What's for Dinner Tonight?{Gluten and Dairy Free} Chicken Mini Pot Pies

Right out of the oven

Thanks to Rachel Ray, I got this great idea to make mini pot pies. They were so cute and gave a little pizzaz to a long day. If you want a lower maintenance dinner you can omit the crust and put mashed potatoes on top. Then broil until golden on top. (this is one of my favorite ways to do it) If you want REALLY low maintenance you can take the filling, and just put it over gluten free toast. Even this can make dinner fun.  VEGAN OPTION: If you are vegan the vegetables are so colorful, and the sauce so flavorful I think it still makes a great meal. Just skip the chicken, use vegetable broth and maybe add broccoli or asparagus in small pieces! I will be sharing this recipe on Allergy-free Wednesdays here. Take a gander! There are tons of recipes and I bet you will find something interesting!

this is the filling cooking

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Serves 6-8
 Filling:
1TBS extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup chopped carrots
1 zucchini julienne sliced
1/4 white onion chopped
1 large clove of garlic chopped.
2 and 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup gluten free flour blend (see ratio below) or garbanzo flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 TBS dried thyme
2 cups chicken cooked and chopped or shredded


2 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour plus more for dusting (I use the ratio: 1 cup brown rice to 2/3 cup tapioca to 1/3 cup potato starch and 1/2 tsp xanthan gum)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups chilled palm shortening 2/3 cup ice water

For pastry:

I used just a little too much flour on my board so it broke up a little!

In a food processor pulse together the flour and salt. Add the shortening and pulse until coarse crumbs form about 10 seconds. Pour in ice water and pulse until the dough comes together and the water is fully incorporated about 30 seconds. Divide into two equal pieces, wrap each in plastic wrap and flatten into a disk, freeze until firm (about 15 minutes)

But we still enjoyed them in spite of the broken crust.

For the filling:
Saute the carrots, onion, garlic and zucchini  and the olive oil over medium heat in a frying pan until softened. Add the chicken broth. Take the GF flour and just enough water to make it a little runny. Stir well with a fork. When it is a thick liquid add it to the frying pan. Stir well continually over med low heat until the sauce thickens. Add thyme, salt and pepper to taste, as well as the chopped chicken. Heat it through. As with everything getting the salt and pepper right seems to make this dish. I forgot to taste mine before putting it in the pies and had to add more salt later.

Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Take the pastry and roll it out on a cutting board or counter top sprinkled lightly with GF flour.  When it is thin like a pie crust cut it into squares. Grease the muffin pan well with olive oil. Take the squares and press them in the muffin tin. Vary the size depending on the size of your muffin tin. I did jumbo muffins so I made my squares large. The square when pressed in the muffin tin should come to the top of the muffin tin. Add a scoop of the filling mixture. Put a smaller square on top of the filling. Crimp the edges like a pie. Poke with a fork. Brush with olive oil (or egg if you can). Bake at 400F until golden on top. For the jumbo muffins it was about 15 minutes.