Dairy-Free Chicken Pot Pie is a simple recipe for the traditional chicken pot pie casserole, but made without milk or butter!
This savory dish, with it’s creamy filling and flakey dough, is the ultimate hearty comfort food!
And it’s so good, you can’t even tell that it’s dairy-free!
This classic dish is the perfect crowd-pleaser for family meals, get-together with friends, and potluck dinners, especially with people who can’t have dairy!
Chicken pot pie is a warm and hearty chicken casserole dish.
It refrigerates well and warms up well also!
Make the filling ahead and just pop in the oven with fresh pastry dough!
Take to work and warm up there or make it for a quick dinner after a long day at work or school!
Terrific for those dinner guests that give you short notice.
It’s budget-friendly and a great dish for family meals or for potluck dinners with friends!
And check out the health benefits of peas and carrots!
A little about Pot Pie
It seems that the first version of the pot pie began with the Greeks, who made a dish with different meats and other ingredients cooked in open pastry shells called “artocreas.” The pastry was made of a flour and oil mixture and the dish was served at banquets
When the dish spread to the Romans, they served the dish with various meats, fowl, and seafood and added pastry on top.
The Crusaders spread meat pies across medieval Europe.
The English of the 16th century used meat such as pork, lamb, birds, and game, such as venison, in their pies. While the basic version was eaten by the lower class, the wealthy would serve them at banquets in which the chefs would show their talent by crafting and decorating them with flowers, designs, and heraldic devices.
The pies were brought to America by the settlers, who made chicken pot pie, beef pot pie, and sea pie, which was apparently developed on the ships across the ocean and used turkey, veal, and mutton, whichever was available.
While many things are called pies (take Eskimo Pie, for example, which is an ice cream), anything that does not include dough and is not baked is not truly a “pie.”
Then there is Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie, made by the Pennsylvania Dutch (of course). It is most commonly made with chicken, noodles, potatoes, and sometimes vegetables, and is eaten out of a bowl. So, it is not really a pie at all, as there is no dough and no baking involved.
What does it mean when recipes say “to taste” about an ingredient?
When recipes say “to taste,” it means that you can put in as little or as much as you like to your own taste. Some recipes have many ingredients that a cook can adjust to their own taste when cooking (not so much when baking though).
The best way to calculate what your taste is with a recipe that you are not yet familiar with is to first taste the dish and then add the “to taste” ingredient GRADUALLY, a little at a time—a splash of this or a pinch of that—until the dish is just the way you like it.
Make sure to stir the ingredient after each time you add it so that the flavor will distribute evenly and become part of the dish. Then taste again. Repeat until you reach your personal preference.
Note: If you plan on using the recipe again, it is highly recommended to make a note of what and how much you added so that you can refer to it next time.
What does it mean when a recipe says that an ingredient is “optional”?
If an ingredient is “optional,” it means that you can add it in or not based on your own preference. An optional ingredient can be flavor related (i.e., salty, sweet, spicy, etc.), appearance related (garnish), or even something like nuts or chocolate chips in baking.
What does “savory” mean?
“Savory” refers to foods that are not sweet, such as foods that taste salty, spicy, or herbal.
Some useful cooking terms:
Sauté: Cooking quickly in a small amount of oil or fat in a frying pan on a relatively high heat that causes a slight browning of the food on the outside.
Sear: Browning the outside of meat at a high temperature.
Sweat: Cooking vegetables (often onions) in a little oil or fat on a low heat until they become soft and translucent (no browning).
Simmer: Heating liquid to just below the boiling point (has slow bubbles).
Boil: Cooking food submerged in water hot enough to have rapid, rolling bubbles.
Poach: Cooking in a liquid, or partially submerged, on low heat.
Roast: Cooking with consistent dry heat in an enclosed space, over 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake: Cooking with dry heat in an enclosed space, under 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Broil: Cooking with intense heat from above.
Grill: Cooking with heat from below, typically over a flame or coals.
Braise: Cooking already-seared meat in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot.
Blanch: Quickly submerging food into boiling water and then immediately into ice water to stop the cooking.
Steam: Cooking with vapor from hot simmering water from below.
Shred: Creating long, thin strips (not necessarily uniform) of vegetables, like in coleslaw.
Grate: Scraping food against a surface with rough, tiny holes that break it down into very small, fine pieces.
Zest: The scrapings of the colorful outer skin of a citrus fruit.
Mince: Cutting into the smallest pieces possible.
Dice: Cutting into small cubes.
Chop: Cutting into small (bite-size) pieces.
Julienne: Cutting into long, thin strips (like matchsticks).
Glaze: a thin liquid with high-sugar or high-fat coating applied to food or baked goods that gives a shiny look and adds flavor.
Fold in: To gently combine a light ingredient into a heavier one.
Al dente: Cooking rice or pasta to the point before it gets soft (is slightly firm).
Emulsify: Forcing two liquids together that don’t normally combine (like oil and vinegar) into a smooth sauce or dressing.
Deglaze: Adding a liquid to a hot pan after searing meat to loosen the browned bits (called fond) that got stuck.
Slurry: A mixture of liquid and dry starch, such as cornstarch or potato starch, into a paste that is used to thicken sauces and soups. One can use flour to make a slurry as well.
Roux: (pronounced “roo”) is a cooked mixture of fat and flour.
Tips for Best Dairy-Free Chicken Pot Pie:
- You can use fresh or leftover (still moist) chicken.
- You can pour it into a ready-made pie crust and cover it with a second pie crust—just pinch the edges and make slits on the top for air to escape.
- If you use canned or frozen vegetables, the cook time will be reduced compared to fresh.
- Cornstarch works better as a thickener for slurry and makes gravy more glossy. However, in a pinch, you can use flour, but you must double the amount needed for cornstarch.
- To prevent clumping, you might find it easier to put the cornstarch in a bowl and then slowly add the liquid while mixing to make a slurry rather than vice versa.
Mini Chicken Pot Pies
If you would like to make individual portions of this recipe, just pour the filling into smaller, single-serve baking dishes, cover with a suitable size piece of pastry dough, and bake until the top becomes a godlen brown.
If you love chicken dishes, try these!
Deli-Style Chicken Salad
Chicken and Broccoli
Easy Dairy-Free Chicken Pot Pie
Delicious and simple, savory and creamy chicken pot pie casserole, without milk or butter!
Ingredients
- 2 cups chicken breast, cubed (fresh or leftover) or other chicken meat
- 2 cups peas and carrots (precooked frozen or canned)*
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon chicken or beef consommé (bullion) powder (or to taste)
- 1 1/2 cup water or milk substitute
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or 1/4 cup flour as a thickening agent**
- Diary-free puff pastry dough
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Heat a little oil in the bottom of a medium-sized saucepan.
- Lightly fry diced onions on medium heat.
- Add chicken and mix with onions, stirring occasionally.
- When the chicken has cooked through (around 5 minutes), add peas and carrots, consommé powder, and water or milk substitute.***
- Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Lower heat to medium-low.
- Remove 1/2 cup of liquid from the mixture, pour it into a bowl, and add cornstarch or flour.
- Mix until smooth to make a slurry, pour back into the pot, and mix well.
- Pour mixture into a 9" round pie dish, pie shell, 8"x8" baking pan, or individual serving dishes.
- Cover with a suitable-sized piece of puff pastry dough (depending on your choice of serving dish).
- Make small slits in the top layer of dough for air to escape.
- Bake in an oven that has been preheated to 425°F for approximately 30 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown.
Notes
*Or any 2-cup mixture of vegetables; peas, carrots, diced celery, corn, diced potatoes. If you use celery or raw potatoes, fry them with the onions so they will get soft..
** Cornstarch is a better thickener and makes the sauce more glossy.
*** Or you can use 1 ½ cups chicken broth instead of the consomme powder and water.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 313Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 110mgSodium: 181mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 4gSugar: 7gProtein: 44g