Make the Best Lazy Chicken Pie Out of a Can of Soup
The best pot pies are homemade, but lazy pies are the best answer to cold weather and low energy. You have every right to eat thick meat stews in the form of pies, but not everyone is smart enough to work for hours. There is a way to get all of this. Call out your inner Sandra Lee: This hearty meal is made with store-bought ingredients so you can turn them into a tasty and worthy pie.
For a proper lazy pie that tastes better than anything in the frozen section, you’ll need a can of soup and a sheet of packaged frozen dough. You can use puff pastry or a sheet of pie dough if you prefer. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator according to package directions and preheat the oven to 400°F. Take a can of creamy chicken soup. Perhaps you already have a favorite dish: it could be chicken corn chowder or chicken dumplings, maybe even creamy chicken noodles. Progresso makes chicken pie soup , but whatever it is, that’s your base.
Add soup to the pot. Bring to a boil and stir in the cornstarch. This will thicken your filling to coat the ingredients and ensure it is not runny. If you haven’t made cornstarch gruel yet, stir about two tablespoons of cornstarch in half a glass of cold water until it no longer feels like it’s sticking to the bottom. (You may choose not to use all of this liquid depending on your texture preference.) Add half of the slurry to the simmering soup, stirring quickly. Let the mixture boil again to see how thick it is. If you like it thicker, add the rest of the suspension while stirring. You will only be able to see the full effect of the corn starch once it has boiled again. If you like it even thicker, you can always make more slurry.
Remove mixture from heat. At this point, you can bring the soup almost to the level of flavor made from scratch. Add cooked, shredded chicken, frozen peas, frozen corn, or small potato pieces. Get some inspiration and add fresh or dried herbs and some hot spices. Anything else from your fridge or spice shelf will take this canned soup further and further away from the taste of canned soup. However, you do not need to bring it to a boil; it’s about to go into the oven.
Pour the filling into a baking dish, ramekin, cast iron skillet, or other baking dish. Lay the defrosted dough on the table and make ventilation holes in it. Spread the dough on top of the filling. You can trim the edges to fit neatly into the dish, or you can leave the protruding parts. There is no need to crimp or press the dough into the dish, but if you like the effect, you certainly can. Note that the puff pastry will rise better if you leave the edges intact. Lightly brush the top with egg, avoiding the vents, and place the pie on a baking sheet in a 400°F preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the pastry is browned or completely risen. Although you don’t want to do this, let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes before diving into it.
You can use this method with any canned soup. Try chicken mushrooms or clam soup pie. A can of soup has always been one serving for me, but leftovers can be refrigerated for up to three days and reheated in the microwave or oven. Reminder: Lazy Chicken Pies are best eaten in stretchy pants.