Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

This recipe did not actually come from Pinterest, but I feel that it is my duty to enlighten the world about it.

Yesterday was a snow day, so I decided to make good use of my time by fixing a real-live-actual-dinner. The husband mentioned Chicken Pot Pie, and once I get my mind stuck on something, I have a hard time getting away from it. My first thought was to make Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes, but I did not have any refrigerated biscuits. My second thought was a cook book recipe that I used the second time I made the Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes.

You see, a few months ago these really cute kids at my school asked if I would buy a cook book to support their cheer leading squad. Sometimes I can say no, but I felt really heartless this time, so I said yes. I kind of regretted it because really, I get most of my recipes from the internet (hello…Pinterest!) or I just fix things I already know how to make. I have a million cook books. Did I really need one more??? Well, I did. Because this recipe is perfection.

Some time ago I made the cupcakes for the second time, but I did not have any cream of chicken soup. I pulled out this cook book to see if it had any other dinner ideas when I came across the chicken pot pie recipe. I decided to make the sauce from this recipe instead of the cream of chicken soup. I loved it SO much more than the preservatives in a can.

That brings me to yesterday. I pulled out the book and immediately thought that I couldn’t make it because I did not have frozen pie crusts. No one wants chicken pot pie without the crust! Then I got all Martha Stewarty and decided that I didn’t need some stinking pre-made crust…I would make my own. I used my trusty Betty Crocker (Bridal Edition, circa 2005) cook book for the crust recipe.

I had never made pie crust before, and it turns out that it was a little too crumbly. My wise mother told me I should have added more water. I will know better for next time. It wouldn’t really roll out perfectly, so I did my best and just laid it on top. I think it worked out pretty successfully.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/3 c. margarine or butter
1/3 c. chopped onion (I didn’t have this, so I used minced from a spice jar)
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
2/3 c. milk
2 1/2 to 3 c. shredded chicken or turkey
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 (15 oz) pkg. Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts

Heat oven to 450. Prepare pie crusts as directed on package for two-crust pie using 9-inch pie pan. Melt margarine in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Add flour, salt and pepper; stir until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened. Add chicken and mixed vegetables; mix well. Remove from heat. Spoon chicken mixture into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust; seal edges and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust. Bake 425 for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Ok, so I caught you, you probably skimmed over that recipe and said “I will totally make that later and read it right before I am about to start cooking.” That is acceptable. But then you will notice that the beginning of the recipe says to heat the oven to 450 degrees. Later in that same paragraph it says to bake at 425. I am not really sure what the right answer is here. I think I did 425, but my oven is really old and you have to turn the knob to somewhere around 300 if you want it to be somewhere around 400, so I can’t be exactly sure. I think my oven thermometer said 425. I don’t remember it ever making it up to 450. I also had to put my pie in the broiler for a few minutes because the crust never got really brown in the oven. Maybe a higher temperature would have taken care of that. Otherwise, you could set it to 437.5 degrees to go right in the middle.