Chicken Pot Pie Trial: Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Soy-free

My previous experience with pot pies has been limited to the individual pot pies you can get for $.50 (ok, more like $.80 now). While they tasted ok, we never had them very often because they would take so long to cook in the oven, and if I was looking for a convenience meal, I wanted something that could be done in five minutes, because I was wondering what to make for dinner at 6:00.

So, I never had the desire to make an allergy-friendly pot pie until an article from Living Without sparked my imagination for what could be made from a homemade dairy- and gluten-free cream of x soup. So I hopped over to Our Best Bites, and started planning how to make their chicken pot pie (originally from Domestication in Progress).

The Changes

Besides a gluten-free pie crust (I’ll admit, I used a mix instead of following one of the from-scratch recipes I have) and a homemade dairy-free, gluten-free cream of chicken soup, I switched the vegetables around a bit and cooked them in canola oil instead of butter.

The Method

Dice potatoes, then place in a pot of water to boil for 15-20 minutes, until tender (I would err on the side of under cooking). Mince onions, and slice carrots. Then saute in canola oil for a few minutes until onions start to turn transparent and carrots are crisp tender.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked vegetables, thawed peas, diced cooked chicken, and cream of chicken soup. This part would be a good time to add in the extra salt and pepper, if I’d actually remembered to do so. Oops!

Prepare your pie crusts according to the directions in your recipe/mix.  I chose not to prebake my bottom crust, and it ended up disappearing when we were dishing it out. So I recommend to bake the bottom crust for less than ten minutes, then add the filling, then top with the top crust. Pinch/flute edges to seal, then cut slits to allow it to vent. My crust was pretty fragile, so I chose to mess with it as little as possible.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 40-45 minutes until crust is golden. Boiling filling seeping out the slits/cracks in the side is a good indication of doneness too.  Let stand for a few minutes before serving.

Chicken Pot Pie

Adapted from Domestication in Progress

Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Soy-free

Ingredients:

• Pastry for a double-crust pie (I used ‘Cause You’re Special Pie Crust Mix)
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups diced cooked chicken
• 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 2 medium russet potatoes, diced
• 1 onion, minced
• 3 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• one recipe dairy-free, gluten-free cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• pepper to taste

Boil potatoes for 15-20 minutes, or until tender. Heat oil in a skillet, then add onion and carrots. Saute onion and carrots for a few minutes, until onion is translucent and carrots are crisp tender.

In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, peas, cooked potatoes, cooked onion and carrots, cream of chicken soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pre-bake the bottom crust in a pie plate for less than ten minutes. Pour filling into pre baked crust, then top with remaining pie crust. Seal edges, and cut slits for venting. Bake pie for 40-45 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Serves 5-6

What I Thought

This recipe is a lot of work, but it turned out really good. I have a few tweaks to make next time, like adding a little extra seasoning to the filling, pre-baking the bottom crust, and adding an egg wash, or brushing the pie crust with oil before baking to give it an extra shine. In the future, I would probably double the recipe to make two pies, one for now, and one to freeze for later. My husband said this was definitely a keeper. My daughter, however, couldn’t even be enticed to eat the “pie bread.” Joseph ate the chicken, crust, and a few vegetables before asking for more chicken.

Shared on Allergy Friendly Friday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Allergy-free Wednesday and Gluten-free Wednesday