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If I had to choose one thing that I could eat for the rest of my life, it might just be this Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie. I flipping LOVE it!
I think I have mentioned this before, but hot water crust pastry is decidedly underrated! Why it is more of a thing? It´s so easy to make and tastes so good! And in this pie, underneath that beautifully crisp pastry, you find a creamy mix of chicken, bacon and leeks! O.M.G. Have I mentioned yet how good this pie is???
The BEST Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie Ever!
How to make my Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie
I´ll be honest, this chicken, bacon and leek pie is a bit more time-consuming to make but it is SO WORTH IT. The good news is, that it is great for preparing in advance, and then you can just leave it in the fridge until you are ready cook it in the oven.
The Filling
The chicken is poached in some chicken stock, whilst you make the deliciously creamy filling with onions, bacon and leek! Optionally, you can add some mushrooms to the pie, too. I once had some left over and added them and thought it was quite a nice addition.
The sauce is deliciously creamy – perfect to go with the crisp pastry and some roast potatoes on the side!
The Pastry
Once your filling is cooling, you can turn to making the hot water crust pastry. For tips and a step-by-step picture guide on how to make it, check out my baking basics post for How To Make Hot Water Crust Pastry.
What could you serve it with?
This creamy Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie is perfect for a Sunday lunch or dinner. It could be a great alternative to your usual roast!
This pie serves about 4-6 people and is great for serving to guests. As with any good Sunday roast, this pie is great served with some crispy roast potatoes and green vegetables: peas, broccoli, beans, whatever you like! I opted for some broccoli last time I made this – because I absolutely hate green beans – haha!
Finish Dinner in Style – DESSERT TIME
Classic Trifle 
Chocolate Pavlova 
Tiramisu
What better way to finish off an amazing dinner than with a mouth-watering dessert? I definitely wouldn’t say no to that! Check out my post with 6 Amazing Crowd-Pleasing Desserts, or jump straight to some of the recipes:
– Easy British Trifle Recipe
– No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake
– Chocolate Pavlova with Bailey´s Cream Filling
– Lighter Italian Tiramisu
– Meringue Roulade with Strawberries and Cream
– Lemon Meringue Pie
– Chocolate, Orange and Bailey´s Trifle
How To Make Super Crispy Roast Potatoes
The way I make my super-crispy roast potatoes (who wants a soggy roast potato), I briefly parboil the potatoes first, and then shake them around in a colander to make the edges really fluffy (that increases the surface area and helps them crisp up). It´s also important to heat the oil in the oven until hot, before you add the potatoes to it. Tip the potatoes onto the tray with the hot oil, sprinkle over some salt, pepper and dried or fresh rosemary and then toss in the hot oil until completely covered! Into the oven they go for 25-30 minutes whilst the pie is cooking and bob´s your uncle!
Jump to the exact recipe below by clicking here.
Creamy Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie
Recipe
Ingredients (serves 4-6):
FOR THE CREAMY CHICKEN, BACON AND LEEK FILLING
- 3 large chicken breasts
- 2 chicken stock cubes
- 3 rashers of smoked bacon
- 1 large onion
- 2-3 trimmed leeks (about 650g)
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 60g butter
- 50g plain flour
- 200ml semi-skimmed milk
- 10 white mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
- 100ml double cream
FOR THE HOT WATER CRUST PASTRY
- 200g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 40g strong white flour (bread flour)
- 50g unsalted butter (can be vegan/dairy-free), cold and cut into small chunks
- 60g lard or solid white vegetable fat
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 100ml boiling water
- 1 egg, beaten (to glaze)
TO SERVE
- Potatoes (mashed, wedges, roasted (see below))
- Green Vegetables (Broccoli, Peas, Green Beans, etc.)
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
- 25cm diameter pie dish (I used a round, fluted flan dish like this)
- Rolling pin
- Silicone pastry brush (I´d recommend something like this)
Method:
- Start by preparing the filling for your pie. To do so, bring 500ml of water to the boil and dissolve one of the chicken stock cubes in it. Add the 3 chicken breasts to the boiling stock and poach in the simmering liquid for 10 minutes. Then remove the chicken breasts from the poaching liquid and set aside to cool.
- In the meantime, chop the onions, cut the bacon into strips and thinly slice the leeks.
- Melt half of the butter in a large frying pan, then add the bacon and fry for a few minutes. Add the onions and cook them in the butter and fat from the bacon until they start to soften. Finally, add in the leeks and garlic, stir, and leave to cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are soft and have cooked down a little.
- Add the remaining butter to the frying pan and leave it to melt. Once melted, stir in the flour and make sure all of the vegetables are coated in it. Then cook the flour out for a minute.
- Next, dissolve the other stock cube in 300ml of boiling water. Whilst that is dissolving, slowly start adding the milk to the pan, stirring well between each addition. Once you have added all the milk, gradually add in the stock in the same way until it has been used up.
- Leave the pie filling to simmer for about 2-3 minutes until the sauce is thick and creamy. Then turn off the heat, add in the mushrooms (if using) and stir in the double cream. Season generously with salt and pepper and set aside to cool completely.
- Cut the poached chicken breast into chunks and stir into the cooled bacon and leek cream sauce. Then transfer the mixture into your pie dish.
- Next, prepare the hot water crust pastry. For more details on how to make the pastry, check out the step-by-step picture guide in my Baking Basics post.
Combine the two flours and salt in a mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flours. Place the lard and boiling water into a small pan over a low heat, melt the lard and then bring the mixture up to a simmer. Pour into the bowl with the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into a ball. - Flour your work surface and knead the pastry for a minute or two until smooth (careful, it might still be hot, so you might need to wait a bit until it is cool enough to handle). Flour your rolling pin and roll the pastry into a large disk, about 4mm thick. Roll it around your rolling pin so that you can pick it up and roll it over the dish containing the pie filling.
- Before you cut off the over-hanging pastry, you can crimp the edges. To do so, place your thumb and index finger, about 1cm apart, on the pastry covering the rim of the dish. Use your other index finger to push some of the overhanging pastry up and into the gap between your other fingers. Repeat around the entire rim of the dish. Then use a sharp knife to trim off any remaining overhanging pastry. If you like, you can re-roll this pastry and cut/carve out some decorations or writing to place on top of your pie. Place them on a plate.
- Chill the pie and pastry decorations in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking (you can leave it for a couple of hours though if you are making the pie ahead of time).
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Whilst the oven is preheating, beat the egg in a bowl alongside a pinch of salt. Brush the pastry lid with a little egg using a silicone pastry brush. If you have made some pastry decorations, stick them on and then brush those with a little more of the beaten egg.
- Bake the Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is piping hot and bubbling!
TO MAKE THE ROAST POTATOES AND VEG
- Peel the potatoes and half them so that they are roughly the same size. Place them into a pot filled with cold water and a pinch of salt.
- Whilst the oven is pre-heating, pour about 2-3 tbsp of olive oil into a roasting tray and place into the oven to heat up.
- Set the pot over a high heat until the water comes to the boil. Simmer the potatoes for about 5 minutes to par-boil them.
- Drain the potatoes using a colander and shake well in order to “fluff up” the edges of the potato.
- Once the oven has preheated and the oil is hot, remove the roasting tray from the oven. Carefully tip in the potatoes, season generously with salt, pepper and some dried rosemary (or chopped fresh rosemary) and toss until well coated in the oil.
- Return to the oven alongside the pie and roast for 25-30 minutes until crisp, turning about half-way through.
- Near the end of the cooking time, add the broccoli/peas/green beans to a pot of salted boiling water and cook for about 5-10 minutes (cooking times will vary depending on the type and of veg and if it´s frozen) until al dente (soft but not mushy).
