Individual Chicken Pot Pies

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3.14159265359∞ is pi.  Therefore March 14 of any year is pi day, (3.14).  Archimedes was the guy who got the number right, but it was William Jones in 1706 who starting using the Greek letter π to signify the infinite number.  Enough of history. This is my offering for this year’s pi day: individual chicken pot pies.

I  remember eating individual chicken pot pies when I was a kid. It was an easy entree for my mom to make when there were evening little league baseball games.  Plop a few of these frozen Swanson’s pot pies into the oven when you get home from work and 35 minutes later, you’d be eating.  And don’t forget to have a big glass of ice cold milk with it!

This recipe has all the good stuff: chicken thigh meat, carrots, celery, onion, peas and I added corn in place of some potatoes.  The boneless, skinless thighs get poached in some chicken broth which is later used to make the gravy.

The whole recipe is cooked in one large pot or dutch oven. The aromas coming from your kitchen will be amazing. What you end up with is chicken thigh meat and vegetables swimming in a succulent thick gravy.

You will have enough to nicely fill four 10 ounce ramekins. Then use your favorite pie crust recipe to cover the ramekins, or you could use store bought pie crust or even puff pastry dough.  (I have a pie crust recipe that I use and it can be found in this post, Blueberry pie, you would only need to make 1/2 of the recipe).

These individual chicken pot pies are succulent little bowls of goodness and the perfect comfort food. Remember to have some pie on Pi Day.

Enjoy!

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Main dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Joe adapted from America's Test Kitchen tv series

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs. skinless boneless chicken thighs
• 3 cups chicken broth ,or I used 3 cups water and 1 tbsp. Better than Bouillon chicken base
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 medium onion , diced
• 3 medium carrots peeled and cut into 1/8" rounds
• 2 lg. celery stalks , chopped fairly fine
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 8 oz . sliced button mushrooms
• 1 tsp soy sauce , (flavor enhancer)
• 1 tsp tomato paste , (flavor enhancer)
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• salt and pepper
• Cooking spray
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp water

Instructions

• In a large pot or dutch oven, bring the chicken and broth to a boil then cover and cook on medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
• Remove the chicken to a large bowl and pour the broth through a strainer into a container and reserve, (you will use 2 cups of the broth for the gravy).
• Pre-heat the oven to 400°.
• When the chicken is cool enough to handle, tear or chop into bite sized pieces.
• In the same pot, add 1 tbsp of oil and the carrots, onion and celery and cook on medium while occasionally stirring, 5 or 6 minutes to soften the vegetables, then add the frozen corn and peas and stir in for an additional minute.
• Add the vegetables to the bowl with the chicken.
• In the same pot, add 1 tbsp of oil and the mushrooms and cook covered on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid is released from the mushrooms about 5 minutes.
• Next uncover and add the soy sauce and tomato paste and stir and cook until the liquid has evaporated about 5 minutes
• Add the mushrooms to the chicken and vegetables.
• In the same pot, heat the butter on medium and once melted, add the flour and stir into a paste and cook for 1 minute.
• Whisk in 2 cups of the reserved chicken broth and the half and half and bring to a simmer.
• Use a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits on the bottom of the pot and simmer until the sauce has thickened, 1 or 2 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and parsley.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste, about 1/2 tsp of each.
• Add the chicken, vegetables and mushrooms to the gravy stirring to combine.
• Lightly spray the ramekins with cooking spray and spoon in the pot pie mixture.
• Top with the crust of choice.
• Whisk the egg and 1 tbsp water, and brush onto the pie crust.
• Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the crust is nicely browned.
• Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes before serving.