New England Style Chicken Pot Pie

Last Updated on January 14, 2023 by Michelle

New England Style Chicken Pot Pie is my favorite use of left-over, shredded chicken (or turkey) and it’s the perfect warm, delicious cure to a long, cold New England night.

I asked on my instagram tonight how many of you all are fans of chicken pot pie. I’m pretty sure the poll ended in a landslide in favor of this amazing dish that is quite possibly the superior choice of all casserole-like dinners.

I mean who doesn’t love a one-dish meal, baked up in cast iron, served nice and warm on a cold January night?

Especially when it’s a perfect use of the left-over chicken from our whole chicken meal a few nights ago.

While it seems only natural that the chicken pot pie is accredited to New England, since we certainly need the wonderful-smelling, deeply filling goodness on many a long, dark, cold night, I have no idea what the history truly is and why folks call one with a biscuit top (and no “bottom”) the New England version.

But I can tell you, as a mid-Atlantic girl transplanted to New England 6 years ago, folks up here are practical. No nonsence. To the point.

So this kind of pot pie only makes sense. Why waste time making a bottom that isn’t necessary and why not load the top with a thick, flaky, carb-filled biscuit? It makes a cold night a little better, no?

While I’ve never typed this up before, soooo many of you were asking for the recipe when I shared the picture of our dinner on instagram tonight.

So here you go.

Let me know what you think!

Oh, and we are admittedly not a fan of peas, so we prefer green beans in our pot pie. Feel free to desecrate it with peas instead, just don’t tell me, okay?

Ingredients for New England Pot Pie

Filling:

• 2 small onions, finely diced
• 1 medium carrot, sliced thinly
• 3 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 cup canned green beans, cut into bite-size chunks
• 2-3 cups chicken, shredded (I use leftovers from a whole chicken meal)
• salt, pepper, or season salt, to taste (I love this season salt)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• a roux of flour and water*
• 1 cup half-and-half

* I always judge this as I’m making it, maybe start with 1 cup water and 1/4 cup flour? Adjust until it’s a light thickness that will nicely add weight to your filling.

Biscuit top:

• 1 TB baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (this is my all-time favorite)
• 2 cups flour (I mill my own with my Harvest Mill and hard white wheat berries from Azure Standard)
• 1/4 cup butter or coconut oil (I use our farm-raised lard)
• 1 cup milk

Directions to Make New England Pot Pie

1. In prepared, hot, oiled or buttered 12″ cast iron skillet, cook onions, potatoes and carrots until they start to soften. Add in chicken and green beans and season to taste.

2. In a saucepan, warm chicken broth and half-and-half, wisking in your roux until well blended. Wisk constantly over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Pour over the chicken mixture in your skillet.

3. Preheat oven to 425.

4. To make your biscuit top, mix the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Then cut in your butter or lard with a pastry cutter. Add the milk and combine so the dough forms a ball. Knead lightly then press out to a circle that will fit the top of your cast iron pan. I use my 12″ like this. Once your filling is ready, lay the biscuit top on top and crimp the edges a little to “fit” them to the skillet.

5. Cut a few openings in the top and bake at 425 until the juices bubble up through the slits in your nicely browned biscuit top. It will take about 1/2 hour to bake to perfection.

Other recipes in cast iron you’ll love:

Grandma’s Melt-in-your-Mouth Blueberry Cake

Sour Dough Bread Bowls

Pizza Baked on Cast Iron

A Giant Cookie Baked in Cast Iron

 

My favorite kitchen tools in my farmhouse kitchen are all right here

 

 

From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. John 1:16

 

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