This is the ultimate Halloween dinner recipe! This Mummy Chicken Pot Pie has a veggie-packed, creamy filling, and is topped with a puff pastry crust to look like a mummy's wrappings. Perfect as a meal right before Trick-or-Treating or for celebrating spooky season all October long! This rich, yet easy dinner will impress your family or guests without spending too much time in the kitchen.
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Why You'll Love This Mummy Chicken Pot Pie
- So hearty and delicious! When the leaves begin to change, fall weather gets cooler, and October comes around, I opt for warm and cozy comfort meals, like this Mummy Meatloaf and Chicken Pumpkin Risotto. This Mummy Chicken Pot Pie is the perfect dish to warm you up from the inside out. It's also packed full of great flavor from onions, fresh herbs, and optional nutmeg and curry powder.
- A great Halloween night dinner! Full of veggies, chicken, and a crispy puff pastry crust, this spooky Halloween meal will keep you and your kids full through a long night of Trick-or-Treating! You can prepare this chicken pot pie ahead of time, store it covered in the refrigerator, then bake it right before serving.
- Perfect for a crowd! This dish makes about 6 to 8 servings, so it's great for a larger group. You can even double the recipe and bake it in two baking pans or skillets, if needed.
Ingredients
A few notes about the ingredients:
- Onion, Carrots, Celery: The standard vegetable base for any chicken pot pie recipe! Each of these ingredients provides an addition of healthy veggies, as well as added flavor.
- Yukon Gold Potatoes: I like using Yukon golds because they're rich and creamy. They have less starch than russet potatoes and hold their shape much better while cooking. I recommend dicing them small so they can soften in time.
- Fresh Sage and Thyme: Fresh herbs add a punch of flavor. Nothing is worse than bland pot pie! If you don't have fresh, you can use 1 ½ teaspoons dried sage and ½ teaspoon dried thyme instead.
- Ground Nutmeg and Curry Powder: These spices are both optional, but they give added flavor and earthiness to the dish. You can opt to use one or the other, omit both, or use both together. I used both and I loved the flavor they provided!
- Brandy: Using brandy or bourbon gives even more flavor to the chicken pot pie. The alcohol mostly cooks out, but you're left with the slightly fruity, mapley flavor.
- Flour and Half and Half: Both of these combine to make a silky, creamy sauce. I like to use half and half instead of heavy cream for a lighter dish.
- Cooked Chicken: This is a great way to use up any leftover cubed chicken! If you don't have any leftover on hand, you can dice raw chicken and brown it in the skillet prior to cooking the rest of the ingredients. Just remove it from the skillet before adding the onions, carrots, and celery, then add it back in as instructed.
- Puff Pastry: I like to use puff pastry as the crust of this mummy chicken pot pie. It becomes golden brown and wonderfully flaky. It's great for creating the mummy's wrappings on top.
- Candy Eyes: I can usually find candy eyes year-round in my grocery store's baking aisle, but they're definitely more available around Halloween time. I like to use the larger size so they don't look lost on top of the large skillet.
⭐️ See recipe card below for descriptions and quantities of each ingredient.
Instructions
- Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Step 2: Set a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and butter. Once butter is melted, add the onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Step 3: Add garlic, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, ground nutmeg (if using), curry powder (if using), and flour. Stir to combine and cook 1 minute more.
- Step 4: Pour in brandy/bourbon, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce for about a minute.
- Step 5: Add in chicken broth, ½ cup half and half, chicken breasts, and frozen peas. Stir well to combine. Simmer over medium low heat, uncovered, for about 10 minutes, stirring intermittently until the sauce thickens. Turn off heat.
- Step 6: Roll puff pastry out and cut into long 1-inch thick strips. Place on top of the pan, overlapping pieces to look like a mummy’s wrappings. Make sure to leave room for the eyes at the top.
- Step 7: In a small bowl, beat together egg and 1 teaspoon half and half. Brush egg wash on top of the puff pastry.
- Step 8: Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden brown and crispy. If the crust starts to get too brown, cover the top with foil in the last few minutes of baking.
- Step 9: Allow to cool slightly. Then, add 2 candy eyes on top.
⭐️ Tip: Towards the end of baking, watch the crispy crust on the chicken pot pie carefully! If it's getting too golden brown, you may need to tent foil over top to prevent it from browning further as it cooks the rest of the way.
Substitutions and Alterations
- Fresh Sage - I highly recommend fresh herbs for this, but you can use 1 ½ teaspoons dried sage if needed.
- Fresh Thyme - If you don't have fresh thyme, ½ teaspoon of dried thyme should work.
- Brandy - Bourbon, dry white wine, or fresh squeezed lemon juice would work instead.
- Chicken Broth - Low sodium vegetable broth would work just as well as chicken broth.
- Half and Half - Half and half adds a subtle richness, but any milk would work too.
- Cooked Chicken - If you don't have leftover cooked chicken to use up, you can use the breasts of a rotisserie chicken or buy raw chicken breasts and cook them in the skillet prior to cooking the rest of the pot pie.
- Puff Pastry - Puff pastry is my favorite topping for this, but pie crust could work as well. Just watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't brown too fast.
How to Store Mummy Chicken Pot Pie
To store: Store mummy chicken pot pie in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
To freeze: If you'd like to freeze this chicken pot pie, I'd recommend making it, but not baking it in the oven yet. You can even top it with the puff pastry. Then, cover it tightly and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To heat: If you decide to freeze this homemade chicken pot pie, you can heat it up straight from the freezer. Set the oven to 425 degrees F and bake for 40 to 45 minutes (if stored unbaked).
Top tip!
Don't overcook the vegetables! Nobody likes soft, soggy veggies. It's better to slightly undercook the vegetables on the stovetop than to cook them too much. They'll soften more and cook through when they are placed into the oven for the final bake.
Recipe FAQs
The decision not to use a bottom crust in this chicken pot pie is purely for easiness. I opted to cook everything up in an oven-safe skillet, so you can easily go from stovetop to oven.
If this recipe included a bottom crust, a) the crust would most likely get soggy from the sauce and veggies anyways, and b) you'd have to cook everything in a skillet, form the bottom crust in a baking dish, then transfer everything from the skillet on top of the crust in the baking dish. Using just a top crust, makes this recipe a lot simpler.
Typically, chicken pot pie filling consists of celery, carrots, onions, and peas. It's also all cooked together in a roux, which includes flour and a form of fat (half and half, butter, milk, heavy cream, etc.). The roux makes the filling creamy and rich. And lastly, there are usually poultry seasonings added for extra flavor (thyme, sage, rosemary, italian seasoning, etc.).
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Share your cooking with me! If you make this recipe, I'd love to know. Leave a comment with a rating at the bottom of this page!
Mummy Chicken Pot Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 large carrots, diced
- 3 ribs of celery, diced
- 3 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced small
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, leaves removed from stem
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder, optional
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup brandy or bourbon
- 2 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup + 1 teaspoon half and half, divided
- 2 cooked chicken breasts, diced
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 (17.3 ounce) package puff pastry, defrosted
- 1 large egg
- 2 large candy eyes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Set a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and butter. Once butter is melted, add the onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, ground nutmeg (if using), curry powder (if using), and flour. Stir to combine and cook 1 minute more.
- Pour in brandy/bourbon, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce for about a minute.
- Add in chicken broth, ½ cup half and half, chicken breasts, and frozen peas. Stir well to combine. Simmer over medium low heat, uncovered, for about 10 minutes, stirring intermittently until the sauce thickens. Turn off heat.
- Roll puff pastry out and cut into long 1-inch thick strips. Place on top of the pan, overlapping pieces to look like a mummy’s wrappings. Make sure to leave room for the eyes at the top.
- In a small bowl, beat together egg and 1 teaspoon half and half. Brush egg wash on top of the puff pastry.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden brown and crispy. If the crust starts to get too brown, cover the top with foil in the last few minutes of baking.
- Allow to cool slightly. Then, add 2 candy eyes on top.
Notes
- Fresh Sage and Thyme - I highly recommend fresh herbs for this, but you can use 1 ½ teaspoons dried sage and ½ teaspoon dried thyme if needed.
- Cooked Chicken - If you don't have leftover cooked chicken to use up, you can use the breasts of a rotisserie chicken or buy raw chicken breasts and cook them in the skillet prior to cooking the rest of the pot pie. If you cook the chicken breasts in the skillet: dice them up, cook them, then remove them and add them back into the pot pie later.
- If you want to prep this ahead - Cook everything on the stovetop and cover the top with the puff pastry mummy wrappings. However, don't bake it in the oven just yet. Place in the fridge (no more than 1-2 days) or freezer (about 3 months). When ready to eat, preheat oven to 425 degrees F and bake the pot pie for 30-35 minutes (fridge) or 40-45 minutes (frozen).
Nutrition
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