How to Make Chicken and Leek Pie: Pastry, Filling and Bake Time

Jamie Oliver breaks the pie into parts: poached chicken, pastry dough, the leek filling, gravy and creamy mashed potatoes, with steamed greens alongside. The chicken goes on first and simmers for an hour and a half, so the leeks and the pastry get made while it cooks and the filling has time to cool before it meets the pastry.

Use one free-range whole chicken of about 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds), cut in half down the backbone so it fits a wide pan. Add 1 onion cut into six chunks, 2 whole carrots, 4 sticks of celery, a small handful of dried mushrooms such as porcini (the recipe lists about 10 grams), a pinch of black peppercorns, a pinch of salt, and a bundle of parsley, thyme and 2 bay leaves tied with string. Just cover everything with cold water, about 3 liters. Bring it to a gentle boil, half-cover the pan and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes, turning the chicken now and then. Keep it at a gentle bubble and avoid a hard boil, which is how the meat stays tender. Before you shred it, check the thickest part with a food thermometer: the FDA lists 165°F as the safe temperature for poultry.

Roughly chop 3 large leeks (750 grams, 1.7 pounds) and cook them in a lidded casserole pan over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 25 grams of butter, thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Give them 30 to 35 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and sweet. Halfway through, pour in 150 milliliters of dry cider and leave the lid ajar. Stir in 2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour and cook for 2 minutes, then sieve in the chicken broth one ladleful at a time, stirring until it thickens. Shred the cooled chicken into the sauce with the poached carrots, onion and celery, then add 2 teaspoons of English mustard and 2 tablespoons of crème fraîche. Finally, strain the mixture through a colander set over a clean pan, pressing gently, and keep that liquid for the gravy. Draining it is what leaves a filling that holds its shape inside the pastry.

The pastry is rubbed in by hand:
Plain flour: 500 grams
Cold unsalted butter: 250 grams, cubed
Suet: 150 grams
Eggs: 3 large, 2 in the dough and 1 for the egg wash
Salt: a generous pinch of sea salt

Mix the suet into the flour, add the butter and salt, and rub with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Make a well, crack in 2 eggs, whisk with a fork, bring it together into a ball and knead. Split it into one third for the lid and two thirds for the base, wrap both in greaseproof paper and chill. Roll the larger piece to about ½ centimeter thick, ideally between two sheets of greaseproof paper so any gaps are easy to patch, and line a lightly oiled 30 centimeter pie dish, leaving an overhang. Three habits protect the base: a cooled filling, a drained filling, and baking at the bottom of the oven. Fill, brush the rim with beaten egg, add the rolled lid, press to seal and trim, then crimp the edge with floured thumbs. Egg-wash the pie and cut a small slit in the center so steam can escape.

These are the numbers from Jamie Oliver’s method:
Oven: 190°C / 375°F / gas 5
Bake: 40 minutes at the bottom of the oven, until the pastry is golden and the pie is piping hot
Rest: 5 minutes before slicing
Poaching the chicken: 1 hour 30 minutes
Leek filling: 30 to 35 minutes
Hands-on time: 50 minutes
Total time: 2.6 hours, both as listed on the lesson page

Because the pie holds chicken, check that the center reads 165°F on a food thermometer, the number the FDA lists for poultry and for casseroles and leftovers. The 5-minute rest lets the filling settle so a slice keeps its shape.

Jamie serves it with creamy mash, steamed greens and a little English mustard. For the mash, peel 1.5 kilograms of floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edward, cut them into even chunks and boil in salted water for 15 minutes, until soft. Drain, steam-dry for 2 minutes, then mash with 25 grams of butter and 150 milliliters of semi-skimmed milk. For the greens, steam tenderstem broccoli, asparagus or green beans for 3 minutes over boiling salted water, then toss with oil, salt and pepper. The liquid you saved from the filling becomes the gravy, and if it turns lumpy or thin, our turkey gravy guide shows how to rescue a gravy. For leftovers, the FDA says to refrigerate or freeze cooked food within 2 hours and to divide large amounts into shallow containers so they cool faster, then reheat leftovers to 165°F. To cook it alongside the chef, learn it from Jamie Oliver in his Chicken & Leek Pie with Mash lesson, with the full Chicken & Leek Pie with Mash recipe to cook from.