I grew up having chicken pot pie practically once a week, it's my favorite! My mom would buy the frozen pie crusts, throw in a can of veg-all, a can of cream of chicken and 1 lb of diced up boiled chicken. Not exactly the healthiest meal - but I craved it. It's true comfort food for me. I would even order it at restaurants, if they had it available on the menu. But chicken pot pie can be taxing on any diet. It's heavy, creamy and bread-y. So let's lighten it up and make it better. I started by adding a ton of veggies, using very little oil (no butter) and skim milk (instead of cream). My version is so much better than any chicken pot pie I've ever had. It has just enough of the creaminess I love, but not too much. It is so veggie loaded that most of the room that sauce would take up, is being taken up by the nutrient rich veggies. Having little drop biscuits on top allow you to control how much bread you want. I personally am fine with one 1 biscuit and a nice large spoon full of the chicken pie mixture. Now you might be thinking, why am I still calling it chicken pie, if there is no pie? Well, to me the dish is called chicken pot pie and that's what it reminds me of, even if there is no pie crust. So I'll just stick with it - makes it easier to explain.
I used King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour, it's a lighter version on whole wheat flour. I used it so the biscuits wouldn't be so dense. I also used homemade chicken stock, but if you don't have any one hand, then I recommend a low sodium chicken stock. If you want to add more veggies or omit some, that would work. It's easy to customize what you want to have in the chicken pie mixture. As for the biscuits, the dough is sticky, but that is normal. If you want to add a little more flour to your hands, so you can handle them, that's fine. Just don't add too much. I just used a large spoon to scoop up the dough, and pushed it off with my finger on top of the chicken pie mixture.
Baked Chicken Pan Pie w/ Drop Biscuits
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:
- 2 tsp of oil
- 1 lb of free-range boneless, skinless chicken breast
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 stalks of celery, diced (leaves removed)
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, mince
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 3 tbsp of white whole wheat flour
- 1 1/3 cup of organic skim milk
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 8oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
Drop Biscuits:
- 1 cup organic skim milk
- 1/4 cup organic coconut oil
- 2 cup white whole wheat flour, sifted
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
In a large skillet, heat 1 tsp of oil over medium heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and add to the hot skillet. Cook for about 5 minutes, turn and repeat on the other side. Cover, lower the heat slightly and let the chicken cook until complete cooked all the way through or has an internal temp of 165F (about another 10 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of your chicken). Dice the chicken breasts in bite sized pieces and set aside.
While the chicken is cooking, heat the other tsp of oil over medium heat.
Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper to the pot. Stir well and cook the mixture for about 8 minutes, or until all the veggies are soft.
Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir well. Cook for about a minute (to get some of the flour taste out.)
Add the milk and chicken stock to the pot and stir well. Let the mixture cook for about 4 minutes or until it has begun to thicken.
Add the mushrooms, peas, red wine vinegar, parsley and diced chicken. Stir together well. Remove the pot from the stove and let it cool slightly, while you make the biscuit dough.
Drop Biscuits - in a large bowl add the milk and coconut oil. Stir well. Then gradually add the sifted flour, baking powder, salt and parsley. Stir until combined, but don't over mix. The dough will be sticky, that is fine. Since these are drop biscuits, you don't have to use your hands.
Now, pour the chicken mixture into a 9 x 11 baking dish. Spread out evenly.
Top with dollops of the biscuit dough, a bit bigger than a tbsp of dough. You should have 16 biscuits in total. 4 x 4.
Bake at 450F for 18-20 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown.
Let the chicken pan pie rest for a few minutes before serving.
When serving, scoop the mixture with a large spoon and re-top with the biscuits.
Nutritional Info for 2/3 cup of chicken mixture and 2 biscuits(assuming it serves 8):
Calories: 290 ; Fat: 9g ; Carbohydrate: 29g ; Fiber: 5g ; Sugar: 4g ; Protein: 22g
