- [Narrator] That delicious, buttery, flaky crust,
that creamy chicken filling, chicken pot pie
is the ultimate comfort food.
And after weeks of testing, many heated debates
in the Tasty kitchen and buying out
all of the most popular frozen chicken pot pies,
we now have the most perfect,
homemade chicken pot pie recipe just for you.
(upbeat music)
Let's talk chicken.
There are many options you can go with.
To save time, you can opt
for a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
That's already been seasoned for you.
It's easy, it's fast and it's a popular shortcut
that many people use.
But to us, roasting the chicken and making the stock
from scratch is a must.
Chicken is the base of our recipe,
and we wanna start on the right foot
by flavoring our dish from the very beginning.
We recommend picking the highest quality chicken
you can find, it will have the best flavor,
and it will also make the best stock.
And we're gonna start by petting the chicken dry
with some paper towels to remove
all of that excess moisture on the chicken.
If you skip this step, the skin is gonna be way too wet
and all your butter's gonna slide right off.
All right the cavity, I'm adding one tablespoon
of kosher salt, because fun fact,
the best way to season your chicken is from the inside out.
Please don't skip this step.
Now we wanna make sure our chicken
is nice and seasoned on the outside.
We love the combination of butter, garlic powder,
black pepper, thyme and lemon zest.
So good in supporting that the butter is room temperature
so everything mixes data really easily.
If you try to use cold butter, it won't even combine.
Now we've got this beautiful compound butter.
Let's rub it all over the chicken.
Make sure you get under the skin, get every nook and cranny.
You can even like push it a little bit like this
to get to the outer parts.
Then we're gonna rub the thighs
and the chicken breasts as well.
Your chicken should be evenly coated
with your butter mixture on the inside and outside.
If you're having trouble
getting the butter under the chicken,
just stick your finger in there to loosen the seal
between the chicken breasts and the skin.
Making sure you get every nook and cranny.
I know this is a little weird, but just embrace it.
This is the key to getting the most juicy,
flavorful chicken.
All right, back to the cavity.
You're just gonna add your lemon quarters,
chopped onion, and halved garlic.
This is going to help add even more flavor
and aromatics to your chicken.
Now it's time to tie the chicken
and we're pretty much just doing this
to help keep the moisture in.
So with some butchers twine,
we're gonna tie the legs together and this will help
the bird hold its shape while it's roasting.
And don't forget to tuck
those cute little wings in so they don't get burnt.
Now we're going to transfer our chicken to a roasting pan
that has a rack in it because all the juices
from the chicken are gonna drip out.
And then we're gonna add that tourist stock later
to add even more flavor.
Roasting your chicken will honestly depend on the size.
If it's smaller bird, roast it for about 60 minutes,
if it's a larger bird, roast it for about 80,
you want to insert your thermometer
in the thickest part of the chicken thigh.
And if it reads 165, it's done.
Let it rest for at least 20 minutes.
This is gonna help the meat reabsorb all its juices
because nobody wants a dry chicken.
Now it's time to break down the chicken
so I can use the bones for the stock
and the meat for my filling.
First, what you're gonna do
is take off one of the thighs.
This is the easiest part to get off first,
and it really should just pull away.
Make sure you put that skin in your stockpot
'cause we're gonna use it
to make this amazing stock and fun fact,
chicken skin actually has a ton of collagen
and will add a lot of flavor to our stock.
All right, so take the meat off the chicken,
shred it into small pieces.
Put that meat in one bowl
and add the bones to your stock pot.
So to get the breast off,
we're gonna take the tip of our knife and run it
from the top of the breast bone to the bottom.
And this is gonna help separate
the breast meat from the bone.
If you're worried about getting it off in one piece,
honestly, it doesn't matter
because we're gonna shred it anyways.
And we're just trying to get the meat away from the bones
so we can use it to make stock.
You can see we have some big chunks
and we have our little chunks.
We like to shred it into half inch pieces.
So every bite has like the perfect amount of chicken ratio
to gravy, to veggies, but you know what, do you here.
If you want some chunks, leave some chunks.
Once all your chicken is nicely shredded,
just transfer it to an airtight container
and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
Now I'm gonna take this chicken carcass
and put it in our stock pot.
And now it's time to make our stock.
Again, we're doing it from scratch.
It really just is the best way to do it.
It will add so much flavor to the filling
and really enhance your dish.
We tested it in a stove and a pressure cooker.
There wasn't a difference in taste,
but it was much faster in the instant pot.
About a quarter of the time it took on the stove.
So today we're gonna save some time
and use the pressure cooker.
If you don't have one, don't worry about it.
Just simmer it on your stove for four to six hours.
It will still taste delicious, I promise.
So to the stock, you're going to add onions.
This one's literally a must, don't skip it.
Garlic, my personal favorite, carrots,
celery, peppercorns, fresh thyme and parsley.
And lastly, a bay leaf.
Now we're just going to pour some water into our pot.
For us, this took about 12 to 16 cups.
Just make sure your chicken carcass
is covered by at least one inch of water.
And that secret ingredient you can not forget,
add in those juices from roasting your chicken.
If you're wondering where the salt is, I hear you,
but don't add salt before you cook your stock.
You never know how much the stock is gonna reduce,
and you don't want it to be overly salty.
How easy was that to make homemade chicken stock?
We're just gonna cook it on high
for 45 minutes and then strain it.
Ah, the pie dough, the buttery,
flaky goodness that makes many believe the crust
may actually be the star of this recipe.
This caused some controversy on the Tasty team.
There are two kinds of people in this world,
those that like their pot pie with both a top
and bottom crust and those that just want a top crust.
Yes, those are the things we fight about here at Tasty.
We've actually covered a bunch of different crusts
is one of our previous Tasty one-on-one videos,
how to make the perfect pie,
go check it out if you wanna see those tests
to figure out how we came to the conclusion
to make an all butter crust,
to make our crust, we're gonna start
with some all-purpose flour,
add a little bit of salt and given a mix.
So next, add some very cold cubed butter
and give it a toss.
We wanna make sure each piece of butter
is evenly coated in flour
before we start breaking it down,
you need to use cold butter here.
If it's warm, it will melt
and you won't get those beautiful, flaky layers.
A lot of recipes tell you to make butter
into pea-sized pieces.
But I personally like to just smash the butter
in between my fingers to create Lima bean sized butter,
Lima bean sized pieces will actually result
in a flakier crust than if you did pea sized pieces.
Don't stress about it if all the pieces aren't even size,
we just want it to be bigger rather than smaller.
So now you're going to begin incorporating
your ice water and vodka mixture.
Add the mixture a little bit of time
and use a rubber spatula to toss it all together
to evenly combine.
Vodka's our secret ingredient here.
There's some science going on,
it helps create flake your layers
and actually inhibits gluten formation,
which can be a blessing
if you accidentally overwork your dough.
So continue tossing your mixture together
just until it comes together.
You don't want it to be too wet
and you don't want it to be too dry.
It should look just like this
when you squeeze it in your hand.
You'll know it's too dry if it starts to crumble
when you roll it out and if it's too wet,
it's going to be like a sticky, tacky dough.
And you just wanna avoid that.
Dough can be intimidating, but it just takes practice.
Just keep going at it
and you'll finally get the rhythm of it.
Great, the looks good, it's awesome.
You might be thinking, this looks super dry.
Don't worry, you saw when I squeezed it in my hand,
it came together.
It's gonna do that exact same thing as we start to form it.
Gently shape this into a rectangle.
Then we're gonna fold it in thirds,
turn it 90 degrees, flatten it,
fold it in thirds again,
this folding technique is much like the elimination process
you see in croissants and biscuits
that hope you get those extra flaky layers.
Since team two layer crest one
are super official tasty bowl,
let's divide our dough into two.
Look at these layers, those are the layers you dream about.
At least I do, take your two dough babies,
wrap them tightly in plastic, stick them in their fridge.
We recommend chilling your dough for at least one hour,
but you can actually do this the day before
or even up to three days, let's talk filling.
To me, there is nothing worse than a dry pot pie.
You need the golden ratio of veggies to chicken, to sauce.
So we're gonna start by melting the butter
in a large pot, over medium heat.
We like to add onions, carrots, potatoes, and fresh thyme
You can totally experiment with other vegetables
like parsnips or butternut squash or leaks or beets.
But we went with more of a classic version.
We're gonna season these veggies
with one teaspoon of kosher salt,
and we're just gonna cook it
until the onions start to soften, about five minutes.
After it softened, we're gonna add the flour
and we wanna keep stirring
so it evenly incorporates into the flour
and there's no lumps.
This will take like two to three minutes,
be patient and do not turn that heat up.
If you let the roux brown too much,
if you could change the color of your filling,
or even worse, burn it,
and then you have to start over.
Slowly whisk in the chicken stock a little at a time.
You wanna make sure that the chicken stock
is room temperature,
so it evenly incorporates into your roux.
If you try to add cold liquid to hot roux,
it's gonna seize up and create a lumpy filling.
Nobody wants that, so remember, patience is key.
Let it simmer until the stock has reduced
into a nice, thick sauce
that coats the back of your spoon.
For a little silky lusciousness,
we like to add just a touch, a heavy cream.
Once it looks nice and thick,
give at one last year and turn off the heat.
Then we're gonna fold in our beautifully shredded chicken.
Next we're gonna add in the frozen peas.
Hear me out.
This is the only frozen vegetable allowed in this dish.
If you try to use that frozen veggie mix,
you'll end up with a super mushy filling with no texture.
We folded in some parsley for a bit of brightness.
It's just a nice contrast
for a rich and creamy dish like this.
So now, take your filling and chill it in the freezer
for 15 minutes, it's time to roll out the pie dough.
Let it sit on your counter for five to 10 minutes,
just so it's a bit easier to roll out.
You're gonna wanna flour your surface,
flour the rolling pin and flour your dough,
then gently roll out the dough.
Give it a quarter turn, keep rolling and keep repeating.
It's okay if it doesn't look perfect,
we're gonna trim the edges later.
Both of our doughs rolled out to about a 12 inch circle.
We want the bottom one just a little bit thicker.
So it's sturdy enough to hold our filling.
The best way to move your pie dough
is really just roll it up on your rolling pin.
Then it's time to put it in your pie dish.
We like to use a glass pie dish.
It heats evenly, and you can see what's happening.
Metal conducts heat a bit better,
but it might leave you with a burnt crust.
And we don't want that.
So drip your dough over the pie dish,
let it naturally find its place
and then you can make any adjustments,
press down the sides and make sure there's no air bubbles
and make sure it's really deep down,
touching all the sides of the dish.
Before you add your filling,
we have another trick, egg wash.
You just wanna brush the inside of your crust
with some of it.
It's gonna act as a protective layer
and prevent you from getting a soggy crust.
Now that your crust is in,
you're gonna add your chilled filling,
just even it out. So it's in a nice, even layer.
Gently drape your remaining pie dough over the pie,
trim off any excess.
Then pinch the edges of the crust together,
roll it under and seal it together.
Then crimp it around the sides, just like this.
All right, let's go with the egg wash.
We want a nice even layer.
Oops, it's a little chunky.
I'm just gonna smooth this out.
Nobody saw anything.
And we're just gonna cut a few events in the top
to allow the steam to escape.
Make sure you do this after you egg wash,
because if you egg wash now,
you would just be sealing it back together.
Your pie is fully assembled, you are almost done.
Can we just take a minute to bask in this beauty?
All that hard work is totally paying off,
but we just have one more step.
We're gonna put this in the fridge
just for about 20 minutes.
So it holds it shape when it bakes.
You definitely don't want that butter
to melt before you bake it.
The grand finale is here, it is time to bake this bad boy.
We like to bake our pie on the lower third of the oven,
which helps it concentrate the heat
on the bottom to ensure that crispy crust,
then we're gonna bake it for about 40 to 50 minutes,
rotating halfway through, and just like that, you're done.
You have this beautiful, golden brown crust.
Your filling is bubbling and juicy.
It's incredible, but wait, I lied.
I lied, you needed it yet.
You need to wait 15 to 20 minutes to let it cool down
so you don't burn your mouth.
Really I'm doing you a favor.
So it's time to get that perfect slice.
Some people like to go straight in for a scoop
or whatever lands on their spoon.
We think you should cut yourself a hearty slice
and you got yourself the ultimate buttery,
flaky, indulgent, perfect chicken pot pie.
Your friends and family are gonna love you
a little more after this one.