Gordon Ramsay’s chicken pie is a whole chicken simmered with leeks until tender, pulled apart and folded into a creamy sauce with smoked bacon and mushrooms, then baked under a golden puff pastry lid. It takes about two hours and feeds four to six. If you know it as chicken pot pie, it’s the same idea, just the British way.
This is his recipe from Great British Pub Food, and the smoked bacon is the twist that lifts it above every other version. He writes: “You can’t beat a good chicken pie for that comforting, feel-good factor. Our version includes bacon, which adds a delicious smoky element to the creamy sauce.”
The step that makes the sauce rich instead of thin is reducing the poaching stock by half before you build the sauce from it. Most recipes skip this and the filling comes out watery. Gordon simmers the chicken in a full litre of stock, lifts it out, then boils the stock hard until it’s concentrated.
Gordon Ramsay Chicken Pie
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium4-6
servings30
minutes1
minute620
kcalGordon’s chicken and smoked bacon pie from Great British Pub Food. A whole chicken poached with leeks, then the filling built with mushrooms, bacon and cream in reduced stock. Puff pastry lid, baked golden.
Ingredients
- For the filling:
1 free-range chicken, about 1.3-1.4kg, jointed
Sea salt and black pepper
4 leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme and parsley sprigs tied together)
1 litre chicken stock
30g butter
200g chestnut mushrooms, roughly sliced
200g smoked back bacon, chopped
2 tbsp plain flour
150ml double cream
Small handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- For the pastry:
400g ready-made puff pastry
1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 tbsp water
Directions
- Poach the chicken: Season the chicken pieces and place in a pan with the leeks, bouquet garni and stock. Top up with water if needed to cover. Bring to a simmer, skim, then partially cover and cook gently for 1 hour until tender.
- Reduce the stock: Lift out the chicken and leave to cool. Transfer the leeks to a large bowl. Boil the stock hard until reduced by half, to about 400ml.
- Prep the chicken: Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, discarding skin and bones. Add to the leeks.
- Build the sauce: Melt the butter in a wide pan and fry the mushrooms with seasoning until golden. Add the bacon and fry a few more minutes until browned. Stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in the reduced stock, then the cream, and simmer until reduced to a thick coating consistency. Take off the heat, mix in the chicken, leeks and parsley. Season well and leave to cool completely.
- Top and bake: Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan, Gas 6). Spoon the cooled filling into a 1.75-litre pie dish. Roll the pastry to the thickness of a pound coin and cut a lid. Press pastry strips on the rim, brush with egg wash, lay the lid on top, seal and trim. Cut a small steam hole. Brush with more egg wash. Bake 40 to 50 minutes until golden and bubbling.
The filling must be cold before the pastry goes on. Hot filling steams the pastry from underneath and you get a soggy lid instead of a crisp one. If you’re short on time, spread the filling on a baking tray to cool it faster.
FAQs
Why use a whole chicken instead of breasts?
Because a whole chicken gives you dark meat and white meat together, and the bones flavour the stock as it poaches. Breasts on their own dry out and taste flat.
Gordon joints the chicken so every piece cooks evenly, and the mix of thigh, leg and breast gives the filling texture. If you only have breasts, poach them gently and don’t overdo it.
What does the smoked bacon actually do?
It’s not just extra protein. The smoky fat renders into the sauce as the bacon fries, and that smokiness carries through the cream and into every bite.
It’s the reason his version tastes deeper than a plain chicken and mushroom pie, even though it’s the same basic method. Use proper smoked back bacon, not streaky.
Is this the same as a chicken and leek pie?
Yes. Gordon’s recipe has four leeks simmered with the chicken, so it IS a chicken and leek pie. The leeks melt into the filling and sweeten the sauce.
He also adds mushrooms and bacon, so you get three layers of flavour: sweet from the leeks, earthy from the mushrooms, smoky from the bacon. His chicken lasagne uses the same poaching method with leeks for a lighter take without the pastry.
What about his mum’s deep-dish version?
From another of his books. He says: “No other food makes me quite as enjoyably nostalgic as a good homemade chicken pie.” His mum’s version uses shortcrust pastry instead of puff, chicken breasts poached in stock with button mushrooms and small onions, and a thick cream sauce.
The big difference is the pastry: shortcrust gives a more traditional, sturdy pie with a base and a lid. Puff gives a lighter, crispier top without a base. Both work.
Can I make a Moroccan-style chicken pie?
Gordon makes a chicken pastilla on his show. Chicken thighs cooked with onion, ginger, cinnamon and a pinch of sugar, eggs stirred in to thicken the sauce, sliced almonds folded through, then layered in buttered filo pastry and baked until crispy.
Dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon at the end. It’s sweet and savoury at the same time, and completely different from a British chicken pie.
Does it freeze well?
The filling freezes well on its own for up to two months. Cool it, bag it, freeze flat. Thaw overnight and top with fresh pastry when you want pie.
Don’t freeze with the pastry on, it goes soggy. If you want other pies to rotate through the week, his steak and ale pie and fish pie both freeze the same way.
Can I use shortcrust instead of puff?
Gordon uses puff in the pub version and shortcrust in his mum’s deep-dish version. Puff is lighter and puffs up into a crisp golden dome. Shortcrust is sturdier and lets you line the dish with a base as well as a lid.
If you go shortcrust, blind-bake the base first so it doesn’t go soggy under the filling. Puff is easier because it’s just a lid on top.
