Chicken Pot Pie from Scratch

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While the new job has me looking for easy weeknight meals, I relish the weekends when I get some extra time in the kitchen to cook up more elaborate, from-scratch meals. This weekend has been a little chilly in Southern California (ok, not cold by New England standards - but low 50s is chilly in these parts!), so I was looking for something warming and hearty. When I remembered I had a bag of chicken bones in the freezer waiting to be made into broth, I immediately decided I had to make the ultimate from-scratch chicken pot pie.


I started yesterday by putting the bones from 2 previously roasted chickens in my crockpot, sprinkled with salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and sage, covered with water and cooked on low for 12 hours. Then I strained out the bones and picked off any remaining meat. That gave me 2 cups of chicken and at least 8 cups of very flavorful broth! (I froze what I didn't need for this recipe.)

Today, I made my pie crusts using this recipe, but cutting the sugar to 1/2 tsp. When it was time to put it all together, I made my sauce using the previously made chicken broth(see below), added veggies and chicken and put it all between the 2 rolled out crusts. 45 minutes later, we had a super comforting, hot meal that was the perfect for this chilly evening. The flaky crust, the creamy filling - heaven!


Keep in mind, you could make this with canned chicken broth and some cooked chicken breast, too. But the next time you roast a whole chicken, save the bones and try it from scratch. So worth it!

Chicken Pot Pie from Scratch
(Makes 1 9-inch pie)

Ingredients:
2 unbaked 9-inch pie crusts
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
4 Tbsp. butter

1 large potato, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup sliced carrots
salt
pepper

Method:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Roll out 1 pie crust and place in bottom of a pie pan.
In a medium-sized saucepan, heat 4 Tbsp. butter over medium heat until melted. Add garlic, onion powder, 1/2 of the cut up potato and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Cook until potato is soft. Mash potato until smooth (this is going to help thicken the sauce).
Add 1 3/4 cup of broth to the sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
Meanwhile mix 3 Tbsp. cornstarch with the remaining 1/4 cup chicken broth until mixture is smooth (no clumps). Whisk cornstarch mixture into broth mixture. Cook until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Add peas, carrots and remaining potato to broth mixture. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes until vegetables begin to soften.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add chicken and pour mixture pie pan.
Roll out the remaining pie crust and lay over the top of the filling. Press and crimp edges of the pie crust to seal, cutting off any excess dough. Cut 4-5 slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake at 425°F for 45 minutes or until pie crust is evenly browned. Cool at least 10 minutes before enjoying.