Semi-Homemade Mini Chicken Pot Pies to Warm Up With

Every week, we spotlight a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Below, Adrian Harris and Jeremy Inglett of The Food Gays call on both homemade and store-bought ingredients to produce winning — and super comforting — mini chicken pot pies.

Photo: The Food Gays

By Adrian Harris and Jeremy Inglett, The Food Gays

These chicken pot pies technically only have pie tops, rendering them (slightly) less carb-y than most versions, and even easier to assemble and bake. But don’t let their small appearance fool you — these bad boys are big on flavor and will satisfy even the biggest appetite.

We used a combination of fresh and ready-made ingredients for this recipe, which makes for a perfect cozy meal on a rainy day, since they utilize a lot of items you likely have on hand already. The pie dough is homemade while we opt for store-bought cream of mushroom soup, though you could always go for store-bought pie crust or homemade creamy mushroom sauce. The choice is yours! Also, this could easily be made into a vegetarian dish by leaving out the chicken, and adding some more veggies like corn and spinach.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies
Makes 4 ramekins

For pie dough:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup chilled unsalted butter, cubed
6 tablespoon ice cold water

For filling:
4-6 small red potatoes
¼ cup green peas, blanched
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ medium white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
3 tablespoon flat parsley leaves, chopped
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon curry powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¼ cup water
½ cup chicken, cooked and roughly chopped

Make pie dough: Add all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, and whisk together. Add cold, cubed butter and blend together with your fingers (or a fork) until you have a mix of small and medium chunks, and the flour and butter is well incorporated. Add ice cold water, and mix gently until a ball forms. Flatten dough and place in a plastic bag, place in refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes.

Make filling: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add potatoes and cook just until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain, lightly mash, and set aside. Bring another small pot of water to a boil, and blanch peas for about 1 minute. Flash under cold water, and set aside.

In a frying pan, melt butter. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic, carrot, peas, herbs, spices, salt and pepper, and cook another 2 minutes or so.

In a medium bowl, combine cream of mushroom soup with ¼ cup water, then add onion mixture, potatoes, and chicken, and combine well.

Roll out pie dough to roughly the combined size of four ramekins. Cut rounds of pie dough slightly larger in circumference than the ramekins. Place filling inside ramekins, and place pie dough on top, tamping down the edges with a fork to help create a good seal. Prick tops gently with a fork, to help let steam escape.

Bake at 375°F for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of your ramekins. The tops of the pies should be golden brown. Allow to cool briefly, then serve while still hot.

Related:

Turkey Chili Recipe to Help You Warm Up on Chilly Nights

7 Comforting Casseroles to Make This Fall

8 Creamy Risotto Recipes That Are Actually Healthy