Ditch The Chicken And Use This Protein In Your Potpie Instead

Few foods are more comforting than a hearty chicken potpie with a rich broth that's soaked into the carrots, celery, peas, onions, and potatoes and a flakey crust. It's the quintessential comfort food. You can easily find the best store-bought chicken potpies in the frozen aisle at your local grocery store or enjoy them at chain restaurants like KFC and Cheddar's .

Like any other traditional food, though, rules can be broken and recipes can be riffed upon. That's certainly the case here because potpie is the perfect vehicle for many proteins, including shellfish. The creamy broth with root vegetables works perfectly with all types of shellfish, including lobster, crab, scallops, and shrimp.

Making it at home is probably your best bet. Unlike the poultry and beef counterparts, you most likely won't see shellfish potpies at the grocery store, though some restaurants offer house-made versions. For example, Bourbon Steak (home to Ina Garten's favorite cheeseburger) offers a bougie Maine lobster potpie that's over $100, with the specific price varying based on location. Fortunately, your homemade potpie won't even cost one-tenth of that. 

For quite a bit less than $100, you can make a shellfish potpie at home just as easily as you can make a chicken potpie. Even better, they're versatile in terms of portion size. Just replace the chicken in any recipe with your favorite shellfish.

For example, if you substitute shellfish in chicken potpie hand pies, you don't really need to make that many recipe changes. Precook your seafood the same way you would the chicken, remembering that it cooks quickly, especially smaller shrimp and scallops. You can use fish stock, seafood stock, chicken stock, or a mix of all three. Just note that the better your ingredients, the better your potpie will be. So look for fresh or frozen shelfish and avoid the canned stuff.

Once you've got the basics down, it's okay to get creative. You can even use Red Lobster's store-bought Cheddar Bay biscuit mix as the pastry crust. Regardless of which ingredients you use in your seafood potpie, this dish certainly seems like a surefire winner — especially if you're a shellfish lover.