You are looking at a must try comfort food meal. I was never a fan of chicken pot pie until a friend so kindly brought me this dish after I had my baby a few years ago. I’m fully in love with it! Rather then getting a surrounding of heavy pie crust you get a fluffy biscuit topping that will quickly have you loading your plate with a second round. In my opinion the topping is what makes this dish. It sets it apart from it’s competitors, being loaded with Parmesan cheese, plenty of heavy cream, some black pepper and cayenne pepper for a slight kick, and I also added a little garlic powder (because how can I resist?). Then to finish, it’s browned in the oven to beautifully golden perfection.
And the wonder doesn’t just end at the topping. That is just the beginning. It’s loaded with fresh, sauteed veggies, fall apart tender chicken which is all tossed in a creamy white sauce. This hearty dish would also be incredible made with leftover turkey from your upcoming Thanksgiving feast.
I love how this is your entire meal in one dish. The main course with the chicken, the side with its generous portion of veggies and a bread with that unbelievable topping. I love how the slightly tangy flavor from the Parmesan cheese will keep people wondering what delicious ingredient that incredible flavor is coming from.
This meal will remind you of what a classic, simple, just plain good meal is intended to be. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 20 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 large)
- 1 (14.5 oz) can low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup peeled and diced carrots (about 2 large carrots)
- 3/4 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
- 3/4 cup finely diced yellow onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
- 2/3 cup frozen peas
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (use 1/2 tsp for a slightly stronger garlic flavor)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/4 cup butter, cold and diced into small cubes
- 2 oz. finely shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup packed)
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp heavy cream
Directions
- Place chicken in a slow cooker, pour chicken broth over chicken. Cover with lid and cook on low heat about 5 - 6 hours until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from slow cooker, dice and set aside. Strain broth from slow cooker through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and reserve broth (if you don't have a fine mesh strainer just try to remove the pieces of fat).
- Preheat oven to 450 degree. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder and optional cayenne pepper. Using your finger tips, cut butter into mixture until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Pour in heavy cream and mix just until combine. Break and drop mixture into 1 - 2-inch pieces onto a Silpat lined baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add diced carrots, onion and celery. Saute vegetables, stirring occasionally until lightly golden and tender, about 5 - 6 minutes. Pour vegetables into a bowl and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, melt butter in saucepan (I like to brown it a bit for and extra layer of flavor), then add in flour and cook, stirring constantly for about 20 seconds (it will be very thick). While stirring, slowly add in milk followed by reserved chicken broth, lemon juice, parsley, thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture just to a boil, then slightly reduce heat and allow to cook about 1 minute longer until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove sauce from heat and add sauteed vegetables, frozen peas and diced chicken to sauce, then toss to evenly coat. Pour mixture into a 9-inch pie dish and sprinkle with baked crumble topping (mine fit perfectly in my pie dish but if yours is coming close to the top edge you may want to sit it on top of a cookie sheet to prevent spills in your oven). Bake in 400 degree oven until nicely golden about 12 - 14 minutes. Serve warm.
- Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Cook's Illustrated, and yes I omitted the tomato paste and soy sauce =)
Debs @ The Spanish Wok: Oh Yum, this sounds just my kinda food, thanks. October 30, 2012 at 1:51am
Julie @ Table for Two: This looks like the most comforting and delicious meal!! I love that you made the topping into a crumble!! October 30, 2012 at 7:39am
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious: Yes, yes, and yes! Pot pie is my absolute favorite thing ever! And I love that you added a “crumble.” I totally need to try this, and then eat every single last bite out of the pie pan! October 30, 2012 at 11:15am
Loretta E.: I don’t mind the crust on regular pot pie, but this looks equally awesome. Maybe even more so! I love the addition of cayenne… October 30, 2012 at 1:59pm
Ashley @ Wishes & Dishes: I love pot pie! This looks amazing! October 30, 2012 at 7:34pm
Polly Huang: Made this for dinner tonight. DELICIOUS! October 31, 2012 at 7:11pm
Jaclyn: Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for your comment! November 3, 2012 at 9:18pm
Becky {BeckyBakes}: This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it..thanks! November 1, 2012 at 4:22pm
Peter Block: I thought this looked so good and is so traditional that I featured it on my Friday Five Americana over @Feed Your Soul – http://chefpeterskitchen.blogspot.com/2012/11/friday-five-americana.html November 2, 2012 at 6:59am
angela @anotherbiteplease: I love love love chicken pot pie….I seriously could eat every night….and love trying new recipes. pinned so it goes on my meal plan! November 2, 2012 at 11:08am
Anonymous: Mine is in the oven as I type…can’t wait! I have a question…I added a potato so it wouldn’t all fit in one pan. Can the rest be frozen in an individual serving dish?
November 2, 2012 at 6:05pm
Jaclyn: I’m sure you could freeze it, I might freeze the topping seperately though just so it doesn’t get soggy. I hope you love it! November 2, 2012 at 8:31pm
Anonymous: I made this last night and it was so good! My husband said it was the best chicken pot pie he’s ever had. :) November 3, 2012 at 8:37pm
Jaclyn: That’s great to hear, it’s definitely my favorite too =). Thanks so much for your comment! November 3, 2012 at 9:19pm
Emma: found this on pinterest and just have to give it a try,I’m craving it!! but i don’t have a slow cooker, can i cook it slowly in my regular fan oven on a low heat?? November 9, 2012 at 5:06am
Jaclyn: I think the directions of the original recipe just say to cook the chicken in the broth over the stove top until chicken is cooked through so I’d recommend doing it that way. I hope that helps and I hope you enjoy! November 10, 2012 at 12:44am
Ryan Olsen: I started to pin my way through your blog :) WOW there are some jems here! November 12, 2012 at 3:48pm
Anonymous: This was a FANTASTIC recipe, so thank you so much for sharing! I love that the focus of this dish is the creamy chicken and vegetables, not a piecrust or other carb-heavy exterior. I made this and it came out perfectly. Two things though:
1) I used the 1/4 cup butter and still had a giant mound of flour, not crumb, and had to increase this measurement to 1/2 cup to get “course crumbs”.
2) I’m amazed yours fit in a 9″ pie pan. I had to use two! I didn’t increase the recipe at all; maybe the aluminum grocery store pie pans are smaller? Who knows.
At any rate, thanks for sharing a great recipe. Will be a staple at my house. =) November 17, 2012 at 9:43pm
Jaclyn: You are welcome! Thanks for the comment =). My pie dish is probably is maybe a bit taller than the average but it just barely fit nearly to the brim. I think you are right though I’m quite certain the aluminum ones don’t fit quite as much. The additional butter also sounds delicious =). November 19, 2012 at 12:57pm
Kenya G. Johnson: This looks delicious! Visiting from Bonbon Break. I’ve pinned your recipe. November 29, 2012 at 6:36am
jenny: This looks so yummy! I want to make it for our guest on Sat. Just clarifying, do you use actual pie crust in the pie pan for the bottom, or just pour the mixture in, sans pie crust? November 29, 2012 at 9:10am
Jaclyn: Jenny – yes you just pour it in without a pie crust on bottom, it does seem strange when your used to the regular chicken pot pie that has a crust on bottom and top =). I hope you and your guest enjoy! November 30, 2012 at 11:52am
Karen B: Made this the other night with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and it definitely beats out pot pie with the pie crust. Not as heavy as the original and just as flavorful. Thanks for my new “go to” recipe for pot pie!! December 1, 2012 at 7:51am
hilljean: HOLY SMOKES that looks so yummy!! My little dude is severely allergic to dairy. What alternative do you think would work best to not screw up the flavor? December 1, 2012 at 3:18pm
Jaclyn: Unfortunately I’m not too familiar with which products are best as dairy free substitutions, but what I would recommend as far as the milk goes is an unsweetened almond milk. For the butter you could replace it with vegetable shortening or a vegan margarine. For a non-dairy cream substitute I would use mimiccream. Hope that helps! December 1, 2012 at 10:32pm
Anonymous: I made this today for my dad’s birthday party. Everyone loved it – including my mom who is extremely particular. Yum! December 2, 2012 at 4:52pm
Anonymous: Yum! December 15, 2012 at 5:14pm
Melange: One of my Favorites!! Easier to
Make, too December 16, 2012 at 6:01am
Brandy: This is incredible. I made mine GF. Love it, but it is a lot of work. December 21, 2012 at 7:38pm
Deanne: This is absolutely wonderful!!! I made this for our Christmas Eve dinner and it is the best chicken pot pie I’ve ever had! Since we don’t have a slow cooker, I gently boiled the chicken with broth for 30 minutes and I made the “crumble” using our food processor (as I’ve never mastered cutting butter into flour with my fingers and get too frustrated with it). Hence, this recipe didn’t take long to make at all (and I made a double batch)! Thank you, Jaclyn, for making our Christmas Dinner so special! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :-) December 24, 2012 at 6:32pm
Jaclyn: Deanne – You are so welcome! I’m so glad you loved this! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too! Thanks so much for your comment! December 25, 2012 at 12:08pm
mrsblocko: I made this and wrote about it here.
So far I’ve made this dish twice. The first time I screwed it up by not reading the directions correctly. I forgot to bake the topping before putting it on the casserole. It was still pretty amazing without it being crispy. The second time I followed the directions and knocked the socks off my family’s tastebuds.
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. :) December 30, 2012 at 2:31pm
Jaclyn: Your welcome! Thanks so much for your comment and blogging about this recipe! I’m glad you enjoyed it =). January 2, 2013 at 8:01pm
Sherry: Do the veggies get tender in the short amount of time this cooks? January 7, 2013 at 4:15pm
Jaclyn: Mostly you want to make sure the veggies are tender when sauteing because their tenderness doesn’t change a whole lot when baking. The first time I made it I didn’t saute them long enough and I had chewy/slightly crunchy vegetables so I adjusted the time of what the recipe stated for sauteing and sauteed them longer until they were nicely golden the next time around and soft. January 7, 2013 at 10:32pm
Christy G.: I followed directions explicitly and I had a few problems with the end result. :-( My vegetables were too crunchy so next time, I’ll sauté longer. And it was very tasty but too dry!?! I felt like it wasn’t creamy enough at all. So I am not sure what I did wrong. Perhaps I had too much chicken and/or vegetables? But like I said, I followed it to the letter. My son even nibbled some of my cooked chicken so I don’t think I had too much! :-)
Perhaps I am just slow in the kitchen, but the entire prep time took 1.5 hours! Perhaps too many interruptions by my 2 and 4 year old. Anyway, I just want to try it again and make sure it’s creamy…much more soupy! Any suggestions? Thanks! January 12, 2013 at 8:08pm
Jaclyn: Christy – Do 1 1/2 or even double the bachamel sauce (butter, flour, milk). That should solve the issue of it being too dry. Thanks for the input! January 18, 2013 at 9:17pm
Lynn Wood: This looks terrific and I can’t wait to give it a try tonight. Thanks so much for sharing!
Lynn January 26, 2013 at 1:32pm
Bethany: Really enjoyed this. I didn’t have peas, so I threw in some frozen broccoli, and used the remnants of a rotisserie chicken. Doubled the bechamel (I like mine saucy!). Loved the crunch of the topping. While the biscuits were baking, I sauteed the veggies. While the biscuits were cooling, I made the bechamel and poured it over the chicken and veggies. Everything into the pan, back in the oven… probably just over a half hour meal. January 28, 2013 at 3:02pm
Jaclyn: Those additions sound delicious! I’ll have to try mine with more sauce next time too, thanks for your comment! January 30, 2013 at 1:13pm
Angela @ Another Bite Please: jaclyn i had to report back that my family loved this! February 18, 2013 at 7:47pm
Jaclyn: Angela – that is awesome! I’m so glad your family loved this – thanks so much for reporting back =)!! February 19, 2013 at 9:55am
Leilani: AAAHHHHmazing!!! I added cream of mushroom soup to the filling after making the roux, gave it just a little more flavor. I also doubled the filling, but I also used quite a bit more veggies and it was just the right consistency! I didn’t use peas (I despise them) but added in a can of corn and can of green beans. I just boiled the chicken until it was cooked rather than stew it in the crockpot half the day. It did take a little over an hour, but I was also being very meticulous as to not mess anything up :) I did make these in those disposable individual cooking tins (mini meatloaf size) so everyone had a perfect portion, and I had plenty of leftovers to bring to the neighbors! This was a HUGE hit! Thank you so much!!! February 26, 2013 at 6:56pm
Jaclyn: Leilani – I’m so glad you enjoyed this! Your additions sound delicious. I love your name by the way =), very beautiful name. Thanks so much for your comment! February 27, 2013 at 10:35am
Laura: This pot pie is absolutely delicious! I made it for my husband and I for the first time a few weeks ago and we loved it! I’m making it again this weekend for a group that is coming over for dinner. Thanks for such a wonderful staple! March 1, 2013 at 10:12am
Jaclyn: Laura – so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed and that this recipe has become a staple =). Thanks so much for your comment! March 1, 2013 at 9:39pm
Amy of while wearing heels: I pinned this recipe and decided to give it a try (unlike some pins that never become a realty). I hoped it would be good but I had no idea how good it would be. As the crumble baked in the oven, my mouth watered at the unbelievable aroma that was coming out of the oven. This delicious recipe will now become a staple in our house now, too. Thank you so much for sharing it. A big yum and seal of approval. March 9, 2013 at 4:57pm
Jaclyn: So glad you enjoyed this Amy! Thanks for returning to leave a comment!! March 10, 2013 at 8:17pm
Melissa: Hi! Kind of a newbie here…does the chicken go in the crock pot thawed or still frozen? Thank you, can’t wait to make this! :) March 18, 2013 at 5:38pm
Jaclyn: Melissa – I’ve done both (thawed or frozen) but if it’s frozen I usually cook it for about 7 hours. Hope you enjoy! March 18, 2013 at 6:58pm
Melissa: Thank you so much! March 19, 2013 at 1:15pm
Jaclyn: You’re welcome! March 19, 2013 at 3:42pm
Weekly Menu Plan | The Dusty Road Blog: [...] – Chicken Pot Pie Crumble from Cooking Classy with my Ranch Hand Biscuits and a tossed salad on the [...] March 31, 2013 at 10:37pm
Marisa R.: All I have to say is… this was simply amazing! My entire family loved it! April 11, 2013 at 7:29pm
Jaclyn: That is great to hear Marisa, so glad your family loved this! Thanks for your comment! April 13, 2013 at 8:54pm
Lani: Mine is in the oven and looks fantastic. I used vegetarian alternatives (and vegan substitutions in some cases) and still, it looks delectable. Can’t wait these last 4 minutes… April 23, 2013 at 6:21pm
Jaclyn: That’s great you were able to make this into a vegetarian/vegan dish! I hope you love how it turned out! April 23, 2013 at 7:56pm
Nicole: Could you just put the crumble on top with out cooking it first and then cook it all together? May 1, 2013 at 3:37pm
Jaclyn: I like cooking it first because then it perfectly cooked without overcooking the filling and it’s not soggy or underbaked. May 1, 2013 at 6:27pm