Publix Deli Chicken Pot Pie Review
Flakey and flavorful, like a Ritz Cracker.
Welp. I liked this better than I expected, which is very happy news for today! I’ll take all the happy news I can get, my friends! Even if it’s just a wee little chicken pot pie-shaped piece of happy news.
I don’t buy things from the grab-and-go area of the Publix Deli very often, usually because they are too expensive and don’t look particularly amazing. If I hadn’t seen a picture of this baked pot pie in the Publix sales flier, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. It looked much more appealing in the sales ad than it did on the Deli shelf — all pasty-white and raw and bland-looking.
I mean. Technically, the pie is already cooked. I think. Maybe. Above is a picture of the “unbaked” pie. It’s a trifle doughy and not browned yet. But, maybe not fully raw.
And here it is again, after baking at home.
I baked this in my countertop toaster oven at 350 for 40 minutes, and it came out perfect. I expected the crust to puff up more, but mine did not. It’s a more traditional, flat pie crust. The top browned ALMOST too much, but not quite.
There’s a Ritz cracker flavor in the crust, and some of that flakey, crunchy cracker texture, too! I thought this pot pie only had crust on the top, but there is crust on the sides and bottom as well. It’s a very crisp pastry on the top, but soft (without being soggy) inside. Tender, but not slimy. I’d hazard there is more crust here than anything else. Fortunately, it’s a delicious crust.
The sauce is thick, creamy, and has a great celery taste, without any actual celery pieces. In fact, the gravy is so thick, it doesn’t ooze out when you scoop into it. I appreciated the sauce more after it had cooled down a bit — it was too hot to taste the seasoning straight out of the oven.
I think the flavors of this pot pie are the best part. Between the Ritz cracker taste of the crust, and the celery-butter flavor of the sauce, there’s a lot of savory richness to enjoy.
There’s definitely more gravy and than veggies in this pot pie. The veggies are sparse. There are soft cubes of carrot, and some precious green peas. I didn’t find any other vegetables. The label lists corn as an ingredient, but I didn’t find any corn pieces. No potatoes.
The chicken meat is a mixed bag, but none of it was gross. Some pieces had much nicer texture than others. I found a few spongey chunks that tasted weird, but most of them were tender cubes. All of the pieces are white chicken breast meat. No jiggly bits. No gristle. No slimey ick. No sadness.
This is a petite meal, but it was satisfying. Surprisingly, I did not need to add any salt or pepper to mine to make it taste good. I liberally salt almost all my food, but the Publix pot pie had a rich, savory, salty taste without needing any “help.”
The single-serve Publix Deli chicken pot pie is 9 ounces, and has 660 calories.
I bought this on sale for $3.99. I probably wouldn’t pay the non-sale price of $4.99, however. It’s not quite THAT good. But, I might buy it again for $4. This is a slightly better value for a single person than it would be for a couple (two pies, $10), and it would be nigh impractical to buy that many individual pies for a family. Fortunately, Publix also offers a full-size, 22 ounce version of the Chicken Pot Pie in the Deli.
This pot pie has a decent shelf-life for a fresh, unfrozen product. The sell-by date on mine allowed me approximately a week to consume.
Ingredients in Publix Chicken Pot Pie
Here are the full ingredients in the Publix Chicken Pot Pie:
- Filling (milk, diced chicken [chicken white meat, water, potato starch, salt, sugar, sodium phosphate], water, green peas, carrots, corn, natural chicken base [oven roasted chicken with natural juices, salt, sugar, rendered chicken fat, onion powder, torula yeast, cooked dehydrated chicken, turmeric, natural flavorings], butter [cream, salt], modified food starch, cornstarch, eggs, salt, spices)
- Crust (wheat flour, palm oil, water, honey, sugar, sea salt, eggs, yeast, enzymes, dough softener [malted barley flour, salt])
- Egg Wash (eggs, water)
These are fairly decent ingredients. No artificial flavors or colors. Sodium phosphate in the chicken is the only preservative I see.
Cooking Instructions for Chicken Pot Pie from Publix Deli
Here are the cooking instructions. I used my counter top toaster oven at 350-ish for just shy of 40 minutes, which was perfect. The pie tasted better after it had sat for an additional 20 minutes or so and cooled down — the flavors “married” better, and the texture of the sauce improved.
The End.
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Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Publix, and I was not compensated in any way for this review.
