Tarragon chicken with creamy white beans
Tender chicken in a creamy white bean sauce with fresh tarragon.
About 30 min · 375 kcal · 43 g protein per serving
One pan
Chicken pot pie with filo
Chicken and vegetables beneath a lightly crisp filo lid.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 12 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the sauce thickens with 15 g of flour to 350 ml of liquid
- Confirm the filo crisps in 18 to 20 minutes
- Photograph the finished pie
- Time
- About 50 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 405 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 37 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains gluten, milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- chicken stock. Stock often contains celery, and sometimes gluten or soya; check the label.
- filo pastry. Filo can contain soya; check the packet.
Cooking steps
Heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F (170°C fan).
Warm half the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the leek and carrot and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until softened.
Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes, turning. Scatter the flour over and stir for a minute, until it disappears.
Pour in the stock a little at a time, stirring, then the milk. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
Cooked when: 74°C / 165°F in the thickest part. A food thermometer is the reliable way to tell.
Stir in the peas and tip everything into a baking dish about 18 by 13 cm. Leave it for a few minutes; very hot filling tears the pastry.
Crumple the filo loosely over the top, brush with the rest of the oil and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden and the filling bubbles at the edges.
The useful detail
Cool very hot filling briefly before adding filo. Steam rising through the sheets softens them from below, and what should be crisp comes out damp.
Make it work for you
One serving is Half the pie, from a dish about 18 by 13 cm. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Unsweetened soya milk in the sauce
Thickens in the same way.
Per serving: about 5 kcal less, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Allergens: Adds soya; removes milk. Check the filo, which can contain both.
Green beans instead of peas
Firmer, and they keep their colour better under pastry.
Per serving: about 25 kcal less, about 2 g less protein, about the same fat.
Turkey breast instead of chicken
Leaner, with the same safe endpoint.
Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about 1 g more protein, about 1 g less fat.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A whole pie counted in full, pastry and sauce included. The filo top adds far less fat than shortcrust or puff would, which is the reason it is here.
| Energy | 405 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 37 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| of which saturates | 2 g |
| Carbohydrate | 39 g |
| of which sugars | 11 g |
| Fibre | 6 g |
| Sodium | 780 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| olive oil | 9 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 80 kcal | 0.0 g |
| leek | 80 g | FDC 169246Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw | 49 kcal | 1.2 g |
| carrot | 150 g | FDC 170393Carrots, raw | 62 kcal | 1.4 g |
| chicken breast | 250 g | FDC 171077Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw | 300 kcal | 56.3 g |
| plain flour | 15 g | FDC 169761Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, unenriched | 55 kcal | 1.5 g |
| chicken stock | 265 g | FDC 174536Soup, chicken broth, ready-to-serve | 16 kcal | 1.7 g |
| milk | 105 g | FDC 171267Milk, reduced fat, fluid, 2% milkfat, with added vitamin A and vitamin D | 52 kcal | 3.4 g |
| frozen peas | 100 g | FDC 170016Peas, green, frozen, unprepared (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) | 77 kcal | 5.2 g |
| filo pastry | 40 g | FDC 172791Phyllo dough | 120 kcal | 2.8 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 809 kcal | 73.5 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Eat within 3 to 4 days. The filo softens overnight; it will not crisp up again.
- In the freezer
- The FDA chart gives cooked poultry dishes 4 to 6 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
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