Luxurious Mini Seafood Pot Pies Recipe

Seafood pot pies are a luxurious take on the classic pot pie recipe. A bubbly and hot seafood filling is topped with a flaky, buttery crust for a meal that is both decadent and comforting. Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created an intensely flavorful version featuring shrimp, scallops, and crab meat. A white roux and heavy cream make it thick and creamy while aromatics, white wine, and fish stock infuse more flavor into the seafood and sauce. Mixed vegetables and parsley add additional color and freshness.

These pot pies are served in individual serving-sized ramekins, which also make a beautiful presentation because, let's face it, thick creamy fillings are hard to slice. A savory, melt-in-your-mouth pastry crust covers the top of each ramekin and is just waiting to be broken with a fork to reveal the fragrant goodness within. Mini seafood pot pies bring the special feel of a restaurant seafood meal into your own home. Whether you're enjoying them for an intimate meal or serving them to guests, they're sure to delight. Read on to find out how to make this luxurious homemade meal in only an hour and a half.

This recipe calls for a homemade pie crust, which will be used to top each individual pie. You'll need all-purpose flour, salt, unsalted butter, and ice water to make it. It's important to keep the butter and water very cold, so make sure to keep the butter in the fridge until you're ready to use it, and go ahead and prepare ice water a few minutes ahead of time.

The seafood used here is shrimp, scallops, and crab meat. If fresh shrimp or scallops aren't available, you can use the frozen kind and defrost it first. You'll need fish stock, and if you reserve the shrimp shells, you can use them to make a homemade shrimp stock in just a few minutes. Clam juice is another option if you can't find good fish stock. Crab meat is sold fresh or canned and precooked and is available at different price points.

Gather butter, white wine, a little more all-purpose flour for thickening, salt and pepper, heavy cream, frozen mixed vegetables, and parsley for the filling. For produce, you'll use shallots, garlic, and celery for more flavor.

For the pie crust, place flour and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine.

Add the cold butter and pulse just a few times until the mixture is crumbly with pea-sized pieces of butter remaining intact.

Add 2 tablespoons of ice water and pulse until the dough starts to stick together. Add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time only if it looks too dry. Don't add too much water or it will get tough. It's ready when it sticks together when pinched.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and quickly shape it into a flattened ball without kneading it. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for an hour.

In the meantime, start making the filling by melting the butter in a skillet on medium.

Add the shallots, garlic, and celery to the pan and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir well to mix evenly. Cook for 2-3 minutes to thicken while stirring occasionally.

Pour in the wine, bring the mixture to a boil, and then lower it to a rapid simmer for about a minute, stirring occasionally.

Add the fish stock, salt, and pepper, bring the mixture back to a rapid simmer, and let it cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the cream and stir to mix well.

Gently place the shrimp, scallops, and crab in the skillet along with the thawed vegetables and parsley and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Cut the ball of dough into 4 equal pieces, place 1 on a lightly floured surface, and roll it out into a flattened disc about ⅛ inch thick and large enough to cover the top of your ramekin plus some overhang. Repeat with the 3 other pieces.

Ladle filling into each ramekin and moisten the edges of the ramekins with water to help the crust adhere to them.

Center the dough discs over the filling, fold the extra dough under, finger press the edges, and crimp them with a fork to seal.

Cut slits in the top of the dough.

Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust becomes golden brown and the inside is hot and bubbly.

Cool slightly before serving.

Yes, you can make seafood pot pie in advance if that fits your schedule better. You can prepare the pie dough and the filling ahead of time and assemble and bake the pies right before you're ready to serve them. The dough needs to chill in the refrigerator anyway for about an hour after you make it before it will be firm enough to roll out, but it can be refrigerated for 2-3 days if needed. If you're not sure when you'll use it, you can place the dough in the freezer for up to 3 months. Whether you use the refrigerator or the freezer, make sure to tightly wrap the disc of dough in plastic wrap. The seafood filling can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 5 days.

If you have leftover baked pot pies, you can reheat them when you're ready to eat them. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake the pies for about 15 minutes until the filling is warm and bubbly. Cover the crust with aluminum foil if it looks like it's getting too dark.

Imitation crab meat is a seafood product made with processed pureed whitefish like pollock and other ingredients like egg whites, starch, and natural or artificial flavor. While the taste and texture is different, you can use imitation crab meat in a variety of recipes as a tasty way to enjoy the subtle flavor of real crab without breaking the bank. Subbing imitation crab meat for actual crab meat in your seafood pot pies is possible if you use it carefully.

The main concern is with how long you cook it. Imitation crab meat is already cooked, so it holds up better to gentle reheating rather than to long cooking times. Overcooking can give it a dry, rubbery consistency and diminish the flavor. The best thing to do is add it to the seafood filling at the last minute after you've taken the pan off the heat.