Ree Drummond’s Easy Chicken Pie Is a Savory Take on Pi Day
Celebrate Pi Day with Ree Drummond’s chicken pie. The Pioneer Woman pie recipe has all the hallmarks of a classic chicken pot pie from creamy filling to a flaky crust. So don’t be surprised the recipe hangs around long after March 14.
Ree Drummond’s chicken pie
Featured on the “Chicken, Chicken, Chicken” episode of Food Network’s The Pioneer Woman, Drummond’s Chicken Pie is a variation on the traditional chicken pot pie. It has many of the same ingredients, such as carrots, celery, onion, and, of course, chicken.
The thing that sets it apart from the original is the crust. Unlike her other chicken pot pie recipes, this one doesn’t have a base. Additionally, it’s not served in a round pie plate but rather a rectangular baking dish.
Despite the differences, Drummond assured Pioneer Woman viewers chicken pie is just as popular as the original. “Who doesn’t love chicken pie? I swear I’ve never met a single person who doesn’t love it,” she said before turning boiled chicken “into a perfect chicken pie.”
Make chicken pie using the Food Network star’s shortcuts
Drummond’s chicken pie recipe includes a few Pioneer Woman shortcuts to make the cooking process easier. Perhaps the one that makes the biggest difference in prep time is the crust. The Super Easy cookbook author uses storebought puff pastry.
“I’m changing this chicken pie up from my normal one,” the Food Network star said on her show. “I usually use a regular pie pastry whenever I make chicken pie. This time I’m taking a little bit of a shortcut and I’m going to top the pie with a sheet of puff pastry.”
Frozen vegetables are another one of Drummond’s shortcuts. She uses fresh in this recipe but she also tosses in a bag of frozen green beans as a “nice change” to her usual frozen peas.
Finally, the last shortcut, and what might be the most drastic one, is skipping the crust altogether. “Honestly, you don’t even need the crust with this,” Drummond said on The Pioneer Woman. “I could just serve this up in a bowl,” she said with a laugh and “call it chicken stew.”
How to make the Pioneer Woman dish in advance
Drummond’s chicken pie is a make-ahead dish. What she does, if she’s serving it later, is prepare the filling and put it in a baking dish. Then she covers it and puts the dish in the fridge until an hour before dinner.
“I’ll pull the pie out of the fridge, brush the rim of the dish with an egg wash, put a sheet of thawed puff pastry on top, press down the edges of the pastry so it sticks to the sides then egg wash the top too,” Drummond said.
Then she cooks it in the oven. “Everyone in my household is going to fight over that first big spoonful.” On the side, she serves a “great green salad” and that’s Drummond’s chicken pie done.
