Easy Creamy Fish Pot Pie

Updated: May 26th 2022 • Published: Oct 9th 2019 • 32 Comments

4.25 from 32 votes

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.

two fish pot pies, one with a spoon in the creamy filling on an old baking tray with a blue tea towel

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.

a white ramekin with a puff pastry disk on the top

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.

Tow pictures of the raw fish pie filling. One in a pan and one in a ramekin

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.

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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.

close up on the creamy filling of the fish pot pie

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.

A spoon scooping up creamy fish pie filling and pastry

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 ½ a cup of vegetables to the pies.

two fish pot pies garnished with herbs and black pepper on an old baking tray with a blue tea towel

Other Fish recipes you may love:

Enjoy x

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