Paleo Chicken Pot Pie
Good old fashioned (Paleo) chicken pot pie. It’s the Southern food I grew up on and am most comforted by. I grew up in a household where momma made just about everything from scratch. Her cooking was pretty good (love ya mom), but she was (and still is) an especially great baker. I still remember watching her boil the bagel dough for the crunchy cinnamon & sugar bagels I’d get to devour for my after school snack. Anyway….
Chicken pot pie is a baking person’s savory dish. I really think we’ve taken away any excuse you’ll ever have, ever again, to eat a SAD* chicken pot pie.
Ingredients
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 parsnips, peeled and diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 small bunch fresh collards, any other green will work too (4-5 cups chopped, stems removed)
- 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
- 1-2 T fresh thyme
- 1 lb chicken breasts (or thighs or a mix)
- 4 T FOC (fat of choice)
- 3 c chicken stock
- 1 T potato starch**
- s&p
For the Crust
- 4 egg whites
- 1 c almond flour
- 1 t baking powder
- 1 t salt
- ⅓ c butter (we used butter, but think non-hydrogenated palm shortening or coconut oil would work well too)
Method
In a large soup pot with a lid, heat your FOC over medium-high heat, then add your diced chicken. You want your pot to be pretty hot…you should hear a good sizzle when you add the chicken. Now…resist the urge to mess with it for a few minutes. You need to leave it down for a bit to get it a little brown. Test by peeking under a piece. When you’ve reached the desired brown-ness, go ahead and stir and finish cooking the chicken until done. This should take 4-6 minutes. Remove the chicken from your pot and set aside.
Add the remaining 2 T FOC and all of your peeled, diced veg (carrot, parsnip, onion, collards, mushrooms, thyme) to your pot and cover. Trapping the steam will help cook down your vegetables. Stir occasionally until all vegetables are cooked through and collards are almost finished cooking. Your collards should be wilted down and soft with a slight bite still to them. This will take 10-15 minutes. Now add the stock. Bring this up to a simmer and let the veg and collards cook a little longer, about 5 minutes. Add your chicken back in. The potato starch is going to be your thickener. To prevent it from clumping, add 1 T of starch to a small bowl along with 1-2 T water. Whisk or stir with fork until all lumps are gone and then add to the pot. Stir this through and reduce the heat until the mixture reaches a thickness that looks right for pot pie filling.
Remove this from the heat and add to any oven save bakeware (pyrex, stoneware, etc.). You could use ramekins and make individual pot pies here. Try to choose a size that will be filled to the brim by your mixture. However, this is not essential.
For your biscuit topping…
Let the butter (or palm shortening/coconut oil) get slightly softened and add it to your mixer bowl with the almond flour, salt and baking powder. Mix until evenly distributed. If you don’t have a mixer, do this with a fork. Now add your egg whites to the mix and stir to combine. Keep this mixture in the fridge if you make it ahead. When you’re ready to bake just top your pot pie veggie mixture (ramekins or other) with the dough. Bake at 400 F for 12-15 minutes until the top(s) is/are golden brown.
*Standard American Diet
**If you have issues with potato (though it’s been stated that, digestively speaking, you shouldn’t), I’m sure arrowroot powder would suffice as a thickener, but can’t estimate, off-hand, the quantity that would be needed…
Well I know what my cooking project will be next weekend. Chicken pot pie is one of my favorites!
I’m so excited that you put this up! I’ll definitely have to try it because it was one of my favorite comfort foods!
On a side note, I’ve used tapioca starch as a thickener… it’s made of the cassava root and I’ve found it at health food stores
I am making this tomorrow! Looks amazing
let us know what you think katie!
My husband made this the other night and I must say OMG it was so DELICIOUS!!! The problem was it was so good that I over ate. I’ve been loving your recipes so far, especially because of my personal Chef. Thanks for sharing, we really appreicate it.
This one turned out pretty tasty.
Next time I’ll be doubling this recipe so the leftovers last for more than a day. Since all the work for this is in the prep, it should make all that cutting and chopping time really pay off.
thanks jana! tell your personal chef we said thanks as well.
mike – BINGO!
I made this tonight for my husband and me. I love the idea of taking a comfort food and making it healthier. Instead of collards I used kale simply because I never had it before and thought it might taste good. It worked well. I tweaked it other places too for added flavor.
1. I coated the chicken with 1 tablespoon of evoo and with half of the thyme, 1/2 tsp of sage and 1/2 tsp of parsley. Then I sauteed it in the bottom of the stock pot.
2. I added celery to the mix of veggies.
3. After adding the veggies and stock to the pot, I added the rest of the thyme and another 1/2 tsp of sage, parsley and the salt and pepper.
I really believe adding the spices to the chicken before sauteing it gave it excellent flavor.
Problems I had with the recipe. Too much chicken stock, the potato starch didn’t thicken the stock to the traditional pot pie consistency (I didn’t mind this too much because I don’t care for all the cream in “real” pot pie) and WAY too much butter for the crust.
Overall, I will use this recipe again with the tweaks in spices. I’ll probably halve the butter or even quarter it and use water/stock or even just the egg whites to get it to the right consistency. I don’t cook with a lot of butter, so maybe it was just my taste.
Thanks again for adding another paleo option to my dinner menu Health Bent!
This was super freakin’ fantastically good! All I can say is “Heaven!”
awesome recipe! i roasted a whole chicken earlier in the week, then made homemade chicken stock out of the carcass and used ~1lb of the roast chicken meat in the pot pie. the only thing i was a little bummed about was that i only have a 9×13 pyrex pan, and the biscuit topping didn’t quite cover it. if anyone else is in the same boat, you should probably increase the biscuit recipe by 1.5 to get enough topping.
oh and i used lard (rendered bacon fat) to make the biscuits cuz it’s what i had in the house and it worked very well – totally delicious!
thanks for another great recipe
so glad you enjoyed it! and thank you so much for the feedback. very useful!!!
Made this tonight and it was amazing!!!! I thought it was super tasty and can’t wait to add it to our list of foods for our weekly menus!
Just made this and it is amazing. I agree with Mike that most of the work comes from the prep but it’s definitely worth it. I couldn’t get mine thick enough but that didn’t matter to me. Definitely one of your best recipes!
I made this tonight, and I and the 4 yr old twins loved it! Perfect as written. Misty, if you are patient it thickens up. I was starting to get impatient and wondering if I should add more potato starch when someone started misbehaving… When I got back to the pot, it was perfect! (Didn’t get the culprit out of trouble, though
Thanks for another great recipe!!!!!!!!
I’m in the process of making this right now… it looks great so far, except that the crust recipe looks more like batter than biscuit dough, something I would have to pour over the top. Is that right? Thank you!
I just made this and it was delicious! I ended up using 3T of arrowroot powder which thickened the pie filling enough. Thank you for all of your great recipes.
thanks kristin!
AMAZING. This came out perfectly. I added some celery and pancetta and had to use vegetable stock because I was out of chicken.. but it tasted BETTER than sad pot pie.
awww, thanks so much lara!
Very nice recipe! We loved the flavor. We will reduce the amount of stock next time as it was more like soup, which is also good too. We were concerned with the crust but it turned out great after we added just bit more almond flour.
thanks chris
What chicken stock can you buy that does not have sugar or wheat in it? I’m having a hard time finding some w/o sugar and or gluten.
preferred would be homemade of course, but i know, i know. otherwise, this one is what i can usually find and most often use.
I made this last night. I used arrow root powder in place of potato starch. The same quantity worked well. I agree with an above post. Next time, I’ll cut the coconut oil a bit from the crust topping. Overall, it was DELICIOUS! I’m definitely making it again.
awesome. good to know on the arrowroot. thanks jenn!
This looks fantastic! Call me dumb, but what steps do you take to get the crust rolled out? Do you sprinkle down almond flour as you would a traditional SAD crust? Or do you pat it down over the filling? And any suggestions on thickness would be great. Your site is ah-mazing and I have seriously loved every single dish, even my non-Paleo husband loves ‘em! Thanks!
you just “mash” it in over the filling. i think the dish we used above was about 8″ in diameter so it probably spread out to 1/2″ to 1″ thick in various spots.
This was so good. I made it last night and it was a hit. The 2 yr olds even loved it. The flavor was incredible. It will be on my list of favorites from now on. Thank you!
yay! thanks nicole!!
My hubby declared that he wasn’t a big fan of soup AFTER I made a huge pot of turkey soup from Thanksgiving leftovers. Now I can turn it into pot pie and he will eat it!!
hahaha. hmmmm, ‘he will eat it’ do i detect force in that statement. hahaha.
This was excellent! Tweaks:
- doubled it so we could have it for lunches (possibly another dinner too)
- used arrowroot powder to thicken. Mixed it up with some hot stock right from the pot before adding in. It thickened instantly.
- I used a big casserole/lasagna dish. Spread the topping quite thin and it was browned after 10 mins in the oven.
- used ‘flower sprouts’ instead of collard greens. They are a cross of brussel sprouts and kale. Worked out well.
This will be in regular rotation in my house. Husband loved it and two year old demolished his serving.
Thanks for another winner
I LOVE this recipe. But I admit I’ve tried it twice and never could get the crust right. I’m brand new to Paleo, still trying to learn – and I’m a horrible baker, AND I live in Colorado so that often throws an extra wrench in plans. I’ve been using Almond Meal not Almond flour; should that make a difference? And each time I’ve tried to make it, it’s almost a soupy consistency. Nothing like dough. It has nevertheless risen when I’ve baked it, but its nothing like your picture. I was hoping for flaky crust rather than a somewhat uncooked in the middle pancake style? Any ideas?
1. the crust is more biscuit-like that pie dough-like. so that may be issue fixer right there. 2. we use honeyville blanched almond meal b/c it’s the best price and the hands down best consistency, in my opinion. 3. higher altitude means you’ll have to probably decrease some of the leavener.
[...] Paleo Chicken Pot Pie [...]
[...] quite salty tasting but still good. The following list of ingredients is what I used. Here is the original recipe. I only changed it slightly, a little extra of this and not so much of [...]
In the oven right now…. How did you spread the topping on? Mine ended up being big globs. Hope it turns out!
hmmm…it should be thin enough to spread around with a spatula or your fingers. could be that your egg whites were on the small side so you ended up with less liquid. should probably taste good…but if you wanted to ever try again i’d add a little more egg if it wasn’t spread-able.
This was amazing! I changed up some of the filling according to what I obviously had in my fridge, but it was the crust I needed help finding and it was amazing delicious buttery goodness. I ended up using 2 whole eggs instead of just egg whites (I have a hard time throwing out yolks) and it came out fantastically. My husband was only upset bc there wasn’t more crust than what I served him, lol. We turned this recipe into 2 meals for me and 2 meals for him. Thank you!
glad you enjoyed amber. thanks!
[...] recipe. I’ll have to post it later. Tuesday, 3/13: Chicken veggie lo mein Wednesday, 3/14: Paleo pot pie (happy pi day!) Thursday, 3/15: Asian fish in foil, baby bok choy Posted by amy in Uncategorized [...]
I make this recipe almost every week – it’s a great way to use up vegetables and it makes a really delicious meal that yields plenty of leftovers! I actually make a much larger “pie” (this is really more like a cobbler than a pie) for those specific reasons, and my comments below address that. I also change it a bit each time according to whatever produce I have on hand, as well as make some consistent alterations. I cook for a living so it’s natural for me to adjust spices/herbs and eyeball ingredient quantities.
Regarding the filling:
1. I always use more produce than this recipe calls for and add broccoli, but omit the greens – I just don’t like the way they change the consistency of the dish. The list of veggies I use looks more like: at least 4 carrots, 4 parsnips, and about 2 cups broccoli florets. I therefore increase the quantity of herbs and spices by at least double, sometimes adding chopped rosemary. Again, lots of eyeballing; don’t worry, this recipe is VERY forgiving!
2. I also double the quantity of chicken, using a mix of chicken thighs and breasts.
3. For these reasons, I also always at least double the crust. I would probably multiply the crust ingredients by 1.5 anyway, since it’s really tasty.
4. I add about 12 cloves chopped garlic in with my chopped onions.
5. I only use 4 – 5 cups of stock.. I like my filling to be on the thicker side, and would otherwise have to use a lot of added starch to achieve that.
6. I use at least 2Tbsp arrowroot starch to thicken the filling. I would try experimenting with smaller quantities until you find the right amount for you; Ive personally used up to 3Tbsp with no problems. Note that the consistency and thickening properties of arrowroot starch are very different from a traditional roux and even cornstarch; it tends to become gummy if you use too much of it, so don’t go overboard!
Regarding the topping:
1. I use hazelnut flour instead of coconut flour for the crust topping. The flavor is more neutral and I prefer the consistency of the end product.
2. I use palm shortening (I get mine from Whole Foods; it’s marked as “vegetable shortening” but is 100% palm) instead of butter for the topping. Again, a more neutral flavor, and I feel like it gives a crisper, more delicate consistency.
3. I mix the topping as last-minute as possible so that the baking powder is fresh. Leavening ingredients begin acting as soon as you mix them into your wet ingredients, so if you make the topping very early you’ll end up with a less-puffy topping.
4. I add a few dashes of both powdered onion and powdered garlic to the crust topping, but keep the salt at 1 tsp.
Because I make a much larger version of this recipe, I spread mine into a large casserole dish. I have baked this in smaller cassoulets (small casserole dishes) without issue, but part of the appeal of this recipe is its functionality for daily meals, so it’s easier for me to store/portion as one large dish, consolidating as needed.
Also, because this is a prep-intensive dish, I do all of my chopping prep and as much remaining prep the day before I do any cooking. This really streamlines the entire process and helps me from feeling like I’m slaving over the dish. Usually all I have to do the next day is prepare the chicken (if you want to make this REALLY easy, buy boneless/skinless chicken parts; I’ve gotten chicken breasts cut into stir-fry pieces and felt extremely pampered, hah), cook the filling, prepare the topping, assemble, and then bake the dish off. All of those steps take way less time than chopping the filling ingredients.
I hope these tips were helpful! I highly recommend this recipe as-written, but also encourage everyone to customize it. It’s really flexible and fairly simple!
Totally forgot this recipe actually doesn’t call for coconut flour; I tried that once because my boyfriend is allergic to almonds with so-so results (coconut flour has a distinct flavor and absorbs liquid in a totally different way). I’m sure almond flour would work just as nicely as hazelnut flour; I personally love the topping with hazelnut flour!
For anyone else who made three batches of the crust or tweaking it and trying to figure out what you were doing wrong, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE “SOUPY”. I finally went out and bought crust and realized after reading the comments that it’s not really a dough! Hope this helps anyone else with the same problem!
Made this with some leftovers ham in place of chicken and it was delicious
cool! thanks y’all!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! The parsnips are the perfect replacement for potatoes and I used the arrowroot as a thickener and it worked great. I can’t believe how perfectly brown the crust was and it tasted great! My husband was very happy with it because pot pie is one of his all time favorite comfort foods! Thanks so much for the recipe.
yay! thanks katie!