One-Pot Chicken Shepherd’s Pie

I usually make a dish a few times before I post it on here, and maybe I’ll tweak it a bit as I go, but this chicken shepherd’s pie was so good I couldn’t hold back. The combination of the Cajun Holy Trinity in the milk gravy, properly roasted chicken, and mashed potatoes makes for a great meal with amazing flavor. Try it out any time you have leftover mashed potatoes and/or poultry.

How is this a one-pot recipe?

The answer is… with leftovers! The main meal is cooked in a single pot from start to finish and if you have leftover turkey and mashed potatoes, perhaps after thanksgiving? However, if you need to roast some chicken then that’ll take a pan. If you need to mash potatoes then that’ll take a couple of extras as well.

Good news! Almost nobody makes a little bit of turkey, and every time I make mashed potatoes the resulting food is measured in quarts, not cups. So there should be at least once a year when you can use this recipe to spruce up some leftovers.

Ingredients & Equipment

Ingredients for One-Pot Chicken Shepherd’s Pie

This recipe uses only simple ingredients found in most kitchens. The only thing you may not have on hand is mashed potatoes, but maybe you have a bunch left after thanksgiving (like we did).

• Holy Trinity Vegetables:
  • Onion: A whole sweet yellow onion leads the trio. Dice or chop, your choice. Smaller pieces lend to a smoother gravy.
  • Celery: For whatever reason, a few ribs of celery adds to this trio in an amazing way.
  • Green Pepper: I use a whole green pepper, deseeded, diced, or chopped. You can use yellow or red peppers, but for whatever reason, it’s not quite the same.
• Chicken or Turkey: Leftovers work just fine here. If you have to cook your meat, roast it in the oven while you make the sauce.
• Butter/Flour: Makings for an amazing roux. Whisk together and let it cook to remove the flour taste and thicken a gravy.
• Heavy Cream: The base of the gravy, creamy, heavy, delicious. Add broth to thin.
• Mashed Potatoes: Leftover works great, but you’ll need at least 3 cups. It soaks up the gravy so it should work even if they’re a bit dry.
• Shredded Cheese: I used mozzarella, but any shredded cheese should work fine. I would avoid goat and anything tangy, but that’s just my preference. get creative.

Equipment needed for Chicken Shepherd’s Pie

Like the ingredients, you should already have all of the equipment needed for making Chicken Shepherd’s Pie.

• Saute Pan or Dutch Oven: For this recipe, I used a 5 qt. saute pan, my go-to for most recipes. A dutch oven can also be used, but mine was a bit too big for the amount of mashed potatoes I had left.
• Cutting Board: A fair amount of chopping leads the recipe, so a decent cutting board will make your life easier.
• Kitchen Knife: A sharp knife is a must-have if you are going to cook anything decent. Invest in a good knife to save your wrist from exhaustion and fingers from cuts.
• Paring Knife: I use a paring knife in combination with my kitchen knife for cutting up the vegetables. The smaller size is great for initial cuts, and then I switch to the bigger knife for the chopping.

Preparation

Preparing One-Pot Chicken Shepherd’s Pie

If you have to cook the meat:

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F and grab your chicken breast. Remove the skin and trim the excess fat. Toss those in the saute pan.
2. Rub the meat all over with cooking oil (I use olive oil). Then sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides.
3. Place this in the oven and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Check for a 165*F internal temperature at 30 minutes. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes.
4. Chop or shred this chicken into bite-size pieces. Set aside.

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Check out our in-depth article on Perfect Baked Chicken Breast for more information.

Preparing the Vegetables

Dice or chop the vegetables. Eventually, I will make a video about how I do this, but for now, you should check it out here. I cut a couple of onions a week, so learning a good/safe technique for cutting them up quickly was a major time saver.

While I chop up the veggies, I throw the chicken skins and extra fat into the pan to create a bit of schmaltz to cook the vegetables in.

Cooking the Shepherd’s Pie

Rendering Schmaltz

This is entirely optional, but it is a good use of spare parts which is something I love doing. Schmaltz is a golden fat rendered from chicken fat. It’s delicious and adds a nice layer of flavor anytime you have some extra fat from trimmings. The crispy fat is a great dog treat afterward if it doesn’t sound appealing to you.

1. Over medium heat, add the chicken skin and fat to the pan along with a splash of water.
2. Let it cook while you chop the veggies making sure to keep an eye on the temperature to avoid smoking.
3. Flip a couple of times to brown both sides and you’ll notice the liquid gold accumulating in the pan.
4. After the fat and/or skins are nice and brown, discard and toss the chopped veggies into the golden goodness for cooking.

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Cooking up the Holy Trinity Gravy

1. These 3 ingredients are the base of a lot of cajun dishes, and they are magical. So, melt a Tbsp butter over medium heat along with any Schmaltz from above. Toss in the onions & celery and stir fry them for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Add in the green peppers and stir fry for another 10 minutes. Everything should be a nice, cooked color without being overly brown.
3. After everything cooked, scrape the veggies to one side and add 2 Tbsp of butter. Once melted, sprinkle in 2 Tbsp of flour and whisk to combine. Allow to cook until golden brown (3 min.) and stir into the veggies.
4. Add 1 cup Heavy Cream and 1 Cup Broth and stir to combine with everything. Heat everything until bubbling and it should be a nice sauce/ gravy. If it’s too thick add some more broth. If it’s too thin, combine 1 Tbsp flour with 1 Tbsp water and add.
5. Stir in the chicken and assemble for baking.

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Final Assembly of the Chicken Shepherd’s Pie

1. Spread the gravy evenly on the bottom of the pan.
2. Spread a layer of mashed potatoes across the entire pan, being careful not to squeeze out the gravy. Heating and stirring the potatoes before this step helps a lot.
3. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and place in the oven at 350*F for 20 minutes.
4. At 20 minutes, switch to broil and carefully brown the cheese to your liking. This takes it up a notch but isn’t necessary.
5. Enjoy!

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Pairings

As this is a full meal, complete with protein, starch, and veggies, we happily ate this by itself. It is super rich so a citrus fruit or some other acidic food would go wonderfully to balance the flavors.

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