Make The Juiciest Chicken Pot Pie With 2 Foolproof Flavor Tips
If you've only ever experienced chicken pot pie in frozen form, you don't know what you're missing out on. Pot pie is a classic comfort, harkening back to the days when pies were a form of food preservation that would combine everything good about a season's ingredients. While you might occasionally see it pop up on a menu, pot pies are decidedly old school in a way that has become less fashionable. That needs to change though, because homemade pot pies are revelatory, the way a freshly made pizza would be if you had only ever eaten the frozen kind. But to get that amazing depth you need to do some real work. So, we reached out to chef Jesse Moore, corporate chef at Cargill Protein, to ask him for his best tips on making a juicy chicken pot pie.
Moore had two big tips for the best chicken pot pies. The first he was that instead of just one part, like breasts, "I like to use a whole chicken." Meanwhile, the second was getting more flavor out of cooking the whole bird before it goes into the pie. The amount of flavor and creamy richness packed into a chicken pot pie made this way is knee-buckling, unlike the bland and watery frozen versions. The best part is that not only will these two tips give you the best chicken pot pie you've ever tasted, but they can also help avoid the disappointment of a dry pot pie.
Use a whole chicken to add more depth to chicken pot pie
Why does Moore like to use a whole chicken over the convenience of breasts? He told us, "Breast meat is often too dry on its own. Thighs add a great flavor and depth to the dish with the extra fat that comes from them. Any chance you can add flavor, do it." And Moore is right. When a chicken gets broken down and the parts get cleaned up to be more presentable you often lose a lot of the most fatty sections. And as most cooks know, fat doesn't just taste good, it also carries and enhances other flavors.
It's not just thighs that bring extra flavor either, as each chicken cut brings something unique to the table that will improve your pot pie. Drumsticks and wings are both extra juicy pieces of chicken that each bring their own texture and flavor. And they aren't just keeping your meat moist. When you cook a whole chicken, these extra chicken parts will produce plenty of juice that you should capture in your roasting pan. Those juices are essential for making a deeply flavorful gravy for your pot pie filling. You aren't getting any of that by sticking with breasts, or using a precooked rotisserie chicken; even store-bought stock doesn't have the depth of complexity of what you get from freshly made chicken broth. Cooking a whole chicken may be more work, but the results are undeniable.
Roast or grill your chicken to maximize the flavor before putting it in your pot pie
For the second step, Moore explained, "My grandmother would just boil a broken-down chicken, but I like to roast or even grill the chicken to build extra flavor into the dish." While boiling a chicken can add flavor to the water that can be turned into broth for the pot pie gravy, the juices from cooking the chicken other ways should be plenty to do that job. And the browning you get from roasting or grilling adds a whole extra dimension to pot pie.
Spatchcocking your chicken is the best way to cook it, as it gives you the most evenly cooked and juicy result, and that also greatly speeds up how fast it will cook. Spatchcocking removes the backbone from the bird and lets you flatten it out, presenting more surface area for the chicken to cook more quickly, and aiding in browning. A spatchcocked whole chicken can be cooked in under an hour, most of which will be unsupervised. That gives you time to work simultaneously on the other ingredients of your chicken pot pie and have everything ready to go in the oven as soon as you make your gravy. Isn't it great when the tastiest way to do something is also the most convenient?