Dutch Oven Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Top
Pantry pot pie built on canned chicken and powdered milk, capped with drop biscuits.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 89
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 60 min
- water
- 900 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Butter or ghee | 4 tbsp | ghee keeps for weeks without a cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Dried onion, diced | 3/4 cup | |
| Dried carrot, diced | 3/4 cup | |
| Dried celery | 1/3 cup | |
| Garlic powder | 2 tsp | |
| All-purpose flour | 1/2 cup | |
| Chicken bouillon | 4 tsp | makes 4 cups of broth |
| Whole milk powder | 1/2 cup | stands in for the heavy cream |
| Dried tarragon | 1 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | 2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tsp | |
| Canned chicken | 4 cans, 12.5 oz each | drained; freeze-dried chicken works if you rehydrate it first |
| Biscuit mix | 2 cups | the kind that only needs water |
| Water for the biscuits | 2/3 cup |
Method
- Build a bed of coals or get a bag of briquettes going. You want about 20 of them.
- Pour 4 cups of near-boiling water over the dried onion, carrot, and celery in a jar or spare pot. Leave them 15 minutes while you set up.
- Melt the butter in a 10 or 12 inch dutch oven over 8 or 9 coals. Stir in the flour and let it cook two minutes so it stops tasting raw.
- Whisk in the vegetables and all their soaking water, plus the bouillon, milk powder, garlic powder, tarragon, thyme, salt, and pepper. Keep whisking until it thickens.
- Stir in the drained chicken. Pull the pot off the direct heat.
- Mix the biscuit mix with 2/3 cup water into a shaggy dough. Drop it in eight lumps over the filling. Do not spread it out.
- Lid on. Move most of the coals to the lid, leaving 6 or 7 underneath. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, turning the pot a quarter turn every ten.
- Done when the biscuits are dry in the middle. Let it sit five minutes or it will scald you.
The original is a fridge recipe: cream, fresh mirepoix, refrigerated croissant dough. All three are replaced here. Dried vegetables rehydrate in the same water that becomes the broth, so nothing is wasted and there is no second pot. Whole milk powder plus the flour roux gets you the body that cream was doing, and it rides in a bag at ambient temperature.
Drop biscuits go on instead of pastry because they tolerate uneven coal heat. A rolled crust wants an even oven; a lump of biscuit dough just needs top heat and time. Keep two thirds of your coals on the lid — heat from below only will burn the gravy and leave the top raw.
Packing
Everything dry except the fat and chicken goes into two bags: one roux-and-seasoning bag with the flour, bouillon, milk powder, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper, and one vegetable bag. Biscuit mix rides in a third bag with the water amount written on it.
Variations
- Freeze-dried peas, a quarter cup, added with the chicken.
- Skip the biscuits and eat it over instant potato flakes if the coals are not cooperating.
- A pouch of chicken instead of cans saves weight and a can opener.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/croissant-crusted-chicken-pot-pie