Every family seems to have a chicken pie recipe, and almost nobody agrees on the details. Some insist on a top crust only, others want pastry all the way round. Some swear by a splash of something in the sauce, others wouldn’t dream of it. That’s the thing about a proper chicken pie — it’s less a fixed recipe and more a set of house rules, handed down and argued over for as long as anyone can remember.
For this one, we asked around the kitchen for whoever’s version held up best, and landed on a filling of shredded chicken, leek, pancetta and mushroom in a simple creamy sauce, under a pastry that’s deliberately a little rough around the edges rather than glassy-smooth. The pastry gets its richness from a mix of cold butter and Wilson’s Butter Flavoured Oil, worked in until the dough looks properly crumbly rather than uniform. That’s what gives the finished lid its short, flaky bite instead of a dense, tough one.
Below is the full recipe, our tips for a pastry that holds together properly, and a few ways we like to serve it.
Chicken Pie
Ingredients
Method
- Make the pastry: rub the cold butter and Wilson's Butter Flavoured Oil into the flour and salt with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs with a few larger buttery flecks still visible. Add iced water a tablespoon at a time until it just comes together. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Heat the Wilson's Butter Flavoured Oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the pancetta until golden, then remove and set aside.
- In the same pot, cook the leek until soft, then add the mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and start to brown.
- Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add the stock, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
- Simmer until thickened, then stir in the cream, mustard and thyme.
- Add the shredded chicken and pancetta back into the pot, season with salt and pepper, and let the filling cool slightly.
- Pour the filling into a pie dish. Roll out the pastry, cover the dish, crimp the edges, brush with egg wash, and cut a few steam vents in the lid.
- Bake at 200C for 35-40 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
We Use Butter Flavoured Oil
Working Wilson’s Butter Flavoured Oil in alongside cold cubed butter keeps the pastry dough workable while the butter still does its job of leaving cold pockets of fat through the flour. Those pockets are what create steam in the oven and push the layers of pastry apart into something short and flaky, rather than dense.
The oil also goes into the filling, enriching the sauce without needing extra butter that can split or clarify unevenly over a longer simmer. It holds its consistency better than dairy butter does under sustained heat, so the sauce stays smooth from stovetop to oven.
Between the two, it’s doing quiet work in both the crust and what’s underneath it.
Our Tips
Keep the butter cold — cube it and put it back in the fridge for ten minutes if your kitchen’s warm before you start rubbing it in.
Don’t overwork the pastry — you want to still see small flecks of butter through the dough, not a smooth, uniform paste. Overworking develops the gluten and turns a short pastry tough.
Rest the pastry before rolling — thirty minutes minimum in the fridge, so it doesn’t shrink back when it hits the oven.
Cool the filling before topping — a hot filling can start melting the pastry from underneath before it’s even in the oven.
Cut a couple of steam vents — a few slits in the lid let steam escape instead of turning the pastry soggy from the inside.
Egg wash right to the edges — it’s what gives the crimped edge its shine and colour, so don’t skip the corners.
How We Serve It
A proper chicken pie doesn’t need much alongside it. Buttery mash and a pile of green beans or peas is the classic pairing, and it’s classic for a reason — the mash catches any sauce that spills out when the pie is cut.
On a colder evening, we’ll skip the sides altogether and serve it with nothing but a simple green salad to cut through the richness. It’s proper winter comfort food, the kind that makes a Sunday feel a little slower than the rest of the week.
Leftovers reheat well the next day too, so it’s worth making the full recipe even for a smaller table.
More Ways to Use Butter Flavoured Oil
Once you’ve got a bottle of Wilson’s Butter Flavoured Oil in the pantry, this pie is just one place it earns its keep.
Potato bake — it’s stirred through the cream base in our best potato bake, for a richer sauce without needing extra butter.
Shepherd’s pie — it goes into the mash topping of our shepherd’s pie, whipped through for a smoother finish.
Mashed potatoes — a splash whipped through hot mash does the job of butter without going grainy as it cools.
Movie night popcorn — drizzled over freshly popped corn with a little salt, it’s a fast way to get that buttery flavour without the mess of melted butter.
Roast vegetables — tossed through before roasting, it adds a rounded, buttery note that plain oil doesn’t.
The Good Stuff About This Chicken Pie
Butter-flavoured oils are built to capture butter’s aroma and richness in a form that behaves more predictably under heat than dairy butter does. Dairy butter can split or brown unevenly over a long simmer or bake, where a flavoured oil holds its consistency, which matters in a filling that spends time on the stove before it ever reaches the oven.
Wilson’s Butter Flavoured Oil is Halaal and Kosher certified, and suitable for vegan, vegetarian and Hindu diets. Store it in a cool, dark place and it holds its flavour for up to two years. It comes in 250ml, 500ml and 1L bottles, so there’s a size that suits how often it lands in your kitchen.
A pie this rich deserves an oil that pulls its weight in both the crust and the filling.
Ways to Change It Up
Use leftover roast chicken — it works just as well as poached chicken, and it’s a good way to use up a Sunday roast.
Add a handful of frozen peas — stirred in with the chicken, they add colour and a bit of sweetness to the filling.
Make individual pies — divide the filling and pastry between ramekins for built-in portions and a shorter bake time.
Leave out the mushrooms — if they’re not your thing, extra leek fills the gap without changing the method.
Add a spoon of wholegrain mustard — stirred into the sauce, it gives the filling a sharper edge against the richness of the pastry.
Freeze it unbaked — assemble the whole pie, wrap it well, and bake straight from frozen with extra time in the oven.
Questions You Might Have
Can I use raw chicken instead of pre-cooked?
Yes. Dice raw chicken breast or thigh and poach it gently in the stock before you build the sauce, then shred it once it’s cool enough to handle.
Can I make chicken pie ahead of time?
Yes. Make the filling up to a day ahead and keep it in the fridge, or assemble the whole pie unbaked and refrigerate it until you’re ready to bake.
Can I freeze chicken pie?
Yes, it freezes well either assembled and unbaked, or baked and cooled, for up to three months. Bake from frozen with extra time rather than defrosting first.
Why did my pastry turn out soggy on the bottom?
Usually the filling was still hot when the pastry went on top, or the steam vents were missed. Let the filling cool properly first, and always cut a few slits in the lid.
What can I use instead of pancetta?
Smoked streaky bacon is the easiest stand-in, or you can order sliced pancetta directly if your local butcher doesn’t stock it.
Do I need to blind-bake the pastry first?
No, this is a top-crust pie, so the pastry only goes over the filling and bakes in one go. Blind-baking is only needed if you’re lining the dish with pastry as well.
Where can I buy Wilson’s Butter Flavoured Oil?
It’s available to order directly from oliveoil.co.za and at leading retailers across South Africa.
Ready to Make This?
The oil that makes the pastry crumbly and the sauce silky — one bottle does both jobs in this pie.
More From Our Kitchen
Shepherd’s Pie — Italian-Style Beef Wellington — Spanakopita — All Recipes
Made this? We’d love to see
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