Joanna Gaines Chicken Pot Pie: Comfort Food Classic from Magnolia Table Cookbook

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I’m pretty sure comfort food is my love language. Seriously, I love nothing more than a belly full of happiness, and today’s recipe delivers just that. I will say this, I am not usually a fan of leftovers. (I know, I know. Luckily, I’m married to a man who will eat all the leftovers all the time.) But I actually looked forward to eating this for days and days.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I got the Joanna Gaines Magnolia Table cookbook for my birthday. Jonathan and I joked that I should start a new series on this blog. For those of you who don’t know, my given name is JoAnn. I mean, it could be like your modern day Julie & Julia. Except JoAnn and Joanna. Perfect, right? Jokes. I am by no means challenging myself to cook my way through a cookbook. Even though I do think that would be so much fun. I will, however, happily share what I make when I make it and what I thought. Deal? Okay, good.

I decided to start off with the chicken pot pie recipe. Some things to note:

1. I halved the recipe and that’s what’s reflected here.
2. Her recipe calls for fresh carrots and then a bag of frozen peas. I already had the bag of mixed veggies on hand because I thought I was going to be making one of my old stand by pot pie recipes when I went grocery shopping (that was before this cookbook came into my life).
3. I didn’t use as much chicken broth as was indicated in the recipe (not even half). I eyeballed this, and that “measurement” is what is reflected below.
4. I used the food processor and chopped up some of the batch chicken that I always have in the fridge. You can cut up a store-bought rotisserie chicken, cut up some chicken breasts, or simply buy pre-cooked, frozen cubed chicken.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 8×8 or 9×3 glass dish, at least 3 inches deep.
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 small white onion finely chopped
• 1 bag frozen vegetable mix: corn, peas, carrots, green beans. I used the bird’s eye steam fresh mixed veggies.
• 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 3 cups of chicken broth
• 2 10.5 ounce cans of cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups of shredded or cut up chicken
• 1-2 tubes of refrigerated crescent rolls (depending on what size pan you use)
• Mashed potatoes

WHAT YOU DO:

The first thing I did was PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 375 and then I got some potatoes going. I cubed about 4 red potatoes and let those boil in a pot of water for a while. If you need a time, go for at least 20 minutes. I honestly just let them boil the whole time I was prepping the “pie.” That’s probably wrong, but it worked for me.

Once they were soft, I drained the water, added about 1/2 cup of milk and about 2 tablespoons of butter and mashed. I seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.

FOR THE PIE:

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a pot or dutch oven that’s large enough to eventually fit all of the ingredients.
2. Add the chopped up onions and let those cook until translucent.
3. Slowly whisk in the 2 tablespoons of flour
4. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth, raise the heat to about medium/high and bring to a soft boil
5. Add the cream of chicken soup and your cut up chicken
6. Stir in your veggies. Let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper if necessary (I didn’t find it necessary.)
7. Pour your “soup” into a dish that is at least 3 inches deep. I used an 8×8 pyrex, but I probably should have used a larger dish. I was a little worried about the filling boiling over in the oven. It didn’t though.
8. Unroll your crescents and pinch together the perforations. If you’re also using a square dish, you’ll only need one tube. If you’re using a longer dish, you’ll need two. I literally laid the “sheet” of dough on top of the soup. I had to get a little creative and lay some “pieces” in various places. I would avoid this if you can because the dough didn’t actually cook all the way through wherever it overlapped, but it wasn’t a deal breaker.
9. Serve over mashed potatoes and enjoy!

The verdict:

Okay, I didn’t actually have the highest hopes for this dish. I make two other versions of chicken pot pie that are just good enough. I make them often, but they’re not my favorite dishes. I just figured eh, chicken pot pie isn’t my jam. Those recipes are good and fairly simple and produce a hearty meal. Well, pot pie has been lying to me my entire life up until now.

This is honest to goodness 1) the easiest version of pot pie I’ve ever made and 2) by far the most delicious. Something about the combination of serving the soup-like filling over the hearty potatoes with the sweetness of the crescents on top is OH. MY. GOSH. so delicious.

I love how in general the cookbook focuses in on meals every person could make with (mostly) ingredients they’d already have on hand. I appreciate that she references things like canned crescents and canned cream of chicken soup. That might be something silly for me to appreciate, but other cookbooks make me feel like a crappy person because I have to take “shortcuts” in the kitchen. I like to cook, but I don’t like to slave my life away in the kitchen.

This meal has most definitely landed itself on my master list. I’ll be out of town this coming week, so I’m definitely planning to make this on Sunday so the husband has something of substance to eat on for the few days I’m gone. (To be fair, he is perfectly capable of fending for himself–It just brings me joy to take care of him. So there’s that.)

Happy Friday, friends! Let me know if you end up making this and what you think!

 

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