Inspired by all the baking and cooking recipes to celebrate King Charles’ coronation, I decided to create a little recipe of my own. These coronation chicken pies are made with a hot water crust pastry that is flavoured and coloured using curry powder and turmeric, and then filled with a homemade coronation chicken mix. These pies are perfect for picnics and packed lunches and went down an absolute treat with my family!
How to make Hot Water Crust Pastry
Out of all the different types of pastry, hot water crust is by far my favourite. It is easy to make and is ideal for pies, as it just tastes so much better than shortcrust in my opinion. I have an entire “Baking Basics” post on how to make hot water crust pastry, which I would recommend checking out here before you start if you haven’t made it before.
If you cannot find lard or vegetable suet (vegetarian alternative) for the pastry, you can replace this with butter, but I would highly recommend using it as it really adds to the flavour of the pastry. I was inspired by David Schwimmer’s curry pies that he made on the Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off, and decided to use his idea of adding curry powder to the pastry itself! I used both curry powder and ground turmeric which didn’t only add to the flavour, but also gave my pastry a fantastic golden colour!
Recipe Tips and Shortcuts
If you don’t have time to make your own hot water crust pastry, you could opt for shop-bought shortcrust pastry as an alternative option. You won’t be able to incorporate some of the spiced to create the same flavour and colour as with my homemade hot water crust pastry, but it should work just as well!
If you do make the spiced hot water crust pastry, be careful when rolling it out if you have a white kitchen surface – mine went a bit yellow (I hope it will eventually fade)! So roll the pastry out on a silicone mat or a piece of baking paper!
To make the coronation chicken filling, you can use leftover roast chicken or shop-bought pre-cooked chicken pieces if you are short for time. However, I would really recommend buying chicken breasts and cooking them yourself, as this is a good time to incorporate some flavour into the chicken breasts as well.
More British Baking Classics
Looking for more British Baking classics fit for the coronation? Then check out some of my other recipes listed below!
- Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Spiced Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- Victoria Sponge Cake
- Lemon Yoghurt Cake
- Classic Trifle | Easy, No-bake Dessert
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Mini Pork Pies
- Blackberry and Cinnamon Crumble Cake
- Madeira Cake
- Caramelised Onion and Thyme Sausage Rolls
- Coffee and Walnut Battenberg Cake
- Swiss Roll Cake with Strawberries and Cream
- Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake
- Coronation Chicken
- Fruit Scones with Extra Fruit and Orange Zest
- Dark Chocolate Digestives
- Millionaire’s Shortbread
- Strawberries and Cream Sponge Cake
- Hot Cross Buns (with extra fruit and spice)
- Viennese Whirls
Coronation Chicken Pies
Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE CORONATION CHICKEN FILLING
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 chicken breast fillets (around 250-300g)
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp mango chutney
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 60g sultanas
- 150g low-fat crème frâiche
FOR THE HOT WATER CRUST PASTRY
- 300g plain flour
- 60g strong bread flour
- 1 tbsp mild curry powder
- ½ tbsp ground turmeric
- 75g butter, cold and cubed
- 150ml boiling water
- 90g lard or vegetable shortening
- 1.5 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
Method
- Start by preparing the chicken breast fillet for the coronation chicken filling. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chicken breasts once hot. Season with salt and pepper and cook the chicken breasts over a medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes (depending on how thick they are), turning regularly.
- Once the chicken is almost cooked, add the chopped onions to the frying pan and add ½ tbsp of curry powder and 1 tsp of ground turmeric, followed by a splash of water. Mix well and turn the heat down to low, then cover with a lid and gently cook the chicken and onion for a further 5-10 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and the onions are soft. Transfer everything into a large bowl and leave to cool completely.
- Once cooled, use a knife and fork to shred the chicken into smaller pieces. Add the remaining 1.5 tbsp curry powder, mango chutney, cinnamon, sultanas, crème fraiche, and mix with the chicken and onion until fully coated. Taste, and season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional curry powder or cinnamon if necessary. Set aside while you make the pastry.
- Prepare a 12-hole muffin tin by lining 10 of the holes with one thin strip of baking paper that hangs over the edges. This will make it easier to lift the pies out of the moulds later.
- To make the hot water crust pastry, mix together the two types of flour, curry powder, and turmeric. Add the cold, cubed butter and use your fingertips to rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- In a small saucepan, mix the water, lard or vegetable shortening, and salt and place over a medium heat. Gently heat and mix until the fat has fully dissolved, then bring the mixture just below boiling point. Pour into the bowl with the flour and use a wooden spoon to mix until the mixture comes together in a ball.
- Once cool enough to touch, gently knead the dough until smooth. Take around 2/3 of the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface until about 5mm thick (do this on a silicone mat or a piece of baking paper if you are worried of staining the surface with the spices in the dough). Use a 12cm round cutter to cut out 10 pastry disks and carefully press them into the moulds. Keep a slight overhang of pastry but remove any excess.
- Fill each of the 10 pies with the coronation chicken filling. Then roll out the remaining pastry and cut into 8cm rounds for the lids. Cover each pie with a lid and crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork to seal the pies.
- If you would like, you can roll out some of the excess pastry and cut out some miniature crowns to decorate the pies. Finally, brush the pies with some beaten egg (you can also use this to stick on the crowns).
- Bake the mini coronation chicken pies in the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin.
- Serve the pies when they are still lukewarm or cold.
