Chicken slab pie - My Nebraska Kitchen

This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 4 hours, 25 minutes ago by Mike Nolan.

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March 8, 2026 at 9:38 am #48688
skeptic7
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I want to do a slab pie but with chicken filling instead of apple or fruit. Any advice? My current idea is to make a "normal" pot pie filling -- chicken, celery, carrots and onions with chicken/vegetable gravy only a little drier than normal probably 6-8 cups and put it in a 9x13 roasting pan with top and bottom crusts and hope for the best.
The last pot pies I've made have been single serving pot pies with only a top crust so I didn't really have to worry if the filling was too moist -- It wouldn't make the pie crust soggy or leak excessively.
Any advice?

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March 8, 2026 at 2:26 pm #48689
Mike Nolan
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I generally use Susan Purdy's hot water crust for pot pies, it's a bit sturdier and doesn't get soggy.

I've never made a slab pie so I'm not sure how to calculate the amount of pie dough needed. I suppose you could compute the surface area for both the upper and lower crusts (including side walls) and then use my piechart post to find the nearest total area and use that to estimate the amount of pie dough needed.

There are recipes for an oil-based hot water pie crust but I haven't tried them.

I always make lots of gravy for a pot pie, and add it on top of pieces as they're plated.
March 8, 2026 at 8:09 pm #48693
skeptic7
Participant
I don't calculate pie crusts as carefully as you do. I generally use 3 cups of flour for a large round pie, and 4 cups for an apple slab pie. This makes more than enough pie crust. My normal recipe is an oil based crust I developed some time ago on the belief that this would be healthier than using solid shortening. I could be mistaken. Additional gravy sounds like a good idea. I like cranberry chutney if any is available.
March 8, 2026 at 10:17 pm #48694
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Part of the reason I developed an interest in figuring out the right amount of pie crust was that when I'd make a pie there were often big thick pieces of piecrust left on the plates.

Also, I often make 4 or even 6 pie crusts at a time and freeze most of them, and that works best with a better estimate of how much pie dough each crust needs.

Pot pies are actually better with thicker crusts, IMHO, providing you have plenty of gravy.

The health issues between oil and shortening crusts are complicated, but are probably less important now that Crisco no longer has trans fats in it. Canola oil has its critics, too,. And butter's reputation has actually improved again.
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