-rolled out the remaining dough for the last 2 crusts. If making small pot pies, you may have filling left over.
- This crust is very delicate so handle with care. My trick to making sure the crust didn’t break was to invert the crust along with the parchment paper on top of the filled ramekins or baking dish. Then just pull away parchment paper. Don’t worry if the crust “cracks” over the pie. The more I have worked with crust, the better I get at not tearing them. Practice makes perfect!
- DAIRY-FREE Option: Use 1/4 cup coconut milk in place of the heavy cream in the filling and use expeller pressed coconut oil or palm shortening in the crust. I normally don’t use canned coconut milk but using the canned would give the gravy a little extra richness.
To prevent crust from falling apart, once excess crust has been removed, cut parchment paper so that you can pick up crust and paper with your hand.
*Nutritional Value is based on recipe using chicken breast and 4 tablespoons of arrowroot powder.
Serves 6 generous portions; 440 Calories; 22 grams of fat; 11 Net Carbs; 40 grams Protein*
Meat & Veggy Filling
- 2 tbsp butter (or fat of choice such as ghee, bacon drippings or expeller pressed coconut oil)
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 tbsp chopped garlic
- 1-1/2 lb diced chicken breast or meat from leftover chicken or turkey
- 2 cups homemade chicken broth, divided
- ½ cup cream (coconut milk for dairy-free)
- 1 cup diced carrots (raw or cooked)
- 1/8th tsp cayenne pepper
- Up to ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 3-4 tbsp arrowroot powder
Crust
- ¾ cup plus 2 tbsp almond flour (I use Honeyville)
- 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp coconut flour (I currently use Tropical Traditions)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Scant 1/8th tsp salt
- 2 tbsp salted butter, room temperature (or fat of choice)
- 1 tbsp egg white
Meat & Veggies
In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt butter then add onion and peppers. (If using raw carrots, add at this time.) Saute for about 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. (If using raw chicken, add to pan now.) Cook for 3 minutes and flip and cook for another 3 minutes or until chicken is done.
Reduce heat to medium-low and add 1.5 cups of the chicken broth and all of cream. (If using pre-cooked chicken and carrots, add at this time.) Add cayenne, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes on low. While simmering, make a slurry for the arrowroot powder. Add the 1/2 cup of reserved chicken stock along with 4 tbsp of arrowroot powder to a small bowl. Whisk until powder is dissolved and there are no clumps. Add arrowroot powder slurry to veggie and meat mixture while whisking. Taste for seasonings and adjust if needed. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then turn off heat.
Crust
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl, blend dry ingredients. Then add butter and egg white and blend with wooden spoon until dough forms. Taste for saltiness and adjust if needed. Form dough into ball and set aside.
For the large Pot Pie: To ensure your dough is the correct size, on parchment or wax paper, turn dish upside down and trace its shape with a pen or pencil. I used a 2 quart, 8.5 inch diameter Pyrex dish. Place the prepared dough in the center of marked paper. Place another sheet of parchment on top of the dough and roll out until it is the size of the marked parchment. Make sure dough is even thickness.
Pour prepared meat and veggy mixture into dish. Pick up prepared crust (still on parchment paper) and carefully invert onto meat and veggie mixture. CAREFULLY pull away paper. Trim away any extra crust around the edges.
For mini Pot Pies: Use the 8 oz ramekins to press into dough and twist to cut out circle of crust. Use a fork to make indentions around the edge of the crust. Don’t press to hard or dough will break. Fill ramekins with 1 cup of meat and veggy mixture, being sure to include gravy.
To insure crust does not break, remove excess dough and cut the parchment paper so that you can pick up the dough and paper to transfer the dough directly to the ramekin. Invert dough over meat filled ramekin and pull away paper.
Bake small ramekins for 20-25 or the large pot pie for 35-40 minutes or until edges of crust are slightly brown.
