These mini chicken pot pies are mini comfort food made from scratch but they’re so easy. I created these for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and they were gobbled up very quickly.
- Rich in flavour – from chicken, veggies and aromatics.
- Made from scratch – no soup tins here.
- Easy! Yes, even though they’re made from scratch they’re so simple.
I have so many finger food ideas for you. From mini Korean beef tacos to chicken wings to sausage rolls and everything in between. Pick your favourite for your next game day or party.
But back to these mini chicken pot pies. Being that we made them for a finger food party, I needed this to be an easy recipe and that it certainly is. Not only that but they are bursting with flavour and a really simple creamy sauce.
Want a family sized pie? Try this chicken and mushroom pie or this chicken filo pie.
This recipe was first published September 8th, 2018. It has been updated with new images and more information.
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The Mini Chicken Pot Pie filling
The filling is super quick to make because it mostly uses ingredients that are already cooked.
- Chicken: Store bought rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken. You can even cook up some chicken breast or chicken thigh yourself and use that. You could even swap it for leftover turkey for a new years appetizer.
- Aromatics: Onion, garlic and herbs give this plenty of flavour and complexity.
- Vegetable: Frozen vegetables – a mixture of peas, corn and carrot is perfect. I quite often include some tinned mushrooms in my veggie mix too.
- The creamy sauce: The sauce is made up of evaporated milk (though you can use regular milk, cream or a combination of both) and chicken stock which is thickened with a roux (butter and flour).
I scattered a few nigella seeds over the top (which have a bit of an oniony flavour) but you could just as easily use sesame seeds – black or white.
The filling takes about 10 minutes to prep and 10 minutes to cook and you’re done.
I use patty tins for really small, finger food or canape-sized mini pot pies but you can also make them in a regular muffin tin and you’ll get around 18 pies.
Shortcrust pastry is best
For the pie crust, I used store-bought shortcrust pastry. Let this be said: I did plenty of testing on these little guys, and the best flavour and texture combo came from using all shortcrust pastry – no puff pastry. The puff pastry actually puffed up too much and took away from the flavour of the filling which seemed almost non-existent wrapped in the billowy puff pastry. I think these are just too small for puff pastry to work because it really is all about the filling.
Could you use crescent roll dough or biscuit dough? Possibly however since I can’t get them where I am, I’m unable to test the results. I would suggest, if using either of those two options or puff pastry, make your pies a little bigger, in a muffin tin, so you have more filling per pie.
Definitely stick to shortcrust pastry and use store-bought pastry dough to keep things quick and simple.
There you have it. So simple to make but big on flavour, these mini chicken pies are a definite must-make for any finger food party.
More finger food recipes
- Mini Lasagna Cupcakes
- Loaded mini baked potatoes
- Mini Lamb Pies
- Chicken sausage rolls
- Honey soy chicken wings
- Spinach cob loaf dip
- Feta saganaki
Did you try this mini chicken pot pie recipe?
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These pies can be made ahead of time and frozen until ready for baking – see the notes section for more information.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil (notes)
- 3 tablespoons butter (42g / 1.5oz)
- 1 small clove garlic, crushed
- ½ red onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup plain flour (all-purpose flour) (65g / 2.3oz)
- 1 cup chicken stock (chicken broth) (250ml)
- ¾ cup evaporated milk (or whole milk, half n half or cream) (180ml)
- 1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs (I like thyme and parsley)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup finely grated Parmesan
- 1 ¼ cups frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn) (notes)
- 1 ½ cups cooked chicken, small dice (notes)
- Pepper to taste
- 5 sheets pre-rolled shortcrust pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 teaspoons nigella seeds or black sesame seeds, optional
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- 2 patty tins (or 1 muffin tin, see notes)
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat the oil and butter over medium heat until it melts. Add the garlic and onion and saute for about 2 minutes until it softens.
- Add the flour and cook stirring regularly for a minute or two to cook the flour (the smell of raw flour should be gone).
- Very slowly, drizzle in the evaporated milk while continuing to stir until the flour is fully incorporated into the milk to make a creamy sauce. Add the stock and stir it all together.
- Add the herbs and salt and cook for another minute or two so that the flavours infuse. Now add the parmesan and stir until it has totally melted into the sauce. You should have a fairly thick creamy sauce now.
- Finally add the mixed vegetables and chicken.
- Mix it all through and add pepper to taste. Allow the mixture to cool in the fridge before proceeding.
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F.
- Using circular cookie cutters, cut 8x 5cm disks and 8x 6cm disks of pastry from each sheet of pastry (if you cut them right next to each other, you'll get 8 pies out of each sheet).
- Spray a little cooking spray or oil in each hole of a 12 hole patty tin, press the larger pieces of pastry into the base of each hole. If using a muffin tin, see notes first.
- Fill each hole with about 1 ½ tablespoons of the chicken mixture (you want it to be just slightly higher than the edge).
- Cover each pie with the smaller disks of pastry then brush each one with the beaten egg. Cut a small hole in the top of each with a sharp knife, then sprinkle lightly with nigella seeds, if using.
- At this stage you can freeze them (see notes) until you’re ready to bake or bake them straight away.
- Bake for around 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (4 teaspoons worldwide)
- Patty tins: Patty tins are baking trays that have small concave circles (similar to a madeleine tin in depth but a simple circle with no pattern). You can also make these mini pot pies in a 12 hole muffin tin, however,
- you will get about 18 pies (with thanks to reader, Jayne, for testing that out), as they’ll take more filling.
- you’ll need to cut the pastry circles for the bases a bit larger so they come up the sides of the muffin tin holes.
- Freezing/Making Ahead: You can make and freeze them ahead of time. Freeze them in the tins until solid, then remove and store in an airtight container in the freezer. When it’s time to cook the pies, spray a little oil in each hole of a 12 hole patty tin and place the frozen pies in. Bake for around 30 minutes until golden.
- Chicken: I use leftover chicken (rotisserie chicken) but you can just cook up some chicken breasts or chicken thighs and use that instead.
- Vegetables: You can use any frozen or tinned veggies you like. I use a frozen mix of peas, carrot and corn and often add tinned champignons (mushrooms). Whatever you choose, you want a total of 1 ¼ cups.
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16 Comments on “Mini Chicken Pot Pies”
I wish there were less ads on the page, I could barely read the recipe and ingredients
Sorry Bad but running ads is the only way I can pay for all the ingredients, website and time that goes into making recipes to give away for free. If you click on the print recipe button, you won’t get them.
I made these for dinner tonight. I used the cupcake pans and made 18. All my family really enjoyed them and told me this recipe was a keeper.
So happy you loved them and thanks for the update on how many you can make in cupcake pans 🙂
Delicious delicious delicious! Every time I make these. They are gone ! Always get compliments. Thanks for sharing .
Makes my day to hear this, Saman. So happy you love them and I truly appreciate you trying my recipe 🙂
Hi
Can the evaporated milk be substituted for lactose free cream?
Regards Emma
Sorry Emma, I don’t have experience using lactose free cream so I’m not sure how it would go. If you can normally cook with it and it’s of the same consistency, then yes it should be fine.
At what temperature are they baked?
Hi Anita, I’m sorry the oven temp is missing. They should be baked at 200C / 395F / 180C fan. Thanks for letting me know
I don’t make savory pie very often, but these are just so darn cute. I need to throw a party just so I can have an excuse to make these!
Thanks so much Trang. They are little cutie pies 🙂
I’ve never seen such adorable chicken pot pies! My mom’s chicken pot pie is one of my favorite comfort foods but I think these look even better–because everything tastes better in miniature!
Thanks Kelsie. I agree, everything tastes better in miniature 🙂
I actually love puff pastry in savory pies. I’ve only made pies for a couple of times, and I always made puff pastry myself. Perhaps it’s different from what you get at the store – it’s very buttery (using almost a pound of butter to a pound of flour), flaky, and it doesn’t puff a lot. Anyway, these mini pies look so cool. Love the combo of chicken, veggies, and mushrooms. And evaporated milk? Interesting touch!
Thanks Ben. I love puff pastry too but on these little pies it actually hides the flavour of the filling too much I found. And the evaporated milk means you can use a pantry staple that has a good creamy flavour right off the bat. When you’re planning a finger food party, it’s all about keeping things simple 🙂