Creamy chicken, leek and mushroom pie is one of those perfect comfort meals that everyone loves. Tender chunks of chicken, with sweet leeks and tasty mushrooms, swimming in a creamy sauce and topped with crispy puff pastry. What's not to love?
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Creamy chicken, leek and mushroom pie
This recipe comes to you today courtesy of my daughter. We were having our regular daily telephone conversation, which usually centres around food. 'What are you having for supper tonight?'. 'Oh, I haven't decided yet, but we had a lovely supper last night. I made a chicken, leek and mushroom pie'. Of course, my ears pricked up immediately - I didn't have a recipe for that on my site so I wanted all the details.
As it turns out, this is such a simple recipe and it tastes amazing. Tender chunks of chicken, in a creamy leek and mushroom sauce, flavoured with mustard and topped with puff pastry. It's the perfect recipe for when the comfort food craving hits.
So I wrote down all the details and made it for supper that night. You don't need a lot of fancy ingredients. I had everything I needed in the pantry. The recipe makes a very generous pie filling, in fact, there was so much that I made 2 pies and put one in the freezer for another day. I tested it out on hubby alongside a helping of steamed vegetables, and he polished off the lot, plus a second helping. Success!!!
Why you will love this pie
Once you've tasted it, I'm sure you'll be making this pie again.
- It's quick and easy to make. Just a few simple ingredients and a roll of shop-bought puff pastry are all you will need, and you can have this pie on the table in less than an hour.
- The creamy flavour from the sauce, coupled with the sweetness of the leeks turns this chicken pie into a meal the whole family will enjoy.
- It's versatile too. If your family doesn't enjoy mushrooms, you can swap these out for peas or finely diced carrots.
- If you don't have fresh chicken in the freezer you can make this pie with leftover roast chicken or simply buy a rotisserie chicken and use that. (Instructions for both methods are included below).
What you will need:
Equipment
You will need a large frying pan or saute pan for making the chicken filling, and a baking dish large enough to hold all the ingredients. I like these sets of baking dishes because they come in different sizes so you're always sure to have the right sized dish to hand.
Other items you may find useful for making this recipe would be a sharp knife and a chopping board for preparing the vegetables.
Ingredients
This chicken and leek pie is large enough to feed 4 hungry people. Because there are only 2 of us in our household, I divided the chicken mixture into 2 pie dishes, cooked one, and froze the other for another day.
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions on how to make this chicken and leek pie on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.**
- Chicken breasts - these should be cut into bite-sized pieces and marinated in soy sauce, garlic and cornflour (I believe in the US this is referred to as corn starch). This has the effect of tenderising the chicken, and the cornflour also helps thicken the gravy. You will also need a little butter to fry the chicken. Butter gives a much nicer taste to the finished dish than frying the chicken in oil.
- Alternatively, you can use chicken leftover from a roast chicken or you could buy a ready-cooked rotisserie chicken in the supermarket and pull the meat off that. If you are using ready-cooked chicken you can skip the marinating step, and just cut the chicken into pieces.
- Leeks and chopped mushrooms - once chopped, you end up with a huge mound and it looks as though there are far too many. But don't worry, once cooked, they shrink down to about half of the volume. You may need extra butter for frying the vegetables.
- Cream, chicken stock, dijon mustard, salt and copious amounts of black pepper. If you don't have chicken stock you can dissolve 1 chicken stock cube in 1 cup of boiling water. You can also replace the Dijon mustard with your mustard of choice.
- Milk mixed with extra cornflour, for thickening.
- A roll of shop-bought puff pastry for the crust, along with a beaten egg for brushing on top.
What to do
Prepare the ingredients
- If you are using fresh chicken, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and place it in a bowl with the marinade ingredients. Let it stand while you prepare the leeks and mushrooms.
- If you are using leftover or rotisserie chicken, simply pull the meat off the carcass and place it in a bowl ready to add to the filling when you need it
- Top and tail the leeks and slice them lengthwise, then slice them into semi-circles.
- Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth to clean off any dirty bits, then slice them or cut them into quarters.
Fry the chicken
If you are using leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken you can skip this step.
Melt the butter in a frying pan and when it's hot, add the chicken pieces and stir fry until they turn golden brown.
The chicken doesn't have to be fully cooked as it will cook further when the pie is in the oven.
Remove the chicken pieces from the pan and set them aside until you are ready to add them to the filling.
Fry the leeks and onions
Add more butter to the frying pan, then saute the leeks and mushrooms for a few minutes until the leeks are softened and the mushrooms have released all their moisture.
If you are using leftover chicken, add the garlic with the leeks and onions.
Stir occasionally. The mixture should be quite dry and should have reduced in volume by about half.
Pour the chicken stock into the pan and stir in the Dijon mustard and cream and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Add the chicken (either the browned chicken or the leftover chicken)
Mix the milk and cornflour and stir through.
Bring to the boil and allow to cook until the mixture has thickened.
It should be the consistency of thick custard.
Assemble the pie
Pour the mixture into a pie dish large enough to hold all the filling. It should fit into a dish about 10" x 7" rectangular, and 2" deep.
Unroll the puff pastry, and place it on top of the pie.
Crimp the pastry against the edges of the dish to seal, then prick the pastry with a fork to allow any steam to escape during baking.
Brush the top of the pastry lightly with a beaten egg, to encourage the pastry to brown
Bake
- The pastry needs quite a high temperature to cook properly, so pre-heat the oven to 200C / 400F.
- Place the pie dish on a baking sheet to catch any drips that may overflow during baking.
Bake the chicken leek and mushroom pie for 20 minutes until the pastry is well-risen and golden.
Remove from oven and serve hot with your choice of vegetables.
Can I freeze chicken, leek and mushroom pie?
Yes, you can freeze this dish either completely assembled or just freeze the filling for later use.
To freeze assembled - follow the instructions up until the chicken leek and mushroom pie has been egg-washed. Wrap the pie in a layer of tinfoil and then wrap it in clingfilm and place it in the freezer.
To use - defrost overnight in the fridge, then bake as per the recipe instructions. Don't cook from frozen because the pastry will be cooked before the filling has had time to defrost properly and you will end up with overcooked pastry and a cold filling.
To freeze just the filling - ladle the cooled filling into a large freezer container, label and place it in the freezer.
To use - defrost overnight in the fridge, or if you are in a hurry, in the microwave. Tip into a baking dish, cover with a layer of puff pastry and bake as per the recipe instructions.
Whichever method you choose, you can freeze this for up to six months.
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Variations
This is a very versatile recipe, and there are many different ways that you could serve the filling - it doesn't only have to be in a pie!
- Serve on a bed of spaghetti or tagliatelle.
- Serve over rice.
- Mix the filling with cooked pasta shells, cover with grated cheese and bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes for a delicious cheesy pasta bake.
- Make a large vol-au-vent and fill it with the chicken leek and mushroom mixture.
- Serve the chicken leek and mushroom filling on a bed of homemade spaetzle.
- Cover with scalloped potatoes instead of puff pastry as a variation on Lancashire hotpot.
- Make individual chicken leek and mushroom pies similar to my recipe for beef pot pies.
- Serve the filling on its own as a chowder with slices of seeded Irish soda bread.
- You could even roll the filling in crepes or pancakes (just cut the chicken into smaller pieces so that it will fit nicely into the rolled pancake)
- And finally, what about using the filling to make these cheesy gougeres.
However you eat it, I'm sure you'll agree that this is totally delicious.
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📋The recipe
Creamy chicken, leek and mushroom pie
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1¼ pounds / 560 grams chicken breasts OR
- Leftover or rotisserie chicken
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 to 2 ounce butter approximately - for frying
Vegetables and seasoning
- 3 large leeks
- 8 ounce / 225 grams mushrooms
- 1 cup chicken stock made with 1 stock cube in 1 cup boiling water
- ½ cup single cream
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 teaspoon salt or to your own taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper or to your own taste
- 1 roll shopbought puff pastry
- 1 small egg beaten (for egg-washing pastry)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200°C 400°F
Preparation
- If you are using fresh chicken, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and place it in a bowl with the soy sauce, garlic and cornflour. Let it stand while you prepare the leeks and mushrooms.1¼ pounds / 560 grams chicken breasts, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoon cornflour, 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- If you are using leftover or rotisserie chicken, simply pull the meat off the carcass and place it in a bowl ready to add to the filling when you need itLeftover or rotisserie chicken
- Top and tail the leeks and slice them lengthwise, then slice them into semi-circles.3 large leeks
- Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth to clean off any dirty bits, then slice them or cut them into quarters.8 ounce / 225 grams mushrooms
- If you are using fresh chicken, melt the butter in a frying pan and when it's hot, add the chicken pieces and stir fry until they turn golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Skip this step if you are using leftover/rotisserie chicken.1 to 2 ounce butter
- Add more butter to the frying pan, then saute the leeks and mushrooms for a few minutes until the leeks are softened and the mushrooms have released all their moisture. If you are using leftover chicken, add the garlic with the leeks and onions.1 teaspoon garlic paste
- Stir occasionally. The mixture should be quite dry, and should have reduced in volume by about half.
- Pour the chicken stock into the pan and stir in the Dijon mustard and cream and season with salt and black pepper to taste.1 cup chicken stock, ½ cup single cream, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Add the chicken.
- Mix the milk and cornflour and stir through.Bring to the boil and allow to cook until the mixture has thickened.½ cup milk, 1 tablespoon cornflour
- Pour the mixture into a pie dish large enough to hold all the filling. It should fit into a dish about 10" x 7" rectangular, and 2" deep.
- Unroll the puff pastry, and place it on top of the pie. Crimp the pastry against the edges of the dish to seal, then prick the pastry with a fork to allow any steam to escape during baking. Brush the top of the pastry lightly with a beaten egg, to encourage the pastry to brown1 roll shopbought puff pastry, 1 small egg
- Place the pie dish on a baking tray and then bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve hot with your choice of vegetables.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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Laken
Unreal, so happy with this level of flavour 😍 best pie I have ever made
VJ
What a lovely comment! You've made my day. Thank you!