Leftover Roast Chicken Pie

An Easy Way to Use Weekend Roast Leftovers

If you’re looking for an easy, family-friendly recipe for the leftovers of your roast chicken, this might be the easiest one there is!

This leftover roast chicken pie has crisp golden puff pastry on top of chicken in a lovely creamy sauce, and all for very little effort.

Pies are definitely the king of comfort food, although they can feel like quite a lot of effort to make. This leftover roast chicken pie is a puff pastry pie, with pastry only on the top, and it couldn’t be easier.

If you always shy away from making pies because it seems like quite a faff, then I hear you. This one is as simple as it gets though, and makes a regular appearance for dinner here, particularly on Mondays after a Sunday roast. That’s how easy it is.

Leftover Roast Chicken

We eat roast chicken quite regularly at the weekends, and there are always some leftovers. My two favourite things to make are this chicken pie, and also Chicken Fried Rice. Both are easy, quick, and are a hit even with the fussier of my kids.

This easy recipe is also a post-Christmas classic, when you can make it with any turkey leftovers for a delicious lazy Twixmas dinner.

I have zero interest in learning to make puff pastry (or most pastry really, if I’m being completely honest), so stick some ready-made puff pastry on your shopping list and you’re on your way to pie-ville. In fact, this pie is very much a case of chucking your leftover chicken in a dish, making a simple sauce, and topping with some shop-bought pastry.

Using Up Your Leftover Vegetables

If you’ve got veggies left over from your roast, then keep them too and they can go into this pie the next day, which is great if there’s not much chicken left, as it helps to fill up the pie.

Carrots, parsnips, cabbage, leeks, green beans, and even roast potatoes will all work well. Softer veg such as broccoli don’t tend to work so well. But if it’s something that hasn’t fallen apart it should be fine.

Additionally, if you don’t have as much chicken left as normal, then try adding some sliced mushrooms to the pie.

What Kind of Pie Dish Do I Need?

You can either use a 20cm (ish) round pie dish, or I actually find it easier to use a rectangular enamel pie dish as that’s easier for rolling pastry out to fit the dish. I have one of these Lakeland pie dishes.

What to Serve with Leftover Roast Chicken Pie

Depending on how hungry everyone is, this tends to be pretty flexible! In the autumn and winter, when we’ve been out for a cold, wet walk, I usually serve this with mash and whatever vegetables are in the fridge. In the spring I like to serve it with something green like tenderstem broccoli.

Or if I’m making this on a Monday after a Sunday roast, when we’re rushing about between school and work and swimming lessons and everything else, then I serve it with some frozen peas, or possibly just on its own!

Leftover Roast Chicken Pie Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 25-30 minutes

Equipment

20-22cm round pie dish or 26cm rectangular pie dish
Rolling pin
Pastry brush

Ingredients

• About 500g leftover roast chicken (or however much is left!), shredded
  (If you’ve not got much left, you could add in some mushrooms)
• Any leftover vegetables you might have, eg carrots, parsnips, leeks, etc
• 500g pack of puff pastry
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 heaped tbsp plain flour
• 200ml/7fl oz chicken stock
• 4 tbsp double cream
• ½ -1 tsp dried sage (or dried mixed herbs)
• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C (fan)/Gas 6.
2. Make the sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, and cook gently over a low heat, stirring, for 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour in the chicken stock and give it a good stir, then turn up the heat to bring it to the boil, stirring constantly.
4. Once it’s reached boiling point, reduce the heat so it’s simmering gently and cook for 4-5 minutes.
5. Add in the cream and sage (or some dried mixed herbs will be fine too) and keep simmering for another 2-3 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let it sit while you get on with the rest.
6. Roll out your puff pastry until it’s just slightly bigger than your pie dish.
7. Chop up the vegetables into bite-size pieces and add to the pie dish with the chicken. Pour over the sauce slowly, making sure it doesn’t rise up and spill over the edge.
8. Lay over your pastry onto the edges of the pie dish, and use your thumb to press the edges all the way around to seal it onto the dish. Trim off any excess.
9. Take a sharp knife and poke a couple of holes in the middle of the pastry lid. These will let the steam out while the pie’s cooking.
10. Brush the pastry top with the remaining beaten egg, and bake the pie for approximately 25-30 minutes until the pastry is crispy and golden brown on the top.

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