Bits of chicken and vegetables bathed in homemade Alfredo sauce and wrapped in a crispy puff pastry shell.
Around the start of the pandemic, I wanted to bake something, and I needed puff pastry to do it. I checked three different stores, but they were all out! I know it’s possible to make myself, but I didn’t want to go through that much hassle for what at the time was just a simple dessert.
Eventually, stores restocked and I was there at a time that I could pick some up, and I got several boxes of the pastry sheets just to have on hand. Then, as you might expect, I didn’t use any of them for months.
Times like these are when recipes like this are born. I see an ingredient I have around (puff pastry), decide I want to do something with it, and figure something out.
Filling Options
The recipe I’ve put together below uses chicken, mushrooms, and broccoli bathed in Alfredo sauce. I make my own Alfredo sauce (which I wrote about last week) but you can use whatever you like. I also used chicken I cut into bits and cooked, but it might be easier to cook up some shredded chicken first. It would be a slightly different texture, but it would still be pretty tasty.
This is also a pretty flexible recipe. You can put in any filling you want, really. I plan to try a few more in the future, since I have more puff pastry floating around. Think things like chicken and pesto with tomatoes, ham and swiss, or even a taco meat mixture with tomato and cheese.
Anyway, here’s the recipe. Let me know if you try it out!
Alfredo Chicken Pockets
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Pastry Brush
Ingredients
- 1 Sheet Puff Pastry
- ¼ Cup Alfredo Sauce
- ½ Cup Broccoli
- ½ Cup Mushrooms
- 1 Cup Chopped Chicken
- ½ Cup Shredded Cheddar
- 1 Egg
- ½ Tsp Salt
- ½ Tsp Pepper
- ½ Tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ Tsp Onion Powder
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients. Chop your veggies and chicken. Thaw puff pastry according to box instructions.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Add mushrooms and broccoli in a small saucepan with a bit of oil. Place over medium heat and stir to coat.
- Add a couple tablespoons of water and steam until the broccoli is bright green, about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove veggies from pan and place on paper towel to drain excess moisture.
- Add two tablespoons of oil to a pan and add the chicken. Add the spices and cook until done, about 5-6 minutes.
- Drain the chicken. Then, add the chicken and veggies to the Alfredo sauce and stir together.
- Cut the puff pastry into six rectangles. I rolled mine out slightly to make larger pastries, but this isn't required.
- Spoon filling onto three of the pastry rectangles. Aim for about a tablespoon or two, but how much you add depends on how large your pastries are. Leave enough space around the edges for sealing the pastry.
- Top the filling mounds with shredded cheddar.
- Place a bare rectangle over top of a topped rectangle. Using a fork, press the edges to seal around them.
- Beat the egg and brush it on the sealed pastry as an egg wash.
- Bake until golden, about 15-20 minutes.