Bobby Flay Smoked Chicken Pot Pie is a comfort food dinner made with smoked chicken, mushrooms and root vegetables under a sweet potato crust. Because the crust bakes separately and goes on at the table, this recipe suits Sunday dinner, holidays, potlucks or a cozy fall family meal.
Cook the flour in the butter until it turns deep golden, then whisk the hot milk in slowly. Cold milk hitting a hot roux seizes into lumps, so warming it first is what keeps the sauce smooth.
The crust here is a sweet potato dough baked on its own and set over the filling like a lid at the table. Smoked chicken replaces the usual roasted bird too, so the whole dish carries a campfire note most pot pies never get.
Bobby Flay Smoked Chicken Pot Pie
Course: DinnerCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Intermediate4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalA sweet potato dough is rolled, cut into rounds and baked on a sheet pan until lightly golden. A milk based sauce carries mushrooms, turnips, carrots, pearl onions, peas and shredded smoked chicken into each bowl.
Ingredients
- For the Sweet Potato Crust
1 pound all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 sticks butter, cut into pieces and chilled
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups sweet potato puree (sweet potatoes roasted, peeled and pureed)
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
- For the Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium Spanish onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 to 5 cups whole milk, heated
3/4 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered and sauteed until golden brown
2 medium turnips, peeled, cut into medium dice, blanched and drained
2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into matchsticks about 2 inches long
12 frozen pearl onions, blanched and drained
1 cup frozen peas, blanched and drained
1 smoked chicken (about 3 pounds), meat shredded and bones discarded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Directions
- Heat the oven: Preheat to 375 degrees F.
- Cut in the butter: In a large bowl combine the flour with the salt and pepper. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture looks crumbly.
- Mix the dough: In another bowl combine the eggs, milk and sweet potato puree. Add to the flour mixture and stir gently until combined, taking care not to overmix.
- Roll and bake the crusts: Divide the dough into quarters. On a lightly floured surface roll each piece into a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Cut the circles to fit your serving bowls, brush with egg wash and bake on a parchment lined sheet until lightly golden brown. Set aside.
- Start the sauce: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, then add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in the flour and cook until deep golden brown.
- Finish the sauce: Slowly whisk in the hot milk and cook until thickened. Reduce the heat and cook 5 minutes, whisking occasionally. Thin with a little extra milk if it gets too thick.
- Fold in the filling: Add the mushrooms, turnips, carrots, pearl onions, peas and shredded chicken to the sauce and fold gently to combine and heat through. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley.
- Assemble: Spoon the hot filling into bowls and top each with a circle of the baked sweet potato crust.
FAQs
Where do you find a smoked chicken, and can you smoke your own?
Most good butchers and many supermarket deli counters carry whole smoked chickens, often right by the rotisserie birds. Smoking your own takes about three hours at 250 degrees over apple or hickory wood, which is a project in itself. A rotisserie chicken plus a teaspoon of smoked paprika in the sauce gets you surprisingly close for a weeknight.
Why bake the sweet potato crust separately instead of over the filling?
Sweet potato dough is wet and heavy, so steam rising off the filling would leave the underside raw and gummy. Baking the rounds flat on parchment lets both sides set, which is the only way this crust turns crisp. It also means you can bake the crusts hours ahead and assemble each bowl at the very last minute.
Why blanch the turnips, pearl onions and peas first?
The filling only gets folded together and warmed through, so nothing raw would soften in that short a time. Blanching cooks them to just tender and locks in the color, which keeps the peas bright green instead of grey. Drain everything well too, since water clinging to the vegetables thins the sauce you have just thickened.
What can you use instead of turnips?
Parsnips are the closest swap here and bring a sweeter, less peppery edge to the same starchy bite. Diced Yukon Gold potatoes work well if you want something more familiar, though you blanch them the same way. Celery root is the interesting choice, since its faint aniseed note plays well against all that smoked chicken.
Can you make the crust dough ahead?
Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate it for up to two days, which actually makes it easier to roll. Baked rounds keep for a day at room temperature in a paper bag, so skip plastic or they go soft. Warm them five minutes in a low oven before serving, because a cold crust on hot filling turns limp.
