Gluten-Free Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere

This Gluten-Free Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere is a shockingly accurate version of the traditional pie. You’d never know there’s no beef, pork, or gluten!

Note: This recipe was first posted on my original blog, Celebration Generation, on October 10, 2016. It was transferred over to this blog - existing comments and all - on 3/4/2021

I created this Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere for Canadian Thanksgiving 2016, and now I’m updating this post right in time for Canadian Thanksgiving 2020!

I specify Canadian, because - as a Canadian married to an American - we celebrate both Thanksgivings - mine in October, his in November.

My husband is always happy to celebrate both - twice the turkey! Twice the pumpkin pie! Canadian goodies for the October Thanksgiving! - but that year, he presented me with a challenge:

He couldn’t handle eating pork or beef anymore. You know, the two main ingredients of my traditional tourtière!

What is Tourtiere?

Proper Tourtière (“Tortière”, for some) is a wonderful thing - a French Canadian meat pie, and it’s SO good when made properly.

There are probably as many ways to make it, as there are people in Quebec. Some people use mashed potatoes, some use cubed potatoes... some will skip the carrots, others may skip the celery. I’m sure the seasoning vary as well, though the ones I use tend to be pretty ubiquitous.

The Altered Tourtiere

There was NO way I was going to forgo a tourtière, so I decided to try for a workaround: I would develop a tourtière recipe that didn’t have the pork or beef, but still tasted proper. (Half my family is from Quebec, so I do get to claim “legit”, LOL!)

Starting with the meat, I went with ground chicken: he prefers it to turkey. I decided to add a TON of mushrooms to it, both for taste and texture.

I was originally going to get really weird with it and add a sweet potato, but decided against that at the last minute - the umami taste from the mushrooms was going to be filling in for the taste of pork / beef - as weird as that may sound - and I didn’t want the sweetness of sweet potatoes competing with that.

The Finished Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere

... it turned out amazing! I was actually a bit disappointed that it didn’t actually taste like mushrooms. I figured the mushrooms would be my consolation for not having beef or pork, and was actually looking forward to a mushroomy pie.

In the end, though, it just tasted like my normal tourtière!

The mushrooms provided the right texture and umami that I would normally be getting from the pork and beef, while the use of the vegetables and seasonings worked together to camouflage what was actually in it.

It’s hard to be too disappointed in the lack of mushroom flavour, when confronted with that kind of ... sorcery ... in accuracy.

Not only was this Gluten-Free Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere great fresh out of the oven (and, let’s get real here, with all of the filling that disappeared to “quality control” before making it into the pie), it reheats very well as leftovers.

So, yeah. Not going to stress out about dietary issues getting in the way of tradition again - super happy with how it turned out.

Don’t Need it Gluten-Free?

If you don’t need it to be gluten-free, swapping the pie crust out is easy!

Simply use your favourite pie crust recipe, or even use pre-made pastry crusts - just be sure to buy enough for a double-crust pie!

Now, on to that Gluten-Free Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere recipe!

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5 from 2 votes

Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere [French Canadian Meat Pie]

This Chicken Mushroom Tourtiere is a shockingly accurate version of the traditional pie. You’d never know there’s no beef or pork!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Chilling Time1 hour hr

Total Time2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Canadian, Quebecois

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings: 10 People

Calories: 556kcal

Author: admin

Equipment

• Deep Dish Pie Pan

Ingredients

Filling:

• 1 ½ lbs Crimini Mushrooms Sliced
• 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 lb Ground Chicken
• 1 Small Onion finely chopped
• 4 Celery Ribs finely chopped
• 2 Carrots grated or finely chopped
• 2 Large Potatoes peeled and cut into ~ ⅓″ cubes
• 1 ½ tablespoon Dried Summer Savoury
• 2-3 teaspoon Ground Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 2 cups Milk
• 1 cup Chicken Broth

Dough:

• 1 cup White Rice Flour
• ¾ cup Light Buckwheat Flour
• ½ cup Sorghum Flour
• ¼ cup Sweet Rice Flour
• ¼ cup Corn Starch
• 2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• 8 oz Brick Cream Cheese chopped
• ½ cup Unsalted butter cold and chopped
• ⅓ cup Cold Water
• 1 Large egg

Assembly:

• 1 Large Egg
• 1 tablespoon Cold Water

Instructions

Filling:

• Finely chop mushrooms – I like to use a food processor, in batches.
• Combine mushrooms, olive oil, chicken, vegetables, and seasonings together in a large skillet or pot. Break up ground chicken into small pieces, stir everything together until well mixed.
• Add the milk and the broth, stirring once again to fully combine.
• Bring this meat mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium heat and simmer – stirring often – until the liquid has cooked off, and the meat has broken down almost to a paste. This should take about an hour, give or take.
• Once it’s ready, remove from heat and let the filling cool to room temperature.

Dough:

• Measure flours, corn starch, xanthan gum, and salt into the bowl of your food processor, blitz to combine.
• Add cream cheese, blitz a few times until mixture resembles gravel.
• Add butter, ¼ cup water, and egg. Blitz a few more times - just long enough to start to bring it together as a dough – you may need to use a little more water. Do NOT over-process it!
• Remove dough from processor, knead lightly to bring it together as a ball.
• Wrap in plastic wrap, chill for 1 hour before use.

Assembly:

• Preheat oven to 425 F
• Divide pie dough into 2 parts – one slightly bigger than the other.
• Roll the bigger section out as the bottom crust, use it to line a deep-dish pie plate / deep baking dish – carefully working it into the corners.
• Fill the lined pie pan with cooled filling, spreading it into the corners and mounding it in the center.
• Roll out the second part of dough as the top crust, cover the pie filling.
• Trim the excess dough and crimp the edges as desired, cut a couple of slits in it for steam vents.
• If desired, roll any extra dough very thin, cut into shapes, and apply to the crust for decoration.
• In a small bowl or mug, whisk the egg together with a little water. Use a pastry brush to coat the entire top of the tourtière with a thin coating of this egg wash.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until crust is golden brown.
• Serve warm or cold.

Nutrition

Calories: 556kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 572mg | Potassium: 1233mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 2764IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 2mg

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