Pie. Just the word makes me salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs. You can put pretty much anything into a pie crust and it will taste amazing. It’s just a fact. Indisputable.
So being on a low carb diet and eating no pie of any kind has been tough for me. I’ve been kicking around some low carb pie crust ideas for awhile now and I decided that today I was going to make it happen. But what to put in it was the hard part. I wasn’t in the mood for something sweet, and my husband’s favorite chicken pot pie has carrots and potatoes in it so that was out. I browsed the cupboards and found a jar of hearts of palm that I bought ages ago. Checked the carbs on the nutrition label and was excited to see that it was only 1g per serving.
Years ago when I had a “real” job, our department worked with our Brazilian offices and I had the opportunity to take Brazilian Portuguese lessons on my company’s dime. Bom Dia! That’s a greeting, I think it means the equivalent of “good day” and it’s pretty much all I remember! Oh sad! Anyway, while I don’t remember a lot of the actual language, I DO remember the food and caipirinha’s (traditional Brazilian cocktail that will knock you on your butt!) fondly.
I had a friend, Raquel, who was from Rio and she made my husband and I a delicious hearts of palm pie that her mom used to make. I couldn’t really remember what was in it, other than the hearts of palm, chicken, and hard boiled eggs. The eggs were iffy for me but everything else was really yummy. So I thought I’d recreate a version of it for you. Then I got a little crazy and started thinking about a shrimp dish we ate at a Brazilian restaurant that was flavored with coconut milk and chili’s and decided to kind of meld them together. It doesn’t really resemble either dish anymore, but it sure is tasty and for me has the best of both. So now I had the filling, but how to make the crust? I used cream cheese, egg, flax and coconut flour and it came out really nice! It was easy to work with and I was relieved that it also had a nice crunch to it once baked.
This opens up so many possibilities that I’m super excited about. You’ll see versions of this crust a lot in the next few weeks. For this recipe I made hand pies which are always fun. It would be easier to put it all into a dish and cover it with just a top crust like I did for this small one. This recipe makes four good sized hand pies (I could only eat half of one), four mini pies, or one large pie.
Brazilian Chicken Pie (Low Carb and Gluten Free)
- Yield: 4 hand pies/ 4 mini pies/ 1 large pie
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Meat pie
Ingredients
- For the filling:
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp chopped jalapeno or other chili
- 1lb raw chicken breast, chopped
- 1 Tbsp coconut flour
- 1/4 cup coconut cream (or coconut milk)
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup chopped hearts of palm
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 3 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
- For the crust:
- 3 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil or butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flax meal
- 3 Tbsp coconut flour
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- For the filling: Heat the coconut oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onions and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic & jalapeno and cook for an additional minute. Add the chopped chicken, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the coconut flour and let it toast for about a minute, then add the coconut cream or milk and mix until all of the flour is absorbed. Add the coriander, pepper flakes, and hearts of palm and let it simmer for about 3 more minutes.
- Finally, remove from heat and add the cilantro and lime juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool while you make your crust.
- For the crust: Combine the cream cheese and coconut oil, blending until smooth. Add the egg and blend until fully combined. Stir in the flax meal, coconut flour and salt until a stiff dough forms. Chill in the fridge for 5 minutes.
- To make the hand pies, divide the dough into four equal balls. The easiest way to roll them out is to do it between two pieces of parchment paper. Roll into a circle and place about half a cup of filling onto half the circle. Use a thin spatula slid under the crust to release it from the parchment and fold it over. Pinch the edges and place on a greased cookie sheet. Make a few slashes in the top to let the steam out. Repeat with the remaining pies.
- Bake in a preheated 350 degree (F) oven for 30 minutes.
- Alternatively, put the filling in one large or four small oven proof dishes and roll out one or four round tops. Lay across the filling and crimp the edges. Cut a few vent holes and bake for 25 minutes at 350.
Notes
Approximate nutrition info for filling:
899 calories, 34g fat, 20g net carbs, 116g protein
Approximate nutrition info for the crust:
1216 calories, 97g fat, 8g net carbs, 39g protein
This was a fun one for me and even my husband liked it, though he did say it would taste better in a “real” crust. What can I say, he’s not wrong. But this low carb version is definitely a keeper and I can finally eat pie again so no complaints here! I used coconut oil this time but I’m going to try butter in my next batch which may give it even more of a traditional pie crust flavor. Can’t wait for you guys to give this one a try and report back! I’m going to give you the nutrition info for the crust and filling separately, and in total, in case you use just the crust for another recipe. Enjoy!
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I love making my own pies but just don’t like using storebought pie crust. I would rather make my own. This recipe looks like it is definitely worth a try. Thank you for sharing! Happy Holidays!
I can’t comment on the filling, but the crust went above and beyond my expectations–delicious! I never though I’d find a flaky pie crust again after giving up wheat flour.
I made the crust for a pumpkin feta quiche thing (https://twospoons.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/pumpkin-feta-and-spinach-thing/) and it was just fabulous. Looking forward to making it again, perhaps with the filling you describe or a pumpkin pie.
I’m going to make this again tonight because both DH & I loved it the last time I made it. I subbed out the hearts for 1 cup broccoli and 1 cup of cauliflower and replaced the coconut milk with HWC. Also, I used almond meal instead of flaxseed in the crust. Magnificent. Thank you !
Made these today using 1 lb of cooked leftover turkey. They weren’t a success. The pastry kept falling apart when I tried to make it into the pastries, and the filling was dry dry dry. I’m now trying to brainstorm ideas for a gravy or such to make the rest palatable.
Melissa, I had the worst cravings this week and this fixed it. I filled it with spanokopita filling and it was wonderful. Cheese, onion and cauliflower is up next. You are an inspiration!
Oh, I’ve been looking to try my hand at a sour cream crust for a Hungarian pastry I make. You beat me to it, Melissa! I look forward to try this crust out. You don’t say how big the hand pie circles are before filling. Is this enough dough to make just one single-crust?
I made this tonight. My crust would not stay together though. :( I have no idea what I could have done wrong. I used milled flax seed. Is that a different product?
The cream cheese has to be soft for it to hold, and even then it’s tempermental! I really have to update that recipe to be easier to work with! Sorry it gave you trouble!
I am very excited to try this. My husband LOVES chicken pot pie. I was wondering if this crust would work for a rhubarb pie or other fruit pies?
I do not care for the taste of flax. I believe this would work with subbing almond flour for the flax. Do you think it would?
I’m not a huge fan of the taste either and almond flour will probably work, but it might be crumbly and hard to work with since the flax also has binding properties. Let us know if you try it and how it turns out!
This! This is awesome…definitely going to get the ingredients tomorrow :)
Hope they turn out well, let me know what you think!
This is fantastic! I made mini ones in a muffin tin because I have had a gastric sleeve and can only have small portions- 176 calories and 12 grams of protein per pie- what a great and filling lunch for me! THANK YOU!!
Thanks for the feedback Shannon, I love your idea of making mini pies in the muffin tins! So glad you liked them!
I have a recipe I use for ‘mock apples’ – it’s cayote squash steamed with lemon and butter then fried in butter, splenda and cinnamon – I am thinking that would be a great filling for this crust topped off with some heavy whipped cream!!
That sounds awesome Donna! I’ve never eaten chayote squash so this is a perfect excuse to try it out! Thanks!
Oh, dear, I loved to read this one, specially!
First of all, I’m a Brazilian, and it was a good surprise to read this recipe here. Probably, the second dish you ate here, the one with shrimp, was Moqueca de Camarão (Shrimp’s Moqueca).
Did you eat it in Rio?
xo
That’s sounds like what we ate! Sadly it wasn’t in Rio, it was in NYC at a restaurant we like called Via Brasil. We used to go there all the time when we lived in CT. I hear there is a good place in Charleston and I want to try it out sometime soon! I hope you like these – let me know how they come out!
I think if maybe a little bit of splenda or stevia is added to the crust recipe, it would make a really nice pie crust for a pumpkin pie. My husband has been begging for one, and I refuse to make it unless I can find a low-carb recipe for it. This might mean that he’s getting a pie for Easter!
Sounds delicious – hope you’ll share how it comes out with us!
I’m going to make the coconut cake today, and now this goes on my list of things to try as well! So glad I found this blog :)
Thanks Andrea, me too! :)
This looks awesome! I live in Michigan and a popular dish is a Pasty which is a meat pie with carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, and ground meat for the filling. I can’t wait to try making your crust so I can use it to make low-carb pasties (taking out the potatoes of course!)
I LOVE your blog, I’ve already made your flax pizza crust and your cheesy cauliflower, and both are now my go-to recipes when I want those things! My boyfriend agrees that they are better than others I’ve tried too! I can’t wait to make more of your recipes :-D
Thanks so much April! I love meat pasties! I was actually thinking about adding that to my list of things to try and keep meaning to look up the carbs for rutabaga because of it. I hope you like the crust – I ate half a meat pie cold for lunch today and the crust held up really well a day later. It’s best right out of the oven of course but really not bad the next day either – although I haven’t tried reheating them yet. Enjoy!
hey is that nutrition info for the whole pie, or for a serving? 20g is my whole day’s carb limit.
The nutrition info was given “separately, and in total” meaning it’s for all of the filling, and all of the crust. So if you made the four small pies and used each one as a single serving, it would be 7grams of net carbs per pie. And that would be hard to eat – I only ate half of one for an entire meal. Also, there is extra filling leftover after you make the four pies so technically it’s even less. Hope that helps.
Yummy, yummy and ones again thanks for the calorie Calculation….just love you for that :-)
You’re welcome! I actually thought of you when I was doing it yesterday and grumbling about what a pain it was! I thought, “people appreciate it so just suck it up!” :) I’m actually getting used to it so it’s not so bad anymore, but I still appreciate the mention! ha ha!
Hey Sevimel, are those pictures from the recipe? The typical dark flax color is absent.
They sure are – I used flax meal made from golden flax seeds rather than the dark brown. It has a slightly milder flavor than the dark brown seeds too which is nice. The cream cheese and coconut flour also help lighten it up in color so it looks and tastes more like the real thing. Enjoy!
Seriously, I’m more than happy to find your blog! The crackers were amazing and now I see this!
I’m Greek, and pies are a must have in my home. It’s so difficult when you’re trying for a low carb way of life..
Thank you! Soon to be made!
Thanks so much Eri! Hope you like this one!