Keto Low Carb Chicken & Mushroom Pie. Simple and easy to make. Just 6.5g carbs per serving.
No need to miss a good old pie if you’re following the keto lifestyle. Today I’m going to tell you how to make a great, classic British dish, and you’ll learn that delicious AND low carb pastry is indeed possible.
Nothing wrong with meat and veggies… It’s the easiest ketogenic meal option and one that most of us resort to when lacking ideas. However, when you eat the same foods every day, life can become a little boring. Let’s face it, keto is a pretty restrictive way of eating and it’s easy to miss all those wonderful things that contain kazillion carbs. My blog mission has always been to offer variety and create dishes that readers can easily replicate and eat without ‘cheating’. So I’m really chuffed to declare ‘mission accomplished’ on the pie front.
Pies, with their glorious wheat crusts, are always a keto no-go zone. Not even on occasion. Way too many carbs to even think about. But if you make your own, using low carb flour, it’s an entirely different story. The trouble is that the keto staple flours – coconut and almond, have drawbacks. Coconut flour is extremely thirsty and I find that even when you add extra liquid and reduce the amount you use, you can feel and taste the dryness in your baked goods. Almond flour is great, but it has a certain sweetness you just cannot get away from. Furthermore, it’s very expensive, especially if you buy organic, as I do. So what other choice is there?
Sweet Lupin Flour
If you’ve never tried it, I recommend you give it a go. Although lupins are often described as nuts or beans, they’re actually nutrient dense seeds. That said, lupin consumption comes with a warning: if you’re allergic to peanuts you should stay away from lupins, just in case, and I guess that means giving the flour a wide berth too.
Why do I like lupin flour? Several reasons. It’s neutral in taste and easy to work with. Its somewhat earthy flavour works best when mixed with other flours, especially almond flour. The low carb nature of lupins (13g carbohydrates per 100g) makes it an ideal keto ingredient. Cost is also a swaying factor. Lupin flour tends to be cheaper than coconut or almond.
The drawback is that it’s quite difficult to find. I get mine either from a Luxembourg on-line shop or from Amazon, depending on stock levels. Once you get used to baking with lupin flour, you open up a whole new world of baked foods. Let’s face it, do you really want a pizza base that tastes like coconut, or almond-flavoured bread?
How to Make a Keto Low Carb Chicken & Mushroom Pie.
Start with the filling, which will take about 25 minutes to cook. I use frozen mushrooms for convenience – preferably wild or shiitake. But fresh mushrooms will work just as well. I prefer not to use just white button mushrooms as I find them pretty tasteless.
Same goes for spices. I don’t like highly spiced or hot food, but if that’s your bag, feel free to change/add/increase as you please.
The pastry comes together really quickly. Keep it refrigerated while you wait for the pie filling to cook. When the filling is in your bakeware and you’re ready to top it with the pastry, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper, making sure the shape is a little wider than your pie dish. As you position the dough on top of your filling, the excess may well break off. That’s not a problem -remember that there is no gluten to hold fibres together, hence it will be brittle. Rather than discarding them, pick up any broken pieces and tuck them in around the edges for a rustic effect.
If you end up with a lot of excess dough, roll it up and make breadsticks. Bonus!
Finally, a reminder: don’t forget to poke a hole in the middle of the dough before you put your Keto Low Carb Chicken & Mushroom Pie in the oven. This is to allow steam to escape and it’s important.
That’s it! Happy baking!
- Yield: 4
- Serving: 1
- Calories: 609
- Fat: 46g
- Net Carbs: 6.5g
- Protein: 39g
- 500g chicken thigh fillets
- 300g frozen mushrooms
- 20g beef tallow (for U.S. option, click HERE) or you can use butter, or ghee
- 50g mascarpone
- 50g double cream
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- a pinch of organic broth granules
- ¼ tsp fine himalayan pink salt (click HERE for U.S. option)
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- 1 small shallot (minced)
- a pinch of cayenne pepper (and/or spices of your choice)
- ½ tsp gelatine powder
- 1 small egg
- 50g beef tallow (U.S. option HERE) or use butter, or ghee
- 30g lupin flour (for U.S. option, click HERE; or for world-wide delivery option, click HERE and use code QUEENKETO5 for discount at checkout)
- 80g fine almond flour (for U.S. option, click HERE)
- ⅛ tsp fine himalayan pink salt (click HERE for U.S. option)
- a little beaten egg or milk for glazing (optional)
- rosemary sprig (optional)
- stir gelatine in a little cold water and set aside.
- cut thighs into chunks and sauté for a few minutes in tallow, while stirring.
- add shallot, garlic, broth granules, spices and salt and cook on high heat for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.
- stir in frozen mushrooms and continue to cook for another 15 minutes.
- incorporate gelatine, mascarpone, cream and parsley, bring back to a simmer and turn off heat.
- depending on thickness of sauce, you may want to add up to 100ml water - don't overdo it, you want a runny, creamy sauce, not a broth.
- transfer to your ovenware (my oval dish measures 22cm x 14cm) and pre-heat oven to 200C static.
- place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead by hand until you form a pastry 'dough' (add a little cold water if the mix is too dry and crumbly).
- lay 'dough' between two sheets of parchment paper and spread it out with a rolling pin to roughly the size and shape of your baking dish.
- place the pastry 'dough' over your chicken and mushroom filled dish, curling and tucking the edges in.
- poke a centre hole, or make a cross cut, then brush the whole surface with a little beaten egg or milk (optional).
- bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven, insert rosemary sprig into the middle opening (optional) and serve piping hot.
Had this for dinner today. So filling and tasty and such an easy pastry. The lesser half now wants a sweet pie for Sunday pudding, I have always backed off pastry before as my short rust could be used as a doorstop so he now sees a plethora of pastry recipes heading his way …..
Haha Tracey. That’s really funny. What will you try next?????
What are you calling “a little water” for the gelatine?
I’ve never used gelatine before so I have no idea.
Hi Ron, good question. Sorry, I should have been more specific. I’ll explain a bit more, since it’s unchartered territory for you. Gelatine, whether powdered (as in the one I use) or sheeted, should always be soaked in cold liquid for at least 10 minutes. This is because it needs time to swell and expand. Then it will dissolve nicely when added to hot liquids. Plunge gelatine into a hot mixture and it will clump up (no return from that I’m afraid – dish ruined!). How much cold liquid depends on the amount of gelatine you’re using. For 1/2 tsp of powdered gelatine, I would use 1 tbsp of water.
Thank you for your recipes. I’m doing as you said just make ketogenic diet a way of life. Thanks for helping make it a way of life with your recipes
Well done! It’s not always easy, but it’s always rewarding. If you need help or encouragement, I’m here.