Vegan Chicken Pot Pie

Creamy Chicken Filling Between Two Flaky Layers of Pie Crust

Chicken Pot Pie is one of the most comforting and warming foods I’ve ever eaten. It's been pretty rainy and stormy here on Oahu, so this is the perfect dish to warm anyone up. My favorite part about any pie is the CRUST. I really wanted the crust to shine in this recipe, so I got some tips and tricks from watching Food 52’s YouTube Video: How to Make Pie Dough & Crust | Bake It Up a Notch with Erin McDowell. Erin’s recipe for pie crust is by far the best pie crust recipe I’ve ever used. I highly recommend watching her video; it's filled with the best tips and tricks to creating the best pie crust. I hope you guys try this recipe out and let me know in the comments below if you do.

Link to Erin McDowell’s Video all about Pie Crust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1fJ3GsmQBg

Recipe Video Link For Vegan Chicken Pot Pie: https://youtu.be/MDfQijID37Q

Ingredients

Filling

¼ cup Vegan Butter

1 cup Chopped Onion

1 cup Chopped Celery

1 cup Chopped Carrot

1 tsp Minced Garlic

½ tsp Thyme

1 cup Chopped Vegan Chicken Strip (Gardein)

¼ AP Flour

2 ½ cups Vegetable Broth

1 cup Cubed Potato

1 cup Frozen Peas, Thawed

¼ cup Unsweetened Soy Milk

Crust

2 ½ cups AP Flour

½ tsp Salt

8 oz cold butter (Earth Balance), Cubed

~½ cup cold water

Procedures

Pie Crust Dough

In a large bowl, combine the 2 ½ cups of flour and ½ tsp of salt. Add the 8 oz of butter and toss to coat all the cubes of butter completely. Using your fingers, squish each butter cube into flat disks while continuously tossing the butter in the flour to keep them well coated. Keep squishing the butter until all the pieces are about the size of walnut halves.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add a ¼ cup of cold water to the center. Toss the flour mixture with the water to hydrate. Break up any clumps of dough that form with your hands. Add more cold water as needed to hydrate the dough completely (I ended up using a little over ½ cup cold water). Once the dough is not crumbly or dry and not wet or sticky the dough is ready and fully hydrated.

Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap tightly. Place the dough into the fridge and let chill for at least one hour.

Chicken Filling

While the dough is chilling, make the Chicken Filling. In a large pot, heat the ¼ cup of butter on medium high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the onion, celery, and carrots. Season with salt and pepper and saute until translucent, but not caramelized. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another minute or until fragrant. Add the vegan chicken and saute until the chicken is slightly browned and cooked.

Add the flour to the pot and stir constantly to create the roux. Cook until the roux darkens slightly and the smell resembles popped popcorn (if it smells like burnt popcorn, it's too far gone!). Add a fourth of the chicken stock to the pot and mix until well combined. Add the chicken stock little by little mixing between each addition to incorporate.

Once all the stock is added, add the potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are just tender. Add the peas, stir, and cook until the soup comes to a simmer. Add the soy milk, stir, and turn off the heat. Set the filling to the side and let cook completely.

Par Bake the Dough

Once the dough is finished chilling, remove it from the fridge. Cut the dough and half and wrap half the dough back in the plastic wrap and place it back into the fridge. The half of dough in the fridge will be used later for the top crust.

Form the other half of the dough into a circular disk. On a clean and lightly floured surface, roll the dough out about 3 inches wider in diameter than the pie dish (I used a 9 inch pie dish, so I rolled my dough out to have a 12 diameter). Drape the dough over the pie dish and then lift the edges of the dough to set it flush to the pie dish. Once the dough is fitted neatly into the dish, place the dish and the dough into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes. Place a large baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees Farhenheit.

Once the dough has chilled, cut the excess dough off so there is about ½ to 1 inch of overhanging dough from the pie dish. Use a fork to dock the bottom and sides of the dough. If the dough is starting to warm up again, place it back in the fridge for another 10 minutes.

Remove the pie dish from the fridge and cover the dough with a large sheet of parchment paper. Pour pie weights or white sugar into pie dish over the parchment paper. Place the pie dish in the oven on the preheated baking sheet and bake for 17 minute or until the edges of the dough are slightly golden.

Remove the pie from the oven and remove the pie weights (or sugar) and the parchment paper. Place the pie dish back into the oven and bake the crust for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is dried out and starting to brown slightly.

Assembling the Pie

Once the crust is finished baking, remove it from the oven. Using scissors, cut the excess crust off so there is no crust overhanging the pie dish. Pour the cooled chicken filling into pie dish over the crust. Use a spatula or spoon to spread the filling out evenly.

Roll out the second half of the pie dough into a circle 2 to 3 inches wider than the diameter of the pie dish. Drape the dough over the pie dish and press the dough flush to the filling and pie crust.

Trim the excess raw pie dough leaving about ½ to 1 inch of overhanging dough. Tuck the overhanging raw pie dough under the par baked pie dough. Press the edges together gently. Cut vents in the top of the raw pie dough to allow air flow. Place the pie into the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling from the vents. Remove the pie from the oven and let cool before cutting and serving warm.