Mini Chicken and Asparagus Pot Pies

Close-up view of mini chicken pies with fork and green cloth to right on top of dark tray.

These delicious mini chicken and asparagus pies are a fantastic way to turn your chicken leftovers into a family meal. This recipe is low in fat, simple and super easy to make.

Course Brunch, Dinner, Snack

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Total Time 45

Servings mini pies

Calories 455kcal

Author Monika Dabrowski

Equipment

6 mini pie dishes/ramekins

Ingredients

11.29 ounces ready-to-eat chicken chopped/shredded
7.76 ounces asparagus, weigh after the tough ends have been snapped off chopped into 2cm/1'' pieces
⅔ cup frozen petits pois/garden peas
11.29 ounces 1 ready rolled puff pastry sheet
1 small egg lightly beaten

For the Sauce

2 tablespoons butter
2½ tablespoons cornstarch/UK cornflour
1¾ cups semi-skimmed/light milk
1 chicken/vegetable stock cube crumbled
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
3 tablespoons fromage frais/sour cream/yogurt
1 teaspoon dried thyme and white pepper each

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Take the pastry out of the fridge 30 minutes before unrolling it and assembling the pies.
Preheat the oven to 425 F/ 220 C/fan 200 C/ gas mark 7. You will need 6 ramekins/mini pie dishes.
To make the sauce in a saucepan melt the butter, add the flour and quickly whisk over a low/medium heat until the mixture becomes smooth. Add half of the milk, stock cube and thyme, increase the heat and cook until the mixture thickens whisking all the time. Pour in the rest of the milk and continue cooking and whisking until the sauce starts bubbling up. Remove from the heat, add the mustard, seasoning and sour cream and stir until smooth.
In a large bowl combine the sauce with the chicken, asparagus and peas. Spoon the mixture into your ramekins stopping about 0.5 cm from the top.
Unroll the pastry and cut out squares or circles. The shapes can, but don't have to be a little bigger than your dish. Place the pastry shapes over the pies pressing gently to seal along the rim and make a small cut to allow the steam to escape during cooking. Using a pastry brush thinly coat the top of the pastry with the egg mixture. Refrigerate the pies for 15 minutes.
Place the pies on a large baking sheet leaving plenty of room in between and bake in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes. If the pies start to brown a little too much (after 20 minutes or so) cover them loosely with a large sheet of tin foil.
Remove from the oven, set aside for 5 minutes, then serve.

Notes

Try not to fill your dishes with the chicken mixture right up to the top as the sauce may spill out during cooking.
Remove the pastry from the fridge about 30 minutes before unrolling it and assembling the pies.
You can trim the pastry to fill your dish or cut it into larger squares as I have done.
Once you've assembled the pies it's a good idea to refrigerate them for 15 minutes before popping in the oven (your pastry will be lighter and flakier).
Use a mixture of dark and white meat or just dark meat. White meat alone might be a little dry.
I recommend using asparagus tips that aren't too thick or thin. Medium thickness is best.
Be generous with the pepper when making the filling mixture.
Brush the pastry with only a very thin coating of the egg mixture.
Best served immediately.
You can assemble the entire recipe and refrigerate the pies overnight (bake from chilled). You can also make the filling mixture, refrigerate overnight and assemble the pies just before baking. Whichever method you choose ensure the filling mixture has cooled completely before refrigerating.
You can prepare these mini chicken asparagus pies ahead and freeze, unbaked (bake from frozen but allow more time to ensure the pies are cooked through). Alternatively make the filling alone and freeze that (defrost overnight in the fridge).

Nutrition