Time for another new recipe Wednesday! This time it’s these amazing meal prep and freezer ready Easy Individual Chicken Pot Pies. I opted for plenty of shortcuts with this recipe to make it as easy as possible – instead of cooking my own chicken, I went for rotisserie chicken; cream of mushroom soup gets the filling super creamy without any fuss; and the store-bought frozen puff pastry means you don’t have to make your own! And for my meal preppers out there, my favorite part is that you bake this right in your meal prep dishes, which means less cleanup.
Freezer Tips
Yes, you can freeze these individual chicken pot pies! Just be sure to freeze them before baking, not after. That way your puff pastry crust will actually puff and flake the way it should! You can also skip the egg wash before freezing and instead do that when you’re ready to bake from frozen.
- How to freeze them: I love using my 2-cup Souper Cubes for the job because once they’re frozen, I can just easily pop them out. You could also use individual sized aluminum pans.
- How to store them: My frozen Souper Cubes go right into vacuum sealed bags for storage in the freezer. If you’re storing these in aluminum pans, be sure to allow the filling to cool completely, then wrap in two layers of freezer plastic, then 1 layer of aluminum foil before freezing.
- How to bake them from frozen: When you’re ready to bake these bad boys, get your oven to 400° and put your frozen pot pie in a square, oven safe baking dish like this or this (unless you’re using the aluminum pans). Then you’ll cover it with foil and bake for about 40 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking until the crust is deep golden brown and flakey.
Here are some items I used to make this recipe a success. Note: these are Amazon Affiliate links.
Recipe
Easy Individual Chicken Pot Pie
Servings: servings
Ingredients
- 1 small rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed, chopped, (550 grams cleaned chicken)
- 24 oz frozen veggies, (680 grams)
- 2 1/2 cups Swanson Chicken Cooking Stock, Unsalted, (20 fl oz)
- 2 10.5 oz cans Campbell's Healthy Choice Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped, (250 grams)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped, (70 grams)
- 5 cloves garlic, minced, (20 grams)
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour, (16 grams)
- 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp sea salt, (or to taste)
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Pastry Crust
- 1 box Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed for 30-40 mins at room temp, (490 grams)
- 1 egg
- 1-2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400°. Arrange individual oven-safe baking or meal prep dishes on a baking sheet.
- In a pot, melt butter over medium high heat. Once butter is hot, add onion, celery, garlic, and fresh thyme. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add flour and stir to coat veggies evenly. No powdery flour should remain visible.
- Add chicken stock and cream of mushroom soup, whisking to ensure there are no clumps of flour. Bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Unroll the puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Trim to fit the opening of your baking dish (I prefer square so I don't waste much pastry!). If you need to splice 2 pieces of pastry together, just lightly wet the edges and work the dough to smoosh it together. Crimp the edges of the pastry using your fingers, then cut an "X" in the middle of the prepared pastry squares to allow steam to escape.
- Whisk the egg and water together to create an egg wash. Brush the top and edges of the pastry with egg wash for optimal browning. (Note: Skip the egg wash if you plan to freeze the pot pies.)
- Mix frozen veggies and rotisserie chicken into the soup mixture. Divide among 6 baking dishes (about 2 cups filling per serving).
- Gently lay each pastry square on top of the filling. Push the corners down slightly if they are sticking up above the edge of the dish, but do not press down farther than that. This will help keep the soup mixture under the pastry as much as possible.
- Bake at 400° for 35 minutes, then increase the temperature to 450° and move to the top rack of the oven for the last 10 minutes. The pastry should puff up slightly, become flaky on the top, and develop a deep golden brown color.
Tips & Tricks
Click here or scan the barcode below to log this food in My Fitness Pal.
FREEZING AND BAKING FROM FROZEN:
- Skip Step 5 (egg wash), and build your pot pies in a 2-cup Souper Cube instead of a glass dish.
- Do not bake before freezing! Once you’ve layered your puff pastry on top of the filling, freeze the pot pies completely.
- To bake from frozen, preheat oven to 400°. Place your frozen pot pies in a square, oven safe baking dish like this or this. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove foil, then brush each pot pie crust with egg wash as in Step 5 above. Increase oven temperature to 425° and shift to the top rack. Continue baking until crusts are deep golden brown, about 45-55 more minutes. Allow pot pies to cool to a safe temperature before eating.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 550g, Calories: 653kcal (33%), Carbohydrates: 63g (21%), Protein: 40g (80%), Fat: 28g (43%), Cholesterol: 96mg (32%), Sodium: 1013mg (44%), Potassium: 922mg (26%), Fiber: 8g (33%), Sugar: 10g (11%)
