Chicken Pot Pie Filling with Instant Pot Elements

It’s Pi Day and I’ve been so excited about getting a good working version of my Never-Fail Pie Crust that I went a little crazy. After my success with the Indian pot pies (pictured in the Never-Fail Pie Crust post) I knew I wanted to do individual chicken pot pies too. There is something about an individual pie. Not only is it super cute, but you don’t have to worry about an uneven distribution of filling when you cut a large pie—your allocation is automatically delivered to you in your own individual serving! Also we are going to Orcas Island soon and we won’t be eating out a couple of times like we normally do because we’re not comfortable eating in restaurants yet and the house we are renting is too far from town to make take-out feasible. I thought it would perk us up if I made and froze pies to bring and eat there. 

There is nothing particularly special about this chicken pot pie except that it is very, very good. I wanted to roast a chicken then take the meat off the bones and make stock from the carcass, which would certainly be tasty. However I didn’t have a chicken already in the freezer and I wanted to get the super high quality chicken we get from Green Bow Farm which I can only pick up on Sundays so I knew I’d be trying to have enough time to pick up, thaw and roast a chicken not to mention make stock and then bake pies all before my in-laws came at 6pm for our first in-person indoor gathering in a year. After soaking the chicken in a cold water bath for over an hour I could  barely get half of the backbone out; I knew that doing an all-in-one stint in the Instant Pot was going to be the way to go. I got the chicken thawed enough to get the giblets out and left it at that.

I didn’t miss the roasted flavor. The broth from the pressure-cooked chicken was so rich and flavorful in the well-browned roux that it was perfectly acceptable. I had some extra chicken breasts in the freezer.  Since we were having company I roasted those and added them to the filling for extra luxury. You could certainly do without it. I made 6 10-ounce pies and have filling enough for at least 10 more with an additional three cups of extra stock to freeze. As I see it, the advantage of making such a huge batch of filling is that I can either make up a bunch of individual pies and freeze them (probably baked) or I could freeze containers with enough filling for one night for the 4 of us and then either put in a crust, top with biscuits or (my favorite) top with stuffing for an incredibly comforting meal. 

I packed my filling full of vegetables but I made it easy on myself after all the work with the chicken and crust: I used a bag of organic frozen peas and carrots and another bag of my ever-handy frozen riced cauliflower. Such a convenient way to amp up the veg. I also served our pies over steamed broccoli to add more color to the bowl. 

INGREDIENTS

1 3-4lb chicken, thawed with the giblets removed, cut into pieces if desired

1 onion, peeled and cut into 8 roughly equal pieces

2 large or 3 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into about 4 chunks each

2 ribs celery (optional) cut into about 4 pieces each

Small handful of peppercorns

A few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried

A handful of fresh parsley (stems are fine), optional

3 fresh bay leaves or 2 dried

4 qt cold water or to max fill line

8 TBSP unsalted butter (though I supposed you could actually use salted)

10 TBSP all-purpose flour or 1:1 gluten-free equivalent 

2qt stock from the chicken recipe above

1 10-ounce package frozen peas and corn, cooked according to package instructions and drained

1 10-ounce package frozen riced cauliflower, cooked according to package instructions and drained

OR use the vegetable mix of your choice just be sure to pre-cook it

2 chicken cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces, optional

1 beaten egg, optional for egg wash on the crusts 

Never-Fail Pie Crust or the crust, biscuit or stuffing of your choice (optional) or you could top with garlicky breadcrumbs or even mashed potatoes. The options are numerous.

DIRECTIONS

1. Put the chicken through the bay leaves into the insert of the Instant Pot and then fill to the Max Fill line (assuming you have a 5 or 6 qt machine)
2. Put the lid on to Sealing and select the poultry setting for one hour. Because my chicken was still quite frozen I added an additional 45 minutes just to be safe and it worked fine
3. Once the time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally if you can. Mine sputtered a ton even after I waited ten minutes but I was running out it time
4. Remove the chicken from the pot and put on a cutting board. Carefully strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer and set aside. I put my stock in a saucepan and kept warm on the stove
5. Take the chicken off the bone and cut into bite-sized pieces. Set aside (put in fridge if you think you’re going to take a while to make the gravy)
6. To make the gravy, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then add the flour. Stir regularly with a whisk (I like my flat-bottomed whisk for this task) until the roux starts to turn golden and has a delicious nutty aroma
7. Turn the heat to low, then add the warm stock one ladleful at a time, making sure to whisk vigorously between additions of stock. At first it will sputter and clump up but if you keep whisking you’ll get a smooth paste that gradually thins as you add more liquid
8. Once all the liquid is added, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and let simmer 15 minutes or so. Taste for seasoning and add some salt—I didn’t need to add anything else as the broth I’d made was so flavorful
9. Cool the gravy (I actually used a cold water bath to speed things up) and transfer to a very large pot or bowl
10. Add the chicken and vegetables to the gravy and stir well. Taste and add more salt or pepper as needed. You could also add a splash of white wine vinegar if you think the filling needs a bit of sharpness. Ideally you would refrigerate the mixture and assemble the pies when everything is cold but I used my mixture at room temperature and it was fine
11. If making individual pies, I use 70g of pie dough per 10-ounce pie dish which gives me lots of leftover scraps to make lids. You can always roll out your pie dough ahead of time and keep your cute little crusts in the fridge until you are ready to fill them
12. I put two ladlesful of filling in each base then topped with a lid of pastry, crimped the edges together and brushed the top with beaten egg
13. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 375 and bake an additional 20 minutes or until the pies are bubbling and the crusts are golden