Chicken and Sweetcorn Pot Pie | One Pot, One Portion
This sausage and potato traybake is an easy one-tray dinner that only takes 15 minutes to prep, then the oven does all the work! You can use any vegetables you like, which means this is the perfect recipe to minimise food waste, perfect for when you have leftover ingredients from cooking for one.
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Chicken Pot Pie
This pie sparked debate online due to its lack of a pastry bottom. As a northerner myself, part of me mourns the loss of a double hit of pastry, particularly as the soggy bottom really is my favourite part. To avoid further conflict I have now declared this is a ‘pot pie’ as opposed to just a ‘pie’.
Pastry qualms aside, I think chicken, leek and sweetcorn is my number one filling. Visiting grandma when we were young often meant placing orders at the local pie shop for lunch, and I would find myself dismayed that the only chicken pie option would be chicken and mushroom, the vegetable I distance myself from wherever possible.
Though I was more than content with my choice of mince and potato pie, I’m glad this chicken pie has also found its place at the table.
If you like this recipe you might want to take a look at some of my other one-tray dishes like my Harissa Chicken Traybake with Roasted Vegetable Traybake, my Roasted Chicken & Vegetable Traybake with Lemony Herb Salsa or my Chorizo, Corn & Courgette Gnocchi.
You're Going to Love This:
15 Minute Prep Time
You only need about 15 minutes to prep this recipe, then you can pop it in the oven and let it do the work for you!
One Pot Recipe
As with all of my recipes, this is a one pot dish or one pan dish, which makes every meal time easier and more enjoyable, especially when cooking for one. Lucky for you, all my recipes are made in one pot and you can find them all here.
Single-Serve Recipe
Again, these are single serve recipes so you can make this just for yourself! Though it would be very easy to scale up to serve multiple people if needed. Again, if you like one portion recipes then you'll love every single other recipe on my site!
Ingredients and Tools
Chicken Thighs
- You could use chicken breast but chicken thighs have a higher fat percentage and stay nice and juicy while they cook.
Sweetcorn & Leek
- Chicken and sweetcorn is one of my favourite combinations, as is chicken and leek so here I've combined them both! You could leave one our or change it for onions/peas if you prefer- such is the joy of cooking for one!
Shortcrust Pastry
- You could use shortcrust pastry or puff pastry for this recipe but I have a soft spot for the former because you get the perfect balance between crispy and soggy (and yes, soggy pastry has a time and a place and here, it's delicious!)
Cream Cheese & Cornflour
- Cream cheese and cornflour together create a sort of cheats white sauce, mixing together to add creaminess (shock) with the cornflour adding thickness so you get a luscious sauce to hold the filling together.
Step by step instructions
Roast the Leek: Place the leek in an individual-sized pie dish with the butter, a small sprinkle of salt and a good crack of pepper. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the leek is soft.
Prep the Chicken: While the leek is cooking, prep the chicken thigh, if needed. Using your hands, and a knife to help where needed, gently pull the skin off the thigh. To remove the bone, simply cut around, keeping your knife as close to the bone as possible. Don’t worry if you cut through the meat, you’re going to be cutting up the thigh anyway. Once the bone has been removed, cut the chicken into 2cm pieces.
Add the rest of the Ingredients: When the leek is cooked, add the sweetcorn, cornflour, thyme, stock, cream cheese and water to the dish. Whisk everything together with a fork until the cornflour has dissolved. Add in the chicken.
Bake until golden: Unroll the pastry and cut it so it is slightly bigger than the pie dish. Place the pastry on top of the filling and seal it by pressing the pastry down around the top rim of the dish. If you have a leftover egg yolk, you could brush it over the pastry now, but this only really adds colour, so don’t worry if you don’t have it. Cut a small slit in the top to let steam out, then bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden. Let it cool slightly before serving.
Variations, substitutions or modifications
Gluten-Free: To make this recipe gluten free simply use gluten free pastry
Vegetarian: You could use a vegetarian chicken alternative for this recipe, or you could use extra vegetables of your choice. Use vegetable stock cubes too
Vegan: Choose one of the above options to make it vegetarian then also use a dairy free cream cheese/creme fraiche instead of the cream cheese, and use vegan butter instead of regular butter. Leave out the egg yolk.
FAQs
Can I make a double portion?
- You can easily double up this single-serve recipe just by doubling the ingredients.
If you like this recipe you might want to take a look at some of my other one-tray dishes like my Harissa Chicken Traybake with Roasted Vegetable Traybake, my Roasted Chicken & Vegetable Traybake with Lemony Herb Salsa or my Chorizo, Corn & Courgette Gnocchi.
Ingredients
- ½ Leek, thinly sliced
- 20g Butter
- 1 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Thigh (if you can only buy skin-on, bone-in thighs, see the method for how to remove)
- 50g tinned or Frozen Sweetcorn
- 1 tsp Cornflour
- ½ tsp Dried Thyme
- ½ Chicken or Vegetable Stock Cube or Pot
- 30g Cream Cheese
- 100ml Water
- 80–100g Ready-Rolled Shortcrust Pastry
- Egg Yolk (optional)
- Salt
- Black Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
- Place the leek in an individual-sized pie dish with the butter, a small sprinkle of salt and a good crack of pepper. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the leek is soft.
- While the leek is cooking, prep the chicken thigh, if needed. Using your hands, and a knife to help where needed, gently pull the skin off the thigh. To remove the bone, simply cut around, keeping your knife as close to the bone as possible. Don’t worry if you cut through the meat, you’re going to be cutting up the thigh anyway. Once the bone has been removed, cut the chicken into 2cm pieces.
- When the leek is cooked, add the sweetcorn, cornflour, thyme, stock, cream cheese and water to the dish. Whisk everything together with a fork until the cornflour has dissolved. Add in the chicken.
- Unroll the pastry and cut it so it is slightly bigger than the pie dish. Place the pastry on top of the filling and seal it by pressing the pastry down around the top rim of the dish. If you have a leftover egg yolk, you could brush it over the pastry now, but this only really adds colour, so don’t worry if you don’t have it. Cut a small slit in the top to let steam out, then bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.
- Let it cool slightly before serving.
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Meal Plans & More...
Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly meal plans, for one! I select 5 one pot one portion recipes that use similar ingredients and include your shopping list plus recipe notes, ingredient swaps and tips and tricks for using up leftovers. Take a look at the first one here...
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Usually I would consider a brothy meal that you eat with a bowl and a spoon a form of comfort food, however, the flavours in this dish are so fresh and vibrant that it has to go in this chapter. I love the fiery freshness of ginger and it’s the predominant flavour in this rich chicken broth. The finished dish isn’t a soup as such, but there is just enough broth to make every mouthful deliciously juicy. It also takes minimal time to make so it’s a useful recipe to have on hand for days when you’re short of time.
Curried Chicken Skewers with Satay Slaw
I have an affinity for crunchy slaws, as I think they provide more interest, more texture and are more filling than many other salads. However, I’m not partial to excessive quantities of mayonnaise. Here I opt for coconut milk instead, which delivers the same creaminess in a less monotonous way. The fresh coriander and bite of roasted peanuts keep this slaw lively and interesting and are perfect with the lightly charred curried chicken skewers. This would also be great sandwiched between a burger bun, or on a soft flatbread.
Creamy Green Linguine
In a way, this linguine changed my life. It was the first recipe in the series to take off on social media, bringing new people and new opportunities into my life. It’s an exceptionally simple recipe that uses the same water to cook both the pasta and the vegetables, which you then use to create a velvety, carbonara-esque sauce with the cheese and egg. I’ve retested this and tweaked it since its original conception and, though I can’t promise it will change your life, I can promise it will be delicious.
Vegetable Pancake with a Chilli Crisp Egg
This vegetable pancake has its origin in Korea (where they’re known as yachaejeon) and is the perfect dish to use up odds and ends of any vegetables you have lying around. Cabbage, spring onions, carrots and courgettes work really well and provide a nice balance of moisture and crunch, but peppers, potatoes, mushrooms or leafy greens are good alternatives. Depending on the vegetables you use, you may need more or less water to make the light batter so adjust as necessary.
Prawn & Mango Salad
The perfect fresh, but still flavourful, summer salad! This is a beautiful fragrant salad with a creamy, zingy coconut milk dressing. With just a little bit of chopping and a minute of whisking, you’ve got a gorgeous summer lunch, perfect for working from home, taking lunch to the office or a sunny meal in the garden this weekend.
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I buy a lot of cook books and this is genuinely one of the best l've ever bought. I've tried 6 or 7 recipes so far and they're all winners. I'm well used to scaling recipes down to one portion, but not having to calculate measurements as l go along feels like a little luxury. One of the best things about the book is that all the recipes are actually cooked in one pot - in a lot of other so-called books you still have to make your side dish in a separate pot. With these recipes, even if they include rice or pasta, it's all cooked together. No mountains of washing up! Highly recommended.
I have been following Eleanor on IG for a while and have made several of her dishes before the cookbook came out. I was thrilled to see so many new things to try and have already made about 6 of them. Her recipes are approachable, the dishes are delicious, and they make me feel like I can cook! Highly recommend.
If you love eating good home cooked food but can't be bothered to cook just for yourself, then this is the book for you. Using ingredients that are easy to find, then mixing, cooking and eating from the same pan or dish means a minimum of washing up. Every recipe I have tried so far has been delicious and have all turned out well which isn't always the case with many cookery books. Definitely recommend!
Following Eleanor on Instagram and seeing her recipes come to life is one thing but then having them in my own kitchen is quite another. Not only are the recipes easy to follow and delicious she also help you not to waste food. This book is like having all your favourite foods in one place with the added bonus of an old friend showing you the ropes. Congratulations Eleanor when can I pre-order the next one?
Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you eating!
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This is perfect, as far as influencer chefs go, I find this book refreshing in what has become a cohort of lauded influencers who really aren't doing much more than the bog standard meals most people make anyway, or making googled recipes and adding their own "flair". This book is different as it's your normal fare you'd likely make yourself, given a little bit of a twist to speed up the process / use less utensils / ingredients / food waste, in really creative and tasty ways, all perfectly portioned for one.
Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you eating!
Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This recipe book is stunning and fulfils its role brilliantly in catering for individuals who want to eat delicious meals, but don't want to prepare family sized portions or devote their entire evening to cooking. Who'd believe you could make an entire roast for one person and only use one pan in the process! She is a genius and I couldn't recommend this book any more highly.
One of the best things about the book is that all the recipes are actually cooked in one pot - in a lot of other so-called books you still have to make your side dish in a separate pot. With these recipes, even if they include rice or pasta, it's all cooked together. No mountains of washing up!
This is the book I've been waiting for! I (very happily!) live alone, love to cook and read cookery books, but every recipe is for two people or more. This gorgeous book contains recipes perfectly proportioned for one person (and I'm always a very hungry one person!) which ensures more variety, less food waste, and pure, gluttonous joy.
It's so nice to finally have a recipe book that I can go to if I want a quick easy meal with minimal cleaning up required! Everything l've tried so far is delicious. And I salivate at the thought of everything in there!
Totally reignited my cooking mojo which had been MIA for a while. I'm going to buy my daughter a copy to take back to Uni too as everything is simple and delicious - perfect for a student!
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The fact I know I won't have loads to wash up really feels motivating and l've earmarked so many of the recipes already.
This book is like having all your favourite foods in one place with the added bonus of an old friend showing you the ropes. Congratulations Eleanor when can I pre-order the next one?