Chicken, Bacon & Leek Pot Pie

If I had to pick my favorite dinner, this one would be very high on my list. Think a creamy from-scratch chicken sauce full of veg and a flaky puff pastry top! We serve this chicken, bacon, and leek pie with mashed potatoes and marrowfat peas for the heartiest of Winter suppers.

What you are going to love about this creamy chicken pot pie recipe

It’s a big batch. This pie recipe easily serves 6 people. So it’s perfect for a small dinner party or a big family dinner. For our little trio, we get 2 nights’ dinner out of this recipe.

You can easily cook the chook a day ahead to save time. I do this all this time. It sometimes makes life a bit easier to cook the chicken the night before along with that night’s dinner, then there is just the sauce and pastry lid the next day.

This bacon and chicken pie is a total heart warmer! Just the kind of supper I love in the depths of Winter!

Here’s the ingredients you need to get started

• A whole Herbs de Provence roast chicken, meat, and skin removed from the carcass and shredded or roughly chopped up. You’ll also need 1/2 c of the pan juices reserved for the sauce – it has so much natural flavoring, you simply don’t want to discard it when it can drastically improve the flavor of the chicken filling sauce.
  
  
• Dairy – unsalted butter, crème fraiche
  
  
• Vegetables – Leeks, garlic cloves, carrots, frozen peas
  
  
• Streaky bacon, roughly diced
  
  
• Plain flour
  
  
• Chicken stock– you can use homemade chicken stock or store-bought
  
  
• Fresh thyme. You could also substitute with dried thyme.
  
  
• Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
  
  
• A sheet of puff pastry
  
  
• Egg beaten with a whisk to use as an egg wash for the flaky pastry top!

Equipment

I use my 24cm enamel Dutch oven to make the creamy chicken sauce. While I normally transfer it to an ovenproof dish like the oval one pictured, sometimes I just add the pastry top to the chicken sauce in the Dutch oven.
Did you know…You can also bake the pastry directly onto the underside of the lid and then once golden and cooked, flip onto the hot chicken sauce to serve.

You’ll also need a sharp knife, chopping board, garlic press, vegetable peeler, and a stirring spoon.

The details

1. Cook Herbs de Provence roast chook as per recipe instructions. Remove from oven and leave to rest. Strain all of the juices with a fat separator and leave to settle.
   
   
2. Strip the chicken of all meat (plus a little skin if you like), shred or coarsely chop and set aside.
   
   
3. In a Dutch oven melt the butter on low heat. Add the sliced leeks and saute until soft (about 5-10 minutes). Add the bacon and saute for a few minutes until cooked.
   
   
4. Add the crushed garlic and carrots – cook for 1 minute. Add the flour to the pan and stir through to coat all the ingredients.
   
   
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
   
   
6. Add the reserved chicken drippings to the leek mixture along with the chicken stock, thyme, and creme fraiche. Stir through and increase the heat a little and bring to a simmer (lid off) for 15 minutes You’ll notice the sauce will thicken slightly once it starts to simmer.
   
   
7. Once the creamy sauce has simmered and reduced, add the cooked chicken. Remove from the heat. Add the peas and stir through. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
   
   
8. Pop everything into an oven-proof pie dish or leave it in the Dutch oven for a more rustic pie.
   
   
9. Cover the chicken pie filling with puff pastry. Trim away excess pastry and brush the top of the pie all over with a beaten egg and make a small hole in the top of the pastry for an air vent to let the steam escape.  Pop into the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden

How to serve up this chicken, leek & bacon pie

My go-to side dishes are a scoop of creamy mashed potatoes or colcannon potato mash if you’re really going for it! We love marrowfat peas so they generally find a place on the plate too. Steamed broccoli, is another great side as are homemade potato chips.

Can I use a store-bought BBQ chicken? 

Yes, you can. I’ve done this heaps of times. You will have to adjust your quantities though as store-bought chickens are generally on the small side and you will have little or no pan juices from the cooked chicken.

Storage

Any leftovers can be stored for up to 3 days in either an airtight container in the fridge or if you’ve cooked the whole pie in a Dutch oven, you can pop the whole pot into the fridge once it’s cooled.

To reheat it in the oven, first take it out of the fridge and let it warm up a little to room temperature before popping it into the oven on low heat until hot and bubbling. By allowing the cast iron pot to return to room temperature, you’ll avoid damaging your pot from thermal shock.

Love a good pie? Here are a few slow-cooked recipes you might like…

• Lentil and sweet potato soup
• Beef and wine ragu
• Dutch oven beef stroganoff
• Slow-cooked red wine beef cheeks
• Spicy Lamb Shank Soup

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