The Chicken Pie So Good, You’ll Forget Bakery Ones Exist

These palm-sized Portuguese chicken pies take everything great about the original — rich lard dough, slow-cooked chicken, rustic comfort — and push it one level higher.
We fry smoked paprika, garlic, gochujang, and parsley stems in butter to unlock deep flavor before building a creamy velouté. The dough itself gets a boost from chicken stock, tying it all together with real Portuguese soul.
It’s the kind of recipe that tastes like it’s been around forever, but hits like it was invented yesterday.
________________________________________
🧈 Ingredients
Dough (Massa de Empada Alentejana)
• 500 g plain flour
• 100 g lard
• 50 ml olive oil
• 150 ml warm water
• 50 ml warm chicken stock
• 1 tsp salt
Filling
• 1 Kg chicken thighs (bone-in for flavor)
• 1 small onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 50 g chouriço, finely diced (optional but recommended)
• 30 g butter
• 30 g flour
• 400 ml chicken stock (from cooking the chicken)
• 50 ml white wine
• 1 tsp gochujang paste
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• Olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley stems
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley leaves
• 1 tbsp lemon juice