Chicken, leek and mushroom pie

Name: chicken, leek and mushroom pie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 350 g Leftover chicken or 2 chicken breasts; 100 g chopped up ham or bacon lardons; 200 g Button mushrooms; 1 onion; 1 leek (washed and trimmed); 2 cloves garlic; 1 tbsp plain flour; 250 ml chicken stock; 1 tbsp wholegrain or dijon mustard; 2 tsp thyme; 3 tbsp creme fraiche; 1 sheet puff pastry

Chicken, leek and mushroom pie is an easy family dinner and a great way of using up leftover roast chicken. If you use ready made puff pastry it can be ready in no time.

Chicken, leek and mushroom pie is a great way of using up leftover chicken (or leftover turkey), it makes a great family dinner and if you use ready made puff pastry, can be in the oven in no time. I like to think of different ways of using up chicken leftover from a Sunday roast, and this pie is one of my favourites. It’s warming and comforting and popular with the whole family.

What can you use in the filling?

I’ve called this a chicken, leek and mushroom pie, but it could equallly be a chicken and ham pie, or chicken and mushroom pie etc as this pie recipe is so flexible. You could swap the chicken for turkey, you could also throw in some leftover ham or gammon. Use dijon mustard or wholegrain. If you want, add more leek or mushrooms if they’re your favourite or miss them out if your kids aren’t a fan. Once you’ve got the basic filling recipe you can play around with it to suit your taste.

How can kids help to make this chicken, leek and mushroom pie?

This is another great recipe for kids to help with. There are a lot of steps in the preparation of the filling that are easy enough for kids to help with.

The vegetables, particularly mushrooms are good for kids who want to practice their chopping skills. Mushrooms are really soft so can be cut with a dinner knife so there’s no risk to small fingers. Leeks are also simple to cut, but use a sharper knife so this might be a job for slightly older children.

If you trust your kids around the cooker, they can help add in the ingredients and stir them all together. It’s a simple job that my kids get a lot of satisfaction in taking charge of.

Finally, if you use ready-rolled puff pastry there’s not much to do, but if you have a block of pastry, your kids can help roll it out to size. I also find there’s some puff pastry left over you can get your kids to cut out different shapes to decorate it. There’s no right or wrong way of doing it so it’s s fun way of being a bit creative.

Can you make the pie ahead of time?

I sometimes make the filling ahead of time, and then just assemble and bake it before we eat. Keep the filling in the fridge, but bring it up to temperature before you bake it or you’ll have to bake it for longer.

Other easy dinner recipes

If you like this chicken pie, you’ll love some of our other dinner recipes including:

Homemade sausage rolls
Homemade meatballs
Creamy sausage pasta
Sweet potato fish cakes
Mini chicken pot pies
Wagamama’s chicken katsu curry
Curried mince
Gregg’s steak bakes

Useful equipment

Pie dish
Rolling pin
Pastry brush
Chopping board
Frying pan

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Difficulty: Medium

Time: 30 minutes + 45 minutes baking

Serves: 4

Ingredients

350g leftover roast chicken or 2 chicken breasts,
150g chopped up ham (or bacon lardons)
200g button mushrooms
1 onion
1 leek, washed and trimmed
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp flour
1 chicken stock cube
250ml water
1 tbsp wholegrain or Dijon mustard
2 tsp thyme
3 tbsp crème fraiche
1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg

How to make chicken, leek and mushroom pie

Precook your meat

If you don’t have any leftover precooked chicken, quickly chop it up your chicken breast and cook it in a pan until it’s browned. Add the bacon and cook for 5 minutes or so then set the meat aside in a dish. I’d do this step quickly before you get started as there’s not so much your toddler can help with here. Set it aside for now.

If you are using leftover roast chicken, there’s no need to reheat it at this point, just chop it into pieces ready to go into the pie later.

Prepare the vegetables

Get your kids to chop up the mushrooms. This is a great job for young children. It’s one of the few vegetables they can cut for themselves as you don’t need a sharp knife and it doesn’t really matter if they’re not all exactly the same size.

You can also get your kids to peel the onion, I just tend to give mine a hand to get started. Once they’ve peeld it, finely chop it. Peel the garlic, again your kids might be able to help with this. And if you’ve got a crusher, get them to pop it inside and give it a squeeze.

Cut the leek into slices. Older children might be able to do this – it’s a simple cut and they can hold the leek away from the knife, but it does need a sharp knife so it’s not really a job for very young children.

Cook the vegetables

Heat a little oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic. Fry it gently for 5 minutes until the onion is soft, but not coloured. Stir it occasionally.

Add the leek and mushrooms and cook for another minute, until it has softened. Stir it while it’s cooking – if your kids are old enough to be safe around the cooker, they can do this step.

Make the sauce

If you trust your little one enough not to burn themselves, you could get them to do most of the following steps. Just keep a close eye on them and where they are putting their hands.

You don’t have to be too precise with your measurements here so it’s a good chance for them to get a bit of practice in.

Add the flour to your pan and cook it off for a minute.

Add the stock cube. Your little one can probably help unwrap it, and add it either into a measuring jug or straight into your vegetables. We put it into our jug and added the hot water to it so we could watch it dissolve before pouring it in to the pan.

Add the mustard and thyme and chicken and ham/bacon and give it all a stir. Once it has thickened and reduced in volume by about half remove the pan from the heat.

Add the crème fraiche.

Make the chicken, leek and mushroom pie

Pre-heat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan / 350F.

Spoon the chicken pie mixture into a pie dish.

Get your kids to roll out your puff pastry so that it is big enough to cover your pie dish. Place the puff pastry on top of your pie and cut a hole in the centre.

Trim the edges of your pie with a sharp knife. If you want, you can get your kids to cut out shapes to decorate your pie.

Finally, crack an egg into a small dish and give it a little whisk. Get your kids to brush the egg wash all over the top of your pie with a pastry brush.

Cook the chicken, leek and mushroom pie

Bake your pie in the oven for around 45 minutes until the topping has risen, is brown and crispy and the filling bubbling.

Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and enjoy!

chicken, leek and mushroom pie

cookingwithmykids

Chicken, leek and mushroom pie is an easy family dinner and a great way of using up leftover roast chicken.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Total Time 55

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Servings 4

Calories 342 kcal

Ingredients

350 g Leftover chicken or 2 chicken breasts
100 g chopped up ham or bacon lardons
200 g Button mushrooms
1 onion
1 leek washed and trimmed
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp plain flour
250 ml chicken stock
1 tbsp wholegrain or dijon mustard
2 tsp thyme
3 tbsp creme fraiche
1 sheet puff pastry