Chicken apricot pie recipe

This chicken apricot pie serves six and can easily be prepared ahead if you want to serve at a dinner party. 

Our pie is a little richer than Joe Wicks chicken pie as the filling has a smooth white sauce made from wine, mustard and cream. Although the wine is optional, we recommend including if you have a bottle open as it will make the sauce even more flavoursome. You could crumble in half a stock cube for some extra richness if you want to omit the wine.  

Ingredients

• 2 x 320g sheets of ready-rolled puff pastry
• 100g butter
• 6 skinless chicken breasts, approx 950g, cubed
• 1tbsp flour
• 450ml milk
• 80g chopped dried apricots
• 300ml cream
• 2tbsp white wine (optional)
• 1tsp Dijon mustard
• A little salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 beaten egg

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan, Gas 6). Grease a 23cm x 30cm pie dish or tin and line it with one of the sheets of puff pastry.
2. Heat 50g butter in a large frying pan and cook the chicken until golden brown on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside, it should be mostly cooked through but will finish in the oven.
3. Melt the remaining butter in the pan and mix in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, before gradually adding the milk. Stir continuously until the sauce thickens.
4. Mix in the chicken, chopped apricots, cream, wine (if wanted) and Dijon mustard. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
5. Pour the sauce into the lined pastry dish.
6. Brush the edge of the lined pastry dish with beaten egg and cover the pie with the remaining sheet of puff pastry.
7. Trim off any excess pastry and seal the pie by crimping the pastry together around the edges.
8. Cut a small cross in the centre of the pie and brush the top with the remaining beaten egg.
9. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown and the filling is piping hot and cooked through.

Top tips for making chicken apricot pie 

For a quicker preparation time, use chopped leftover chicken from the Sunday roast. You could also replace the chicken with leftover cooked turkey or ham for a delicious alternative. 

You can also buy whole dried apricots and cut them into smaller chunks, these bags are often cheaper. 

Continue reading for more serving suggestions and helpful tips.

To double check if the chicken is cooked through, we recommend using a meat thermometer. If you’ve never used one before, read our guide on how to use a meat thermometer.

Thermapen® Classic - Orange - View at Thermapen

With this compact digital thermometer, you can read temperatures of -49.9C-299C. We love the orange but there are lots more colours to choose from. The digital screen is quick and easy to read and gives a very accurate reading so you can cook with confidence. Chicken is cooked at 74C and above. 

Try out chicken and leek pie next, or you might like this chicken casserole pot pie. We also have an excellent turkey and mushroom pie if you prefer.