A Taste of Home: Chicken Pot Pie

With a craving for food that reminded me of home and with a bunch of frozen vegetables needing used, my project this week was to make Chicken Pot Pie.  Everyone seems to like to make things from scratch in Austria (it's impossible to find frosting, pre-made pie crusts, etc in stores. Not even Bisquick!), so I set out to make it all on my own.  Special thanks to Kristi and Mom for giving me tips!

For the crust, I followed this recipe, tweaked a bit for bigger proportions to make a larger crust. Put flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl and cut in thin pieces of butter; use a fork to mix and cut the butter into smaller pieces. Once the butter is broken down and the mixture looks crumbly and even, add a few spoonfuls of ice water. Mix together, and work the dough into a ball with your hands. Wrap in plastic to keep it from drying out, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.


For the filling, I referenced this recipe but pretty much did my own thing based on what I had. I used five small boneless chicken filets, 3/4 of a large bag of frozen veggies, a couple potatoes, condensed cream of mushroom soup, and milk.  These were all items that I had lying around the house that needed used up.  Very convenient!  Add anything else that you have on hand that would be tasty inside.

Prepare: Preheat over to 425 F (or 218 C!). Chop the chicken filets into smaller pieces (bite-sized chunks). Thaw the frozen vegetables or chop/prepare a mixture of fresh vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, etc). Peel and chop as many potatoes as you'd like (I only used two small ones--they're all I had--but we decided more would have been better. Also, consider briefly boiling the peeled potatoes before adding them to the vegetable mix; this will make them softer).

First, melt a spoonful of butter in a skillet (make sure it's a big skillet!). Add the chunks of chicken to the pan and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Keep turning them over and moving them around until all the chicken is cooked through. Next, add your vegetables, chopped potatoes, soup (condensed cream of mushroom or chicken), and milk. Mix together for about 5 minutes or until the entire mixture is hot (slightly bubbling).


Remove your chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out. Do not be alarmed if it's especially hard; the butter has probably solidified together again. Let sit for a minute and slowly use your rolling pin (or other cylindrical object, such as the glass that I used ^_^) to stretch it out and roll it into a thin long shape in order to cover your baking pan. Try to keep the thickness consistent; paper-thin dough will form a crispier crust, whereas slightly thicker dough will take longer to bake but form a softer, doughier crust (and in my opinion, tastier!).

The linked recipe calls for baking your pot pie in the same skillet; instead, I decided to use a 9x13 pan (thus needing a larger crust). Pour your filling mixture into whichever pan you'd prefer to bake in. Lay the dough on top so that it completely covers the mixture; wrap the ends around the edge of the pan and pinch. Use a knife to poke slits in the dough crust; this will allow steam to escape. Melt another spoonful of butter and brush thinly onto the crust.

Put into the over and cook for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (varies depending on your thickness of crust). Remove, serve, and enjoy!