Easy Creamy Fish Pot Pie

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These easy Fish Pot Pies are packed full of tender fish and a rich creamy sauce, then topped with a pastry disk and baked to golden perfection. 

They can be made in advance or frozen ready for dinner next week. Easy to make, these Fish Pot Pies will be your new favorite comfort food.

Creamy British Fish Pie is the comfort food of my childhood and this twist on the classic is something I love to make for the whole family.

Creamy Fish Pie

Let’s talk pies! Especially Fish pie! Traditionally the British Fish Pie is topped with mashed potato, or cheesy mashed potato if my mum was making it. I love it like that but I don’t know about you, midweek when the kids have after school clubs and we need dinner quickly, the thought of making mashed potato doesn’t appeal. Yes, I know mashed potato isn’t hard, but just that extra step could be the make or break point of our evening. So say hello to a pastry/pie crust topping! 

The pastry makes this so much easier and it tastes good! Winner Winner Fish Pie Dinner!

The Puff Pastry Top

Puff pastry is amazing! Fluffy layers of crisp buttery pastry that puff up in the oven to give you a wonderful golden topping.

You can find ready rolled sheets of frozen puff pastry in the freezer section of the grocery store. Try and find the ones made with butter rather than margarine, they have a better flavor. 

If you can’t find puff pastry then a rolled sheet of pie crust will work too.

What fish to use in a fish pie

So this comes down to what you can find at the fishmongers or grocery store. You can use one type of fish, or mix it up and use 2 or 3 different types. You just want to ensure that you have 1.7lb/800g in total. 

Really you can use any white fish for this pie. You want chunky pieces so go for something like: 

• Cod
• Pollack
• Coley
• Haddock
• Hake
• Whiting
• Snapper
• Monkfish (my fav!!)
• Tilapia
• Salmon
• Shrimp/prawns (raw)
• Smoked haddock/cod

If you can find smoked fish then adding some into the mixture really ads so much great flavor. But don’t make the pie with all smoked fish as this can be overpowering.

You can use frozen fish, just ensure it has been defrosted and patted dry before you use it.

The fish doesn’t need to be cooked before you add it to the sauce. This will help keep it tender as your pie cooks.

How to make the creamy sauce

The sauce is a mixture of broth and cream cheese! This gives it a great flavor, and also means it has lower calories than a traditional heavy cream/double cream sauce.

To make the creamy sauce, start by cooking off some onion and garlic in butter. Once these have softened, stir through some flour and slowly add the broth (I like to use seafood or shrimp stock, but vegetable will work too). This will thicken to a glossy sauce. It will be very thick. Don’t worry. This is what we want! You can see in the photo above just how thick my sauce is.

To this hot sauce, the cream cheese is added and it will melt and turn into a thick creamy sauce. Add your frsh herbs and the mixture of ready for your ramakins.

TOP TIP: The sauce needs to be very very thick, this is because as the pie cooks some liquid will be released from the fish and this will thin the sauce slightly.

Do you cook the fish for fish pie?

Traditionally the fish is poached in milk and then this milk is used to make the cream sauce. But in this quick mid-week adaption, the raw fish is combined with the sauce and this is all baked together. This means the pie is quicker to make and there is less danger of the fish becoming dry and overcooked.

Cutting the fish

The fish wants to be cut into quite large bite-sized chunks (around 2″/5cm) this helps the fish stay together in the pie, so you get nice bites of fish rather than small flakes. The fish will shrink slightly as it cooks.

Can I add vegetables to a fish pie?

Yes! I leave the veg out and serve it on the side, but if you want to incorporate the veg into the pie, then go for it. 

Veg you could add include:

• Peas
• Corn
• Carrot cubes
• Celery slices
• Asparagus
• Spinach
• Mushrooms

I would add around 1/2 a cup of vegetables to the pies.

Other Fish recipes you may love:

• Fish Burger with Charred Lettuce and Tarragon Mayo
• Quick and Easy Thai Fish
• Prosciutto Maple Salmon
• Pan Seared Salmon with Creamy Lemon Pasta
• Creamy Lemon Salmon Pasta
• Seared Salmon with Peas and Chorizo
• Prawn Kare Lomen 

Enjoy x

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5 from 7 votes

Easy Creamy Fish Pot Pie

For a warm and comforting dinner for the whole family, try these Easy Creamy Fish Pot Pies. The pies are filled with white fish, an easy cream sauce, herbs, and aromatics, before being topped with a puff pastry disk. Baked in the oven until golden, this simple recipe has a touch of luxury about it, whilst still being easy enough for a midweek meal.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Main

Cuisine: Modern British

Servings: 4

Calories: 674kcal

Author: Claire | Sprinkles and Sprouts

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Need Metric Measurements?Use the options below to toggle between cups and grams (if relevant)

Ingredients

US Customary – Grams

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup AP flour
• 1 1/2 cups broth/stock – see note 1
• 1/2 cup cream cheese (softened) – see note 2
• 1.7 lb fish – see note 3
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tsp dried dill weed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 1 tbsp milk – to glaze pastry (see note 4)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 390ºF/200ºC.
• Heat the oil in large frying pan and add the chopped onion.
• Sauté the onion for 2 minutes until softened.
• Add the flour to the onion and stir well, then cook for a minute.
• Combine the broth/stock and cream cheese, then slowly pour it over the onion mixture.
• Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for 5-6 minutes until very thick.
• Remove the pan from the heat then add in the fish chunks, lemon juice, herbs and seasonings.
• Use the top of one of your ramekin to cut out 4 disks from the pastry sheet.
• Spoon the fish mixture into the 4 ramekins and top each with a pastry disk.
• Use a sharp knife to pierce the top of each pie and then use a pastry brush to glaze the top of each pie with a little bit of milk.
• Bake the pies for 20-25 minutes until golden and puffed up.

Notes

1. I tend to use my homemade shrimp stock for this recipe but you can use seafood stock or vegetable broth for this recipe.
2. I use low fat cream cheese here. Just ensure it has come to room temperature so it is soft and will melt easily.
3. You can use one type of fish, or mix it up and use 2 or 3 different types. You just want to ensure that you have 1.7lb/800g in total. See the bulk of the post for a longer list of great fish ideas. But some great choices are:
   • Cod
   • Pollack
   • Haddock
   • Shrimp/prawns (raw)
   • Smoked haddock/cod
4. You can use milk or a beaten egg to glaze the top of your pot pies.

Nutrition

Calories: 674kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 120mg | Sodium: 813mg | Potassium: 743mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 457IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 3mg

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