Cozy & Easy Chicken Hand Pies with Puff Pastry
I first whipped these up on a cold, rainy day in beautiful Québec City while my mom and I were road-tripping around Canada. After spending a week on Prince Edward Island and many days exploring Nova Scotia, I can’t say we were sad about a rainy Canadian day to rest and reset. P.S. If you’re looking for some Unique Things to Do in Quebec City, check this out!
I’d made us some delicious chicken thighs the night before, and though my mom claims to eat leftovers, it’s not her preferred choice. We made a quick run to the store (and a pit stop at perhaps my favorite Canadian bakery of the trip) and I figured, why not try to whip together some hand pies?
These are savory and delicious, almost like a hand-held chicken pot pie, and so versatile. If you have some leftover veggies that are different from the ones below, swap them in. Turkey leftover from Thanksgiving instead of chicken? Use that up instead! Simply roll out your store-bought puff pastry, pack it with filling, cover it, and bake it for the flakiest dinner paired easily with some green beans or a simple salad.
Also, you can easily make this recipe without leftovers. See the notes below for cooking fresh the day of!
Cheers to deliciously reinvented leftovers and hand-held savory (and of course sweet) pies!
WHY A HAND PIE?
Because they’re deliciously fun, of course! A hand pie is basically your favorite pie in a delicious pocket that you can easily cart (and eat) from place to place. Depending on the pie, it can be made with a traditional pie crust or a puff pastry, like these! The filling tends to be thicker, since you don’t have a plate to catch any extra goo, but just as delicious as a pie served from a dish!
What’s the point of cooking flour? Flour is a raw ingredient, so it should always be cooked before consuming in savory or sweet recipes, since you can get sick if you consume it raw. It also has a certain flavor to it that we’re not really wanting to keep. By cooking flour down, you get rid of that raw flavor before using the flour as a thickening agent for your broth.
INGREDIENTS
- Garlic: Roasted to provide a sweet but still garlicky flavor
- Olive Oil: To cook down your veggies
- Yellow Onion: Provides flavor and a little bite
- Spinach: Fresh and roughly chopped to get a little green in your pie and act as a flavor sponge
- Carrots: Finely diced for that pot pie vibe without a big chunky bite
- Salt & Pepper: For added seasoning and flavor balance
- Thyme & Parsley: We’re going with pantry staples to give delicious flavors to your pie. If you have fresh, just double the amount!
- Flour: To thicken your filling mixture
- Chicken Broth: To make a thicker gravy to bind your filling
- Leftover Chicken: This recipe takes your leftovers and gives them a yummy makeover
- Yellow Potatoes: Parboiled to ensure an even cook (see note section for how!)
- Cream: Gives a delicious richness to your filling
- Puff Pastry Dough: Grab your favorite sheets from the store to make those flaky layers
- Egg: Optional to whisk up an egg wash for brushing on your pastry giving a golden crisp to your pies
What if I don’t have leftover chicken, can I still make these? Absolutely! Swap in for shredded turkey or even beef, or make these a completely vegetarian hand pie and add more veggies to make up for the missing meat!
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN HAND PIES
Roast your garlic first by preheating the oven to 400°F and cutting off the head of your garlic, just enough to see the tops, and open it up. Drizzle with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and wrap in foil before placing on the middle rack of your oven to bake for 30 minutes. Then remove and set aside to cool.
In a large frying pan, add your olive oil and sliced onions, stirring over medium heat on the stove until the onions are transparent and you see a little color on them. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Squeeze in your roasted garlic before adding in your spinach, carrots, salt, pepper, thyme, and parsley. Stir and cook down until the spinach has completely wilted. Sprinkle your flour over your mixture, stirring and cooking another minute or two, to cook out some of that raw flour flavor.
Add your chicken broth to the frying pan, stirring and scraping up any bits of flavor on the sides and bottom of the pan, and bring to a simmer. Add in your cooked and shredded chicken and diced potatoes. Pour in your cream and stir, bringing the mixture back to a simmer just to warm everything through.
Turn off the heat and let your mixture cool at room temperature for 15 minutes before covering and storing in the fridge for at least 40 minutes. This will ensure the pies, once assembled, bake evenly and also give time for your mixture to develop in flavor.
Preheat your oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper before spreading out your puff pastry sheets and cutting each into 6 even rectangles, giving you 12 total (a top and a bottom). Place 6 of them on your lined baking tray with about an inch of space in between each. Grab your filling from the fridge and split it between each rectangle evenly. It will be a heaping scoop on each, don’t worry!
Cover each rectangle with the remaining six pieces of cut puff pastry and use a fork to crimp closed all the edges. In a bowl, crack an egg and beat with a splash of water or milk using a fork. Brush your egg wash over the tops of each pastry and then use a fork to gently prick a few marks along the tops of each. This will give your filling space to breathe as it bakes.
Bake your leftover chicken hand pies for 20-25 minutes until they are a deep golden brown, then remove and let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before eating!
3 reasons you’ll love these savory pies
TIPS & VARIATIONS
- Use any meat you’re needing to use up from chicken and turkey to beef. These make leftovers taste brand new and are perfect for parties or events like Thanksgiving, when you have a lot to use up!
- Make sure you seal your pockets tightly together with a fork to ensure nothing leaks as it bakes. The pastry will grow as it cooks so the tighter the crimp, the lower chance you have of it puffing open. Don’t worry though, a little leakage is fine!
- For added flavor, after you brush your pastry with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds before popping them in the oven.
- It’s important to give your filling time to chill before topping your pastry. This will ensure it doesn’t melt your pastry – remember, puff pastry is a dough made up of a lot of butter – and that everything bakes evenly once it hits the oven. Also, giving it time to chill allows for greater flavor development, similar to a marinade!
MAKING AHEAD & STORING
You can make your filling up to a day in advance, depending on how long it’s been since you originally cooked your chicken. By making it ahead, it’ll have even more time to marinate with all the yummy flavors of this filling before being sandwiched between flaky puff pastry.
Your unbaked hand pies can be formed, crimped, and stored freezer for two to three months. Just make sure to wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and store them in a freezer-safe container. Take them out of the freezer and place them in the fridge the night before to thaw, then, the next day, brush with egg wash and bake.
The baked hand pies are best eaten right away (giving them a few minutes to cool from the oven, of course), but if you have any leftovers, store them in a container in the fridge. To reheat, pop them in the toaster oven for 5-8 minutes to cook through and recrisp that puff pastry. The baked hand pies will last in the fridge for 2-3 days.
MORE COZY RECIPES
Craving a family-sized pot pie? Try my favorite Vegetable Pot Pie filled with all the classic flavors and topped with a butter crust. For something a little sweeter, try this Easy Cinnamon Roll Pie using store-bought cinnamon rolls, baked in a delicious cream cheese filling. Something just for you? Use those extra pie scraps in this single-serve Scrap Apple Pie topped with two-ingredient fresh whipped cream.
Equipment
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Foil
- Frying Pan
- Spatulas
- Spoon
- Measuring Cups
- Meausring Spoons
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheet
- Pastry Brush
- Fork
- Mixing Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ yellow onion thin half slices
- 1 cup fresh spinach roughly chopped
- ½ cup cooked carrots finely diced
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp ground thyme
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 2 tsp flour
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups leftover chicken meat shredded
- 1 ½ cups yellow potatoes parboiled and finely diced (2-3 potatoes)
- ⅓ cup cream
- Frozen puff pastry dough 2 sheets, thawed in the fridge
- Egg optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Roast your garlic: Cut the top of your head of garlic off, to open it up without cutting off too much of the actual garlic, drizzle olive oil over top, and wrap in foil. Place directly on the middle rack of your oven and bake for 30 minutes before removing and setting aside to cool
- Once your garlic has cooled enough to handle, in a large frying pan add your 2 tablespoons of olive oil and your sliced onions. Stir and cook over medium heat until transparent and a little color starts to show, about 3-5 minutes
- Squeeze in your roasted garlic then add your spinach, carrots, salt, pepper, thyme, and parsley. Cooking down until the spinach has wilted
- Sprinkle flour over your mixture and stir together. Cooking another minute or two to cook out some of that raw flour flavor
- Pour in your chicken broth and stir together, scraping any bits off the sides and bottom of the pan, and bring to a simmer
- Add in your shredded chicken and diced potatoes
- Stir in your cream and bring the mixture back to a simmer, just to warm everything through
- Remove from heat and let cool at room temp for 15 minutes, cover, and place in the fridge for another 40 minutes to allow the flavors to marinate and your mixture to cool
- Preheat your oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Spread out your puff pastry sheets and cut into 6 even rectangles per sheet (12 total)
- Place 6 of the squares on your lined baking tray, with about an inch of space in between
- Take your chicken mixture out of the fridge and add a heaping scoop to each square. Splitting the mixture evenly across the six rectangles
- Cover with the remaining 6 puff pastry rectangles and use a fork to crimp closed all the edges
- Beat together your egg with a splash of water and brush the tops of your rectangles. Carefully prick the top of each rectangle to allow the pastry to breathe while cooking
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until a deep golden brown
- Remove and let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes
- Enjoy!
These are incredible! Hand held comfort food☺️
They are! Glad you loved it