This gluten free easy pot pie recipe transforms leftover beef or chicken stew into a delicious and hearty winter meal. You can also make this ahead of time and freeze for up to six weeks! Can be made as a large pie or as mini pies.
I’m so glad it’s fall.
As I write this, a cinnamon-vanilla scented candle burns near my laptop (but luckily not too near). A bowl of popcorn sits temptingly on the table nearby, left by my roommate with the invitation to help myself. I am trying to resist. Unsuccessfully.
It’s cold outside, the sky heavy with gray storm clouds. Leaves litter the sidewalks and our walls, since I’ve started taping dried flowers and leaves on them like a person possessed. The dried flowers come from lavender I picked outside of the apartment, which is probably technically not allowed. But since I’m paying several thousand dollars to live here, not to mention tuition, I think it’s okay to pick a few flowers.
Of course, the real problem with picking flowers is is the odd looks I get from people walking by. These looks, however, are not half so odd as the look I gave the people I met on the sidewalk around ten o’clock at night who claimed to be “looking for bugs.” They seemed harmless enough, though possibly a little bit high. I wished them luck in their bug quest. I hope they found what they were looking for.
And so it’s fall. Full of flower picking, bug hunting, class-going, leaf-crunching happiness. And of course hot stew in the form of delicious pot pies. Yes, I find time to bake in between classes and homework. It’s the only thing that keeps me sane. I highly recommend this easy pot pie recipe if you’re looking to take a few hours to de-stress in the kitchen and enjoy some amazing food afterwards.
So make this easy pot pie recipe. Use some leftover beef or chicken stew or make some from scratch. I like this recipe using beef osso bucco/shank bones, since it makes for an incredibly rich and flavorful stew. I also (honestly) like that recipe because I invented it and am thus a bit biased. I posted that recipe and many other tasty beef recipes on the beef blog I help run for my family’s ranch (we raise some pretty amazing grass fed and certified organic beef and sell it online, which may help you understand why I’m such a food snob today).
- 9 oz cream cheese
- 9 tablespoons butter, chopped into ¼ inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- About 3-4 cups thick leftover beef of chicken stew (4 for a full sized pie). It’s best if the vegetables are only partially cooked, but works for fully cooked vegetables as well.
- About ¼ cup of cheese, chopped into ¼ inch cubes (optional).
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and salt.
- Add the flours and xanthan gum.
- Mix it all together with your hands (using your hands is very important. Just get in there and go for it. It’s kind of a nice feeling, really). Don’t over mix. Mix just until the dough comes together. Note: it will take some time for the dough to come together.
- Form into 2 balls, one of which should be slightly larger than the other, and flatten the balls onto 2 separate sheets of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 ½ hours.
- Once the dough is chilled, put a sheet of plastic wrap on your work surface. Dust the plastic wrap very lightly with cornstarch.
- Put the larger disk of dough on the plastic wrap and sprinkle the top very lightly in cornstarch. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap. Roll it out until it forms a circle large enough to overlap the edges of your pie plate by quite a bit. If you’re making mini pies using small pie pans or ramekins, roll into several small circles and save some for the tops. 1 batch of pie dough makes 4 pot pies or 1 large pie.
- Peel off the plastic wrap, then flip the bottom sheet of plastic wrap into the empty pie dish. If you’re using smaller pie dishes, I’ve found that the best method is to flip the crust onto your hand, then flip it gently into the pie dish.
- Shape the crust within the dish. Make sure there is a tiny bit of overhang so you can shape the edges later.
- About this time you may want to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F if you’re not freezing the pie to cook later.
- Pour the cold beef or chicken stew into the crust. If you’re adding cheese, pour about half in, add a layer of cheese, then pour the other half in and add a layer of cheese.
- Roll out the other disk of dough on your plastic wrap, then flip onto the top of the filling. Alternatively, roll out a few small disks of dough.
- Arrange the crust on the pie and do a design on the edges if desired. Be sure to stick the top of the crust to the bottom all around the edges.
- Poke with a fork or knife several times to create holes for steam to come out.
- The pie can now be covered with plastic wrap and frozen for up to 6 weeks before cooking, or you can cook now.
- If thawing out the pie before cooking, allow to warm on the counter until only slightly cold to prevent a cracking dish, then place in the oven as it preheats to let the dish heat up slowly. If you’re not thawing the pie out, place in the preheated oven.
- Bake for 45 minutes for small pies and about 1 hour for a large pie, until the crust is golden brown. Lightly butter the crust when you remove it from the oven, and serve hot.
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