These creamy individual chicken pies cost 78p each and make 5 deep-filled pies for a total of £3.90. They use a simple homemade shortcrust pastry (flour, butter, lard) and a rich cream sauce with shredded chicken, vegetables, and black pepper. Bake at 170°C for 25 minutes. Freezer-friendly — freeze before baking.
The Problem: Why Are Chicken Pies So Expensive?
A chicken pie at Greggs will set you back £3.50 or more. A supermarket "premium" chicken pie in a foil tray? Around £2.50. And most of them are barely half-filled, with a watery sauce that tastes of nothing. I made these at home for 78p each, and I'll be completely straight with you — they were better. Deep-filled, creamy, with a proper pepper sauce and real shredded chicken breast. Five of them, made from scratch, for under four pounds.
The trick is buying chicken breast from a 1kg pack rather than individual portions. It sounds obvious, but it makes a real difference — that's how the filling comes down to under £2 for the whole batch. The pastry is a simple shortcrust made with lard and butter, which sounds old-fashioned but produces exactly the kind of light, crispy base you want in a proper hand-held pie. No shop-bought pastry shortcuts needed here.
These pies are filling enough to be a complete lunch on their own. I tested this recipe three times before writing it up, adjusting the sauce thickness (cornflour is your friend) and checking that five pies was a reliable yield. Here's exactly how to do it.
- Lard + butter pastry — lard gives crispness, butter gives flavour. Using both is the traditional British shortcrust method and it's significantly cheaper than all-butter.
- Boiling the chicken first — rather than frying or roasting, boiling produces juicy shredded meat and requires no extra fat. The steam keeps it moist.
- Double cream sauce — thick enough to hold the filling together inside the pie without going soggy. Cornflour gives you control over consistency.
- Individual dishes — portion control is built in, which means you can serve one now and freeze four for later.
A lot of readers ask me whether homemade pastry is really worth the effort — especially if you've got ready-rolled shortcrust in the freezer. Honestly, for this recipe it is. The homemade pastry is part of what keeps the cost under 80p per pie. Ready-rolled pastry from Jus-Rol costs around £1.80–£2 for a single sheet, which would push each pie well over £1. The from-scratch version takes about ten minutes of hands-on time and the result is noticeably lighter and crispier.
Full Cost Breakdown (March 2026 Prices)
All prices checked at Tesco and Aldi, March 2026. Pro-rated from pack sizes where applicable.
| Ingredient | Amount | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast (from 1kg pack) | 300g | £1.94 |
| Onion | 1 medium | 10p |
| Carrot | 1 | 7p |
| Celery | 1 stick | 6p |
| Garlic | 1 clove | 4p |
| Chicken stock cube | 1 | 12p |
| Double cream | 150ml | 57p |
| Dried rosemary | ½ tsp | 4p |
| Cornflour | 1 tsp | 2p |
| Black pepper | 2 tsp | 12p |
| Plain flour | 250g | 12p |
| Butter | 60g | 45p |
| Lard | 60g | 12p |
| Egg (egg wash) | 1 | 13p |
| TOTAL (5 pies) | £3.90 | |
| COST PER PIE | 78p | |
Ingredients You'll Need
For the filling: 300g chicken breast, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 stick of celery, 1 clove of garlic, 1 chicken stock cube, 150ml double cream, ½ tsp dried rosemary, 1 tsp cornflour, 2 tsp black pepper, salt to taste.
For the shortcrust pastry: 250g plain flour, 60g butter (cold, cubed), 60g lard (cold), good pinch of salt, approximately 5 tbsp cold water.
You'll also need: 5 individual pie dishes (or deep muffin tins as an alternative), a rolling pin, and 1 egg beaten with a splash of water for egg wash.
A quick note on the chicken — buying a 1kg pack and using 300g works out considerably cheaper than buying individual 300g portions. The rest of the chicken can go in a stir-fry, a curry, or be sliced into strips and frozen. If you regularly cook chicken dishes, this is the most cost-effective way to buy it.
Step 1: Making the Shortcrust Pastry
Put the plain flour into a large bowl with a good pinch of salt. Add the cold, cubed butter and the lard. Using your fingertips, rub the fats into the flour — lifting the mixture and letting it fall back into the bowl — until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. This takes around five minutes and is worth doing properly. A food processor works too, but the hands-on method gives you more control over the texture.
Add about 5 tablespoons of cold water, one at a time, mixing with a spoon after each addition. The dough should just come together — not sticky, not crumbly. If it still seems dry after 5 tablespoons, add a little more, half a tablespoon at a time. Once it comes together, use your hands to press it into a smooth ball. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate while you prepare the filling. Cold pastry is easier to roll and produces a better bake.
Step 2: Making the Creamy Chicken Filling
Slice the chicken breast in half and place in a saucepan. Cover with boiling water and bring to the boil. Cook for 15–20 minutes, checking that it's cooked through by cutting into the thickest part — there should be no pink whatsoever. Remove from the water and set aside to cool.
While the chicken cools, finely chop the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery. Heat a wide pan over a low-medium flame and add all the vegetables. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, for around 5–7 minutes until everything has softened. You don't need any oil for this if you add a splash of the chicken cooking water to get things moving — saves a few pennies and a few calories.
Crumble in the stock cube and add a good splash of the chicken cooking water — around 100ml to start. Add the rosemary, the double cream, and a very generous amount of black pepper. Two teaspoons sounds like a lot, but this is what gives the sauce its character. Stir everything together and let it simmer gently on a low heat to reduce for 8–10 minutes.
Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it using two forks. Hold the breast in place with one fork and drag the other fork through the meat to pull it apart into strips. Keep going until all the chicken is in rough, irregular shreds — this gives a much better texture in the finished pie than dicing.
Add all the shredded chicken to the sauce and stir to combine. If the sauce looks too thin — it should coat the back of a spoon — mix the cornflour with a teaspoon of cold water to make a slurry, then stir it into the pan. Within a minute or two it will thicken the sauce noticeably. Remove from the heat and allow the filling to cool completely before adding it to the pastry cases. Hot filling in pastry = soggy bottom.
Step 3: Assembling and Baking the Pies
Preheat your oven to 170°C (150°C fan / Gas Mark 3). Take the pastry from the fridge. Lightly flour your work surface and cut the pastry ball roughly in half — one half for the bases, one for the lids. This makes it easier to handle than rolling the whole lot at once.
Roll the first half to around 2–3mm thickness. Cut circles slightly larger than the diameter of your pie dishes — you want enough pastry to go up the sides and create a small lip at the rim. Press the pastry gently into each dish, easing it into the corners. No need to grease the dishes; the fat content in the pastry prevents sticking.
Spoon the cooled filling into each case, distributing it evenly across all five dishes. Don't overfill — leave about 3–4mm at the top so the lid sits flat. Roll out the second half of the pastry and cut lids to match the diameter of the dishes. Brush the pastry rim of each pie with egg wash, then place the lids on top. Press the edges firmly with your fingers to seal, then run a crimping fork around the edge for a traditional finish.
Make a small hole in the centre of each lid with a knife tip — this lets steam escape during baking and stops the top from puffing up unevenly. Brush the tops generously with egg wash for a deep golden colour. Place on a baking tray (to catch any drips) and bake for 25 minutes, checking at 20 minutes. The pies are done when the tops are a rich, even golden brown.
What If It Goes Wrong?
🔸 Pastry is crumbly and won't come together
Add water one teaspoon at a time. Pastry needs very little water — add it too fast and you can't take it back. If it's still crumbling, your fats may have been too warm. Press it together firmly and refrigerate for 20 minutes before rolling.
🔸 Sauce is too runny
This is what the cornflour is for. Mix 1 tsp cornflour with 1 tsp cold water and stir it into the simmering sauce. Repeat if needed. The sauce will thicken within 60–90 seconds of adding the slurry.
🔸 Pastry base is soggy
Almost always caused by adding hot filling to the pastry. The filling must be completely cool — room temperature at minimum. If you're in a hurry, spread it on a plate and pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
🔸 Lids cracking during baking
The pastry was rolled too thin or wasn't chilled enough. Aim for 2–3mm and keep the rolled pastry cool before assembling. If a crack appears in the oven, it's cosmetic — the pie will taste exactly the same.
🔸 Tops not browning
Check your oven temperature with a thermometer — many UK ovens run cool. If the pastry is pale at 25 minutes, increase to 190°C and give it another 5 minutes.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
❌ Not chilling the pastry — Warm pastry shrinks badly in the oven and becomes greasy. Always rest it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before rolling.
❌ Overworking the dough — Rubbing the fat in for too long or kneading the dough develops gluten and produces tough, chewy pastry rather than short, crumbly pastry.
❌ Putting hot filling in — The steam from hot filling makes the bottom soggy before baking even begins. Patience here saves the whole batch.
❌ Skipping the steam hole — Without a hole, steam builds up inside the pie and can push the lid off or cause large air bubbles under the top crust.
❌ Under-seasoning — The filling needs proper seasoning. Taste it before it goes into the pastry and adjust the salt and pepper. Once the lid is on, you can't fix it.
⚖️ Is This Worth Making?
Yes — without question. A Greggs bake costs around £3.50 and is roughly half the size of these. For £3.90 total you get five deep-filled, proper pies with real shredded chicken breast, a creamy pepper sauce, and homemade pastry that's genuinely better than most shop-bought versions. That's a saving of around £13–14 compared to buying the equivalent at a high street bakery.
The effort level is moderate — there's a fair amount of prep time with the pastry and filling — but neither step is difficult. If you batch this on a Sunday afternoon, you have five lunches ready to go for the week. They reheat well in the oven at 170°C for 15 minutes. A strong recommend.
Storage & Freezing
Fridge: Cooked pies keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in an oven at 170°C for 15 minutes — do not microwave, as the pastry goes soft and loses its crispness.
Freezer: These pies freeze best before baking. Assemble them fully, egg wash included, then place uncovered in the freezer for 1–2 hours until solid. Transfer to a freezer bag and store for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen at 170°C for 35–40 minutes, checking the tops are golden and the filling is piping hot throughout.
You can also freeze the filling separately and make the pastry fresh when needed — useful if you have leftover cooked chicken to use up. The cream sauce freezes and defrosts without splitting, which not all cream sauces do reliably.
If you enjoyed this recipe, these other budget bakes from the site are worth a look. Our breakfast wraps for £1.06 each use a similar from-scratch dough approach and work well as a make-ahead batch. For something sweet after these pies, our homemade banoffee pie at 47p a slice is probably the most impressive thing you can make for under 50p in the UK right now. And if you're working on baking from scratch, our homemade naan bread for 13p each uses a comparably simple dough and would pair very well with any leftover pie filling.
I'm Vinod, the cook behind Baking on Budget. I test every recipe at least three times before publishing — always using UK supermarket ingredients, always calculating the exact pence-per-serving cost. My aim is to prove that cooking well from scratch doesn't have to cost more than buying convenience food. Questions or feedback? Drop a comment below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use ready-made shortcrust pastry instead of making my own?
You can, but it will push the cost up noticeably — a 500g block of Jus-Rol shortcrust costs around £1.80–£2, compared to roughly 69p for the homemade version here. The texture will also be slightly different. If time is the issue, ready-made works fine; if budget is the issue, make it from scratch.
Can I use chicken thighs instead of breast?
Yes, and they'd work well. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are often even cheaper than breast per kilo and have more flavour. The cooking time remains roughly the same — boil until cooked through, about 15–20 minutes. Thigh meat shreds a little more easily than breast, which is actually an advantage here.
Can I make these without individual pie dishes?
A deep muffin tin works as a substitute. Use it upside-down to cut the pastry circles — the base of a muffin tin hole gives you the right diameter for a lid. For a single large pie, use any ovenproof dish and increase the bake time to 35–40 minutes.
Can I add other vegetables to the filling?
Absolutely. Frozen peas (add at the end — no pre-cooking needed) or sweetcorn are the easiest additions. Both cost very little and bulk out the filling. Leek works well too, cooked down with the onion. Mushrooms are fine but release water, so cook them off separately first before adding to the sauce.
Can I swap the double cream for single cream or crème fraîche?
Single cream will work but the sauce will be thinner — you'll definitely need the cornflour. Crème fraîche produces a slightly tangier flavour and thicker texture without cornflour. Both are fine substitutes. Avoid substituting with milk; the sauce won't reduce to the right consistency and can split when reheated.
How do I know when the chicken is properly cooked?
Cut into the thickest part with a sharp knife. The flesh should be completely white with no pink remaining. The juices running from the cut should be clear, not pink. If you have a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should reach 75°C. Don't rush the boiling time — undercooked chicken is the one thing in this recipe that isn't fixable after the fact.
Ready to Make a Batch?
Start with the pastry and get it in the fridge while you boil the chicken. That's the first practical step that makes the whole process run smoothly. The filling and pastry can be made in parallel once you've done this a couple of times, bringing the total hands-on time down significantly. One batch of five pies on a Sunday gives you lunches sorted for most of the working week — at 78p each, that's a lunch bill of under £4 for five days, which is hard to argue with.
If you make these, drop a comment below and let me know how they turned out. Did you add any extra vegetables? Use thighs instead of breast? Any trouble with the pastry? I read every comment and update these recipes based on reader feedback.
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