Creamy chicken and vegetables with a golden puff pastry, baked to perfection. Skillet chicken pot pie is a hearty and satisfying one pan meal.
What is Chicken Pot Pie?
Chicken pot pie is tender chicken, aromatics, and vegetables in a creamy gravy enclosed in a savory pastry crust. Traditionally, a savory pie crust would be used but store-bought puff pastry is a quick and easy go-to to get dinner on the table in a fast and flavorful way. It’s traditionally baked in a pie plate or baking dish.
Why in a Skillet?
Using a cast iron skillet means that this chicken pot pie can be made in one skillet from start to finish. It’s a simple one pan meal. Cook the creamy chicken filling and vegetables in the skillet, cover with puff pastry, bake and serve all in the cast iron skillet. Plus, cast iron keeps it nice and hot, which is great if you’ve got company (or kids) that are delayed getting to the dinner table. Plus I love a great skillet meal like this creamy pasta or a crispy potato kugel!
What Chicken Should I Use?
Whether you have leftover rotisserie chicken or you’re starting from raw chicken, this is so easy. Shred or chop your rotisserie chicken or poach it like I do here.
How To Poach Chicken?
I used boneless, skinless, chicken breasts because it’s what I had in my freezer but using bone-in and skin-on chicken will just add more flavor. I love poaching chicken in recipes like this because it’s so easy and you get a twofer: 1.) perfectly cooked chicken and 2.) a flavorful broth to use in your recipe. Poached chicken is great for other recipes too. You can make a big batch and add it to salads, make chicken salad sandwiches, add it to soups and more! Here’s how to poach chicken for this recipe:
- Fill a sauce pot with 4 cups water.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, bay leaf, and chicken.
- Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. (Note: Bone-in chicken will take longer and that’s okay.)
- Immediately remove chicken from the pot. Allow to cool and then cut into bite size pieces or shred it with two forks.
- Set aside the poaching liquid to use later in the recipe.
Why Puff Pastry?
Store bought puff pastry is a quick and delicious solution. I used 1 sheet of puff pastry (I used Pepperidge Farms) and cut it into rectangles. The rectangles makes it easy to layer the cold pastry on the warmed chicken mixture and it creates a beauty design in a simple way. There’s no way to mess it up. Just cover the skillet with the rectangles, some overlapping and small open spaces are okay.
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie
Equipment
- 1 10-inch cast iron skillet
- 1 baking sheet
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 whisk
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2/3 cup finely chopped onion about 1 medium onion
- 2/3 cup finely chopped celery about 2 to 3 stalks
- 1 cup finely chopped carrots sub: frozen peas and carrots
- ½ tsp table salt plus more to taste depending on the salt level of your chicken and chicken broth.
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock or the poaching liquid
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 ¼ cups poached chicken or shredded chicken
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- black pepper to taste
- 1 sheet puff pastry 10 x 15 inch sheet
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
- Preheat to 375 degrees.
- In a 10 inch cast iron skillet melt butter and olive oil over medium heat until butter is foaming.
- Add onion, celery, carrots, and ½ teaspoon of table salt. Stir well and cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring frequently, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle over thyme and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 20 to 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle over flour, stir well to coat all the vegetables and continue to cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add chicken stock and milk and stir well. Bring up to a simmer, stirring frequently until thickened. Note: take care to keep stirring to avoid lumps and sticking.
- Add chicken and peas. Stir well until chicken and peas are warmed through. Season with black pepper to taste and more salt, if needed, to taste. Smooth into an even layer. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Remove puff pastry from refrigerator and on lightly floured surface cut into about 12 rectangles, about 1 ½ x 3 inches each. Note: This doesn't have to be perfect.
- Layer puff pastry rectangles on top of chicken mixture in skillet, overlapping is okay to ensure it's covered.
- Make egg wash: Whisk together 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water. Brush egg wash gently on top of puff pastry.
- Place skillet on baking sheet and immediately transfer to the oven.
- Bake until the pastry is golden brown and slightly puffed, about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Cool for at least 10 minutes (it's piping hot y'all!) and serve. It pairs lovely with a light green salad.
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