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Get your children involved in making their own dinner with these delicious and easy chicken and vegetable pasties.
We’ve been really fortunate this summer that the weather has been great and we’ve spent a lot of time out and about at the park or the zoo. There have though been a few miserable (weather-wise) days where we’ve stayed at home and I’ve used these as a bit of an opportunity to get the boys involved in the kitchen.
They both share my enjoyment of cooking and in the past I’ve always got them to join in with cakes and biscuits. However, there’s a bit of me that’s aware that I should probably help them to develop slightly wider cooking skills, so this summer I’ve been trying to stick to savoury instead (well except where they helped to make Daniel’s birthday but that was a special occasion so doesn’t count 🙂 ).
A few weeks ago I was challenged by Iceland to do some cooking with the boys using their range of frozen products. My immediate thought was to revert back to my sweet ways and make something involving frozen fruit (some sort of berry muffin or scones), but determined to stick to my savoury baking plan I came up with the idea of these easy chicken and vegetable pasties.
There are a number of reasons why using frozen ingredients make these much easier to make and therefore perfect for getting the children involved…
- I don’t have the patience to make my own puff pastry so I’m confident that a 3 and 6 year old would have no interest in making their own either (plus it’s a touch on the tricky side for them) so ready-made is definitely the way to go.
- Using pre-cooked frozen chicken means you don’t have to worry about them handling raw chicken (despite constant reminders not to lick fingers they rarely listen) or getting burnt as they cook the chicken before putting it into the pasties.
- The frozen peppers are ready sliced so there’s no sharp knives involved risking accidents with little fingers.
Using frozen also means that you can keep all of the ingredients in. Then, if the weather forecast the next day looks a bit iffy, you can simply take them out the night before and defrost them in the fridge ready to use… no need to panic about how to keep them entertained 🙂
You can see just how much fun they had making them in these pictures (all I did to help was give them instructions, help fold the pasties in half and do the bit with the oven, the rest is all their work). I’m especially loving the look of absolutely concentration Josh has when he’s joining the edges with a fork 🙂
If you’re after a bit more inspiration for cooking with the children this summer then take a look at a few of these delicious and simple recipes too…
- Mini Taco Bar from Daisies & Pie
- Cheesy Vegetable Bake form Munchies & Munchkins
- Sweet Potato & Meatball Mini Pot Pies from Feeding Boys
- Triple Smoothie Ice Lollies from Eats Amazing
- Fruit Tarts from Everything Mummy
I’m going to be back next week with some healthy lunchbox ideas using #PowerOfFrozen so make sure you keep an eye out for those.
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Easy Chicken & Vegetable Pasties
INGREDIENTS
- 75 g Iceland frozen cooked chicken breast - approx
- 60 g Iceland frozen sweetcorn - approx
- 45 g Iceland frozen mixed peppers - approx
- 500 g pack Frozen Puff Pastry - or use ready-rolled pastry
- a little flour to dust your work surface
- 100 g soft cheese - I used the low fat version
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 egg
INSTRUCTIONS
Please ensure that all of the ingredients are fully defrosted before use (I recommend leaving them overnight in the fridge).
- Pre-heat your oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan
- Line your baking sheet with a non-stick cooking liner of grease with butter.
- Tear the chicken (75g) into smaller pieces with your fingers and put it into a large bowl. Add the sweetcorn (60g), peppers (45g), soft cheese (100g) and oregano (2 tsp) and mix until fully combined.
- Dust your work surface with a little flour and then roll out your pastry into a rectangle 2-3mm thick.
- Use a knife to cut the pastry into 6 squares (a dinner knife is fine, no need for anything too sharp).
- Evenly divide the chicken filling onto the centre of each square of pastry.
- Fold the pastry in half over the filling to form a triangle and then push down around the edges to seal in the filling. Use the prongs of a fork to push down the edges a little more to ensure they're sealed and leave a nice pattern.
- Place the pasties onto your baking sheet.
- Break your egg into a small bowl and beat it with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush a little egg over the top of each pasty. Use your fork to prick a few holes in the top of each one.
- Pop them into the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the pasty is golden brown.
- Once cooked remove from the oven, either enjoy them hot (caution they will be very hot so allow them to cool a little) or pop them onto a cooling rack to cool before eating them cold.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Laura says
Hi. I see this is an old post. But can these be frozen and how long would they need to be reheated
Charlotte Oates says
Yes they can be frozen – they should take around 10-12 minutes to properly reheat once thawed or around 8 minutes in an air fryer. You should make sure that the filling is piping hot before serving.
Charlie Mace says
These look delicious! I love a chicken pastie, its like all the best bits of a chicken pie that you can hold in your hand!! 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Charlie, we all really enjoyed them. Daniel keeps asking when we can make them again.
Helen says
Aw your boys are adorable – glad they’re getting used to the kitchen! I LOVE a good chicken pasty – haven’t had them for ages. It’s funny isn’t it – it’s so easy to just forget about dishes even when you love them!
Charlotte Oates says
I do that all the time, then I make them over and over again for a while and then stop again 🙂
Mel says
Love these, and the photos of the boys are so good: it looks like these 2 are having the times of their life! xx
Charlotte Oates says
They really enjoyed making these. They both love cooking, I really need to get them more involved day-to-day.
Mandy says
I often end up making sweet things too when I cook with the kids – although my four year old is happy to help with anything! These look lovely, your boys did a good job. Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare
Charlotte Oates says
I find it far too easy to fall into making cakes and biscuits as they’re mostly just measuring and mixing which is easy for little ones to join in with. I tried to design this recipe along similar lines, it was lovely to see how much they enjoyed joining in when I tried it with them.
Sarah James @ Tales From The Kitchen Shed says
Your chicken pasties look delicious Charlotte and what a great idea to use cooked chicken, handling raw chicken with children is always a worry. I rarely make my own puff pastry it’s far too time consuming, far better to have a pasty or two ready to cook in 10 minutes.
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Sarah, I’ve heard so many storied about poisoning from raw chicken, it’s just not a risk I want to take with them until they’re old enough to really be careful around it. The cooked chicken makes such a great alternative and you can just get the amount you need out of the freezer to defrost so nothing goes to waste.