This is one of those dishes to prepare when you need to use up some leftover chicken but don't have a lot on hand. The dish requires very little meat, so a little left over cooked chicken is just fine. You need so little chicken because you'll have extra protein in the pie from a combination of milk, eggs, and cheese. Everything blends together in a sort of chicken popover. I use corn tortillas to line my pie dish, but, if you don't have them on hand, you can use whatever tortillas you do have available. Or just bake the pie without a crust--it will work! This is a "kid friendly" and comfort food type of dish, but, if you want to spice it up, feel free to substitute spicy barbecue sauce or add a dash of hot sauce. I serve the pie with extra barbecue sauce, a salad, and sometimes cornbread on the side. Enjoy!
Cheesy Barbecue and Chicken Pie -- Serves 4
6 six-inch corn tortillas
1-2 cups of cooked, chopped or shredded chicken
1/2 cup of chopped onion, microwaved for about a minute or until softened a little
1/2 - 1 cup of mild barbecue sauce (depending on how much chicken you use and how
dry the chicken is), plus extra sauce to pass when serving the pie
2 cups of shredded Colby-Jack or cheddar cheese (8 ounces)
2 large eggs
1 cup of low-fat milk
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt, plus extra, to taste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch pie dish with non-stick cooking spray and line the dish with the tortillas, overlapping them so that the sides and bottom of the pie plate are evenly covered. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, onion, and barbecue sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the chicken mixture evenly over the tortillas in the pie plate. Sprinkle half of the cheese on top of the chicken mixture. In the same bowl you used for mixing the chicken mixture, combine the eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk them until just smooth. Pour the mixture over the chicken mixture in the pie plate. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese. Bake the chicken pie for about 30 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Let the chicken pie cool for 10 minutes before you cut it into wedges to serve with a little extra barbecue sauce on the side.
