Chicken and Mushroom Pie
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This chicken and mushroom pie is a fantastic chicken recipe to add to your Sunday night dinner repertoire! The creamy chicken filling is packed with browned mushrooms, caramelized onions, and crispy bits of bacon. Topped with flakey, buttery puffed pastry, it’s cold-weather comfort food at its best!
For more great cold-weather comfort food, try my Chicken and Biscuit Casserole or my Endive Bechamel Recipe.
Why You’ll Love This:
- The puff pastry looks so beautiful and homey when decorated with a simple scoring and egg wash
- The cast-iron pan makes it easy to caramelize the onions and brown the mushrooms quickly
- You’ll love the large chunks of chicken, and hearty sauce flavored with thyme and Dijon mustard
- You can make the filling ahead of time, transfer it to a glass or ceramic dish, then transfer it back into the cast-iron pan to bake. More on why you don’t want to store food in a cast-iron pan below in Make-Ahead Tips!
- This recipe is elegant enough for entertaining, but also easy enough for a weeknight meal
Watch my Video Demo of This Recipe Below!
Ingredients:
- Bone-in, Skin-on Chicken Breast Bone-in, skin-on chicken breast will give you the most succulent chicken for your pie. It’s also easier to prepare because it allows you to work on the rest of the filling, while the chicken bakes. You can use store-bought rotisserie chicken to save time, but you’ll only need 2 cups (300 grams) that will allow for enough sauce.
- Bacon The bacon will add wonderful flavor to the filling and the sauce, especially as the sauce simmers in the oven. You’ll only need 4 slices of bacon for this recipe, but you can use the rest to make my decadent Tartiflette recipe, another fantastic, cold-weather comfort food recipe.
- Yellow Onion You’ll get more flavor from the yellow onions, but if white onions are all you have that’s OK too!
- Fresh Thyme Adds a wonderful fall flavor to this dish. Just be sure you pat it dry after rinsing, otherwise, it will pop and crackle as it hits the bacon fat.
- White Button Mushrooms I buy them already sliced to save time!
- Butter and Flour The butter and flour will create a roux which will thicken the sauce as it simmers
- Chicken Broth Will become the base of your sauce. If dietary concerns are not an issue, don’t buy the low-sodium broth, you’ll get more flavor from the regular broths
- Worcestershire Sauce Adds a wonderful savory flavor to the sauce and compliments the mushrooms
- Store-Bought Puff Pastry For this recipe I used Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets it puffs up well, and the folded nature of how it’s packaged helps with the design! (see below) If you can only find small squares of puff pastry, popular at Middle Eastern Markets, those work great in my individual Easy Chicken Pot Pie recipe.
- Egg A beaten egg, brushed on the pastry before baking will create a beautiful golden shine on your pie after it’s baked
The Benefits of a Cast-Iron Skillet
- For this recipe, I’m using a 10.25 Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Skillet From Lodge. I love a cast-iron skillet for this recipe because its conductive heat creates the crispiest bacon, beautiful caramelized onions, and perfectly browned mushrooms.
- It also helps to thicken the sauce while it simmers in the oven
- It will make a beautiful oven-to-table presentation too!
- For more recipes using a cast-iron pan, try my Sweet Potato Biscuits, Blackberry Cornbread Skillet Cake, or my Apple Crisp in a Skillet recipe.
Cooking in Bacon Fat
- The first step to this recipe is cooking the bacon. As the bacon crips up, it will release the fat. Do not discard the fat!
- You will use the bacon fat to cook both the onions and the mushrooms.
- It will add a beautiful flavor to the vegetables which will ultimately create a more flavorful sauce to your pie filling.
Thickening the Sauce with a Roux
- A roux is used as the basis of many sauces, that need thickening. Traditionally a roux is equal parts butter to flour.
- But in this recipe, I prefer to use 3 tablespoons of butter to 2 tablespoons of flour, because I don’t like the sauce to be too thick, but rather more like a gravy.
- If you prefer a thicker sauce add 3 tablespoons of flour to the 3 tablespoons of butter.
Allow the Filling to Cool
- Once all the components for the filling are in, be sure to allow it to cool for at least 15 minutes. You can even pop it in the freezer to cool quickly
- The cast iron is so sensitive to heat and cold, it chills down extremely fast if put in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes!
- It’s important that the filling is cooled before adding the pastry, otherwise, the pastry will melt, before it hits the oven.
- A soft, melted pastry, before it’s put in the oven, will prevent the pastry from reaching its full “puff up” potential.
- So it’s best if the filling is cooled and the pastry is chilled before baking. This will assure the best results!
Preparing the Puff Pastry
- Roll of the pastry to allow it to fit across a 10.25 skillet.
- Then score the panels, you’ll have 3 sections. This is what I like about using the Pepperidge Farm brand, it already has the panels, you just need to score them.
- Then score diagonal lines in opposite directions, in each panel, being careful not to cut all the way through. Otherwise, the sauce will bubble up and spill out over the pastry.
- You just want to score the lines about 1/2 way through
- Then tuck all the pastry under, into the pan, to assure there are no gaps where the sauce could bubble up.
- At this stage you can pop the pan into the freezer for 10 minutes to assure the pastry is nicely chilled, and then brush with the egg wash.
Make-Ahead Tips:
- You can prepare the filling up to 2 days ahead
- Transfer out of the cast-iron pan, and into a glass, plastic, or ceramic container.
- You do not want to store food in a cast-iron pan, otherwise, it could develop a metallic taste, and also damage the seasoned coating on your pan.
- You can also prepare the puff pastry 1 day ahead, place it on a baking sheet, and cover it with plastic wrap or foil to prevent drying out.
- Right before serving, transfer the filling back into the cast-iron pan, cover with the pastry, and egg wash and bake.
- Serve immediately.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love!
Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Yield:
serves 4
Prep Time:
1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time:
1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time:
2 hours 35 minutes
A delicious Chicken and Mushroom Pie fancy enough for entertaining, but easy enough for a weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 1.5lb (680g) Chicken, bone-in, skin-on breast (or You can use store-bought rotisserie chicken to save time, but you'll only need 2 cups (300 grams) that will allow for enough sauce)
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 1 ¼ cup (190g) yellow onion, sliced into half-moons
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) fresh thyme, minced and patted dry of any moisture
- 8 oz (230g) sliced mushrooms
- 3 tbsp (38g) butter
- 2 tbsp (15g) flour
- 2 cups (480ml) chicken broth
- 2-5 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp (5ml) mustard
- 1 Tbsp (15ml) heavy cream (if desired)
- 1 sheet store-bought puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F (200g). Roast chicken on a sheet pan with a rack until cooked through 45 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Roll the pastry out to remove any seams. Score decorative diagonal lines, in opposing directions, vertically along the pastry, being careful not to cut through the pastry, otherwise the sauce will rise up and spill out over your browning pastry and prevent it from puffing up fully.
- Place pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and keep refrigerated until ready to use.
- In a 10” (25cm) cast-iron skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, onto a plated lined with a paper towel. Keep the fat in the pan!
- Cook the onions in the bacon fat until tender and fragrant. Then add the thyme and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. Then remove onions with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a large bowl and set them aside. Keep the fat!
- Cook mushrooms in the bacon fat, or add 1 tbsp (15g) of butter if needed. Saute until golden brown and they release their juices. Add mushrooms to a large bowl. Do not wash out the pan.
- Melt the butter in the pan, once foamy add the flour, whisk until a paste forms, then add the chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and heavy cream (if using) and stir until combined. Allow to simmer.
- Shred the cooked chicken off the bone into large shredded chunks. Set aside.
- Add back in the mushrooms, onions, cooked bacon and the chicken. Stir to combine.
- Taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed. Allow to cool for 15 mins. Meanwhile prep the puff pastry.
- Remove the pastry from the refrigerator. Transfer it to the cooled filling, tuck pastry under on all sides, into the pan, brush with beaten egg. If pastry has warmed up too much, pop the whole pan in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm back up before baking. Bake at 400F for 20-25 mins. Serve immediately oven to table.
Notes
If the pastry becomes too warm and soft after placing it on top of the skillet, pop the skillet in the freezer for 5-8 minutes to firm back up. This will help the pastry keep its shape and puff up when it hits the hot oven.
Make-Ahead Tips:
To make ahead, prepare the filling, then transfer to a glass, plastic, or ceramic container to refrigerate. You do not want to store food in cast-iron, or it could develop an off metallic flavor and damage your pan's seasoned surface as well.
Before baking, all the filling to come to room temperature for about 15 minutes, then transfer the filling into the cast-iron pan, cover with the prepared puff pastry, and bake.
You can also prepare the puff pastry a day ahead, place on a baking sheet, and cover it with plastic wrap or foil to prevent it from drying out.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 413Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 637mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 22g
I cooked this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I even added a bit of garlic to the onions because my family loves garlic! Thank you for sharing this spectacular 5-star recipe. It is definitely being added to our rotation of meals. The only issue I had was the pastry was still underbaked at 25 minutes. I will experiment and will try longer next time.
If I had to alter the recipe for someone who was gluten free, could I use cornstarch instead of flour? What would the ratio be for that?
Yes of course no problem cornstarch would be fine. But add the chicken broth first, bring to a low boil, then add 1 Tbsp of Cornstarch-mixed with 1 Tbsp very cold water, then slowly pour this “slurry” into the broth to thicken. If you want it thicker, just repeat the process with another slurry. Hope you enjoy!
I’m making this now and can’t wait to serve it to our guests tonight. We are Americans living in France and I enjoy your recipes and videos. One thing to note, however, is the written recipe doesn’t say to add the bacon back into the pan. I had to go back and watch your video again to see what you said to do with it. 😃
Oh no! Thanks for brining that to my attention! I’ll fix that ASAP! :). Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
It was delicious and it looked so pretty with the design on the top.
Planning on making this tonight for my family and a guest. Any recs for using a 12 in. cast iron skillet? Would you increase the ingredients by 1/2? Thank you!
Yes exactly I would increase it by 1/2 so that you have enough filling, another thing to consider is does your brand of puff pastry sheet stretch across 12 inches? If not another way to go is to make the filling in a large pot. Make ahead and refrigerate. Then slice the puff pastry into 4×3 squares, score it decoratively, brush with egg wash, then place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 400F for 20-25 mins until puffed and golden, and meanwhile heat up the filling. Then place the filling in bowls and pop the puff pastry squares on top 🙂 I’ve done it that way too and it works out great! 🙂 Hope it’s a hit!
I made this 3 weeks ago. Everyone loved it. We all found it very delicious. We are serving again this week end. Thank you once again Beth!
YAY! So glad to hear it was a hit! Yummy isn’t it? Ha!
I made this on Sunday for a get together on Monday. It was absolutely delicious. I didn’t have Worcestershire sauce or Dijon mustard or a cast iron skillet, so I made all the remaining components in a regular skillet and baked it in a ceramic gratin dish. It turned out really nicely and my friends gobbled it up. I will make this again, for sure
Yay! I’m so glad it was a hit! 🙂
Made this tonight expecting leftovers between my husband and I for tomorrow and that absolutely won’t happen because this was so delicious we cleared the pan! The step to add the bacon back in is still missing but obviously if you read the description you know to add it back. This is a permanent dinner rotation for us as we adore mushrooms.
Next time adding a few roasted jalapenos because jalapenos is always a net benefit (and, I’m painfully Texan lol!)
Thank you for publishing this!
I’m so glad it was a hit! So sorry about the omission in the recipe of where to put the bacon back in! Just fixed that 🙂 And let me know how it goes with the jalapenos next time! Ha!
I’m making your recipe now.
Your recipe is 680g chicken, and of course that amount would be the amount of bone and skin attached.
I used rotisserie chicken.
It’s already on the verge of baking, so it’s too late to change the amount. My 10-inch frying pan has too much chicken and no sauce left …
For those who use Roti Seri Chicken, I thought it would be great if you could post the number of grams.
I hope I can get better for tonight’s supper because of this.
Ah yes that would make a big difference. If using pre-cooked rotisserie chicken I would say 2 cups (300g) would be all you need. I’ll update the blog post with this information! Thanks for bringing it to my attention 🙂
Beth I made the pie last night. All was cool, however, the pastry never puffed. The filling was delicious. What other dishes could I use the filling in?
Oh no! Sometimes the brand of puff pastry can make a difference, and the expiration date too. I would recommend using Pepperidge Farm puff pastry that one puffs up the best or Trader Joes Brand is good for this recipe too. As far as other dishes you could use the filling over rice, noodles or mashed potatoes 🙂 all would be yummy with this too!
Beth, this was delicious! My question is: if I used cornstarch would it help to thicken the sauce? Thanks
Yes absolutely you could do that too. Once the sauce is finished whisk 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 2 Tbsp very cold water in a small glass. Bring the sauce up to a boil, and then slowly whisk in the cornstarch slurry until thickened. So glad you enjoyed it!
Beth, I rarely leave a comment online, however, this recipe is a real keeper. One question I have is; if I used cornstarch instead of flour do you think the sauce would be thicker? I brought it to a boil, knowing a sauce will thicken once it comes to a boil, but that didn’t happen. Any suggestions on achieving a thicker sauce would be great, thanks.
Oh sure you could thicken it further like this 🙂 Once the sauce is finished whisk 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 2 Tbsp very cold water in a small glass. Bring the sauce up to a boil, and then slowly whisk in the cornstarch slurry until thickened. That should do the trick! So glad you enjoyed it!
Really good! Had all the ingredients on hand…… I had poached a couple of chicken breasts in the instant pot before I’d found this recipe….so I used those 2 breasts and the the poaching liquid as part of the broth. Had about 1/2 cup of peas that I was going to use for another recipe and threw them instead into this tasty pie. Definitely a keeper recipe!
YAY! So glad it was a hit! 🙂
Sounds delicious and perfect for the fall weather! One thing: have you tried using fresh (or dried) rosemary in place of the thyme? My husband is not a big thyme fan.
Thx!
Oh sure you could absolutely use fresh or dried rosemary. That would be great too! 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
I purchased the lodge cast iron skillet via your Amazon link. I’ve used it many times yet it continues to give the food a grey discoloration. When I wipe it with a paper towel, grey residue comes off. And crazy enough, my teeth get stained. Particularly after making your apple crumb recipe. Is the pan defective??
Oh no! That does not sound normal! I would contact Lodge customer service to see what they think is causing that?