Chicken Pot Pie is a simple, easy-to-make dish that has been a dinnertime hero for ages. You can buy chicken pot pies at the store. But, they are filled with fat, calories, and preservatives that are bad for you. There are various recipes online with laid down steps on how to make your chicken pot pie. So, how do you make this healthy, sumptuous pie and keep it safe for a later date?
Can you freeze chicken pot pie? Yes, you can. Chicken pot pie is very freezer friendly and it would last in the freezer for up to two months. The contents of the filling present in the pot pie makes it very easy to freeze. Chicken Pot Pie can be frozen regardless of its state, baked or unbaked.
This freezer-friendly dish has made life easy for a lot of moms because it means you can have dinner ready in less than an hour. Other than that, you can keep it safe for a few months and then bring it out to eat whenever you want. Chicken pot pie does not only reduce time investment, but it is also inexpensive to make as you need just a few ingredients to bake it.
How to Freeze Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken pot pie can be frozen in a baked or unbaked state. However, freezing a baked chicken pot pie can make the dough soggy. That could ruin your chicken pot pie experience.
Chicken pot pie is a healthy meal, which can also be done in a vegetarian manner. It’s a dish that can be made to be eaten later and you preserve it by freezing it. How do you go about freezing chicken pot pie? In short easy steps let’s see how to properly freeze chicken pot pie.
Freezing Unbaked Chicken Pot Pie
Step 1: Filling and Wrapping the Chicken Pot Pie
We would be focusing on how to freeze unbaked chicken pot pie in this step. Get the bowl with which you want to make the chicken pot pie. Line it with aluminum foil. We are doing this to make wrapping easier. Let the foil overhang at the sides of the bowl. Put the bottom crust into the bowl lined with the foil, then begin to fill the pie.
While filling, do not fill to the brim. Leave a little headspace for when the filling expands from the freezing action. Place the cover crust on the now filled pie and then pinch together to seal. You can flute the edges or simply press it together with a fork. Make slits on top of the pie to allow for steam to escape during baking. Cover the whole thing with another layer of aluminum foil and there you have it. Your pie is filled and wrapped.
Step 2: Storage and Freezing
All that is left in this step is to just place it into the freezer and freeze. As earlier mentioned, Chicken pot pie is highly freezer friendly. It would last in the freezer for about two to three months. But it would be good to label the pies with the date of storage so that you would not lose track of when and for how long you have stored it.
Freezing Baked Chicken Pot Pie
Freezing an already baked pie is very easy. Let the pie cool down to room temperature after baking then, wrap in aluminum foil. Wrap tightly and ensure that any part is not exposed to the air.
How to Reheat a Frozen Chicken Pot Pie?
Chicken pot pie doesn’t have to be thawed most times. You can bake it frozen if it is unbaked. Here is how.
Remove it from the freezer and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes with the foil still on, then remove it from the oven, peel off the foil and bake again for 45 – 50 minutes or till it appears golden brown. But, if you are not confident about baking it while still frozen. You can leave it to thaw for 30 minutes before baking.
Here’s how to reheat frozen, already baked chicken pot pie. You can reheat in the oven or microwave. If you are using an oven, place it in a preheated oven at 375°F using a muffin pan lined with oil. But if you are using a microwave, leave it to thaw before reheating it at high heat for 2 – 3 minutes.
How to Know if a Chicken Pot Pie is Done?
Have you heard of a food thermometer? You can use it to measure the internal temperature of your pie. A thoroughly cooked chicken pot pie would have an internal temperature of 165°F. Careful, that’s very hot. But before you try that, you should have baked the pie for over 45 minutes.
You can also confirm that the pie is done when you see filling juice boiling at the sides of the pie through the slit made at the top.