Mini Cast Iron Chicken Pot Pies Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

Can I use a cast iron skillet instead of a pie pan? ›

Using cast iron means that the pan heats up quickly and retains a consistent temperature throughout baking. Which all adds up to beautifully baked bottom crusts (with no hint of sog). In short, ditch the pie plate and use a cast iron skillet instead.

Bake the pot pie until the center of the crust is evenly golden brown—and don't forget that the crust edge loves to bake at a faster rate than the filling—so covered it with strips of foil or make a foil collar of foil as pictured, to protect the crust edge from getting overly baked while you wait for the center to ...

Conventional or Toaster Oven Instructions:

Place pie on cookie sheet or toaster oven baking tray. Bake in center of conventional oven 30 to 33 minutes or toaster oven 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If the chicken pot pie is not already in a foil or metal pie pan, place it in an oven-safe baking dish. Cover the pie with aluminum foil and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until heated through.

The sauce in chicken pot pie is typically a gravy. I use a seasoned white gravy made from scratch with flavor-building ingredients, chicken broth, and half-and-half.

We recommend using the oven set to 350 to reheat a KFC pot pie while maintaining it's original crispness and flavor.

And if the box instructions say the dinner is safe for an oven but not a toaster oven, that's due to the proximity of the elements to the container and the resulting fire risk.

Can pot pies go in the microwave? ›

Microwave Instructions:

Place tray on microwave-safe plate. Microwave on High 5 to 6 ½ minutes until crust is fully cooked. Start with minimum cook time, check crust for doneness. Add additional time if necessary.

To know when your chicken pot pie is ready, look for a golden brown crust on top. You can gently insert a knife or toothpick into the center of the pie and check if it comes out hot to the touch. This indicates that the filling is bubbly and cooked through.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees then put your pie on a tray to put in the oven for about 30 to 40 min. Check middle of pie to see if hot if not cover edges of pie with foil and leave in for another 10 min. Continue checking every 10 min. until hot.

A cast iron skillet can be used for baking or as a casserole dish for your potatoes au gratin. I've also used a cast iron pan for biscuits, cakes, sticky buns, upside-down cakes, and giant cookies.

Unlike thinner pans, like aluminum, the heat level doesn't fluctuate in a cast iron. This makes the cast iron an ideal choice for foods that need high heat. Meats that need a hard sear but shouldn't be scorched, like steak, or roasts that should be browned before braising, perform beautifully in a cast iron.

The Bottom Line

Glass pie pans are the way to go for the best pies, but it doesn't mean you can't bake pies in ceramic, steel, or aluminum pans, too. It just might take a little longer to get the flakiest crust in these other types of pans.