What size pie dish do I need?
A 23cm pie dish is the standard for a family chicken pie and serves 4 to 6 people. Choose 18 to 20cm for two to three portions, 26cm or a roasting tray for eight or more, and 10 to 12cm dishes for individual pies. Depth of 4 to 5cm suits a savoury filling.
By the chickenpie.net test kitchen · Published 4 August 2026
The standard and why it works
Most British recipes assume a 23cm round dish about 4 to 5cm deep, which holds roughly 1.2 to 1.5 litres of filling. That geometry matters: it is wide enough for the pastry to bake through and shallow enough for the centre of the filling to get piping hot before the crust overbrowns.
Measure your dish across the top rim, not the base, because most pie dishes slope. A sloping side also helps you lift out clean slices.
Sizes at a glance
Capacity grows faster than diameter suggests, so a small step up in size takes noticeably more filling.
| Dish diameter | Approximate capacity | Serves |
|---|---|---|
| 10 to 12cm | 250 to 350ml | 1 |
| 15 to 18cm | 600 to 800ml | 2 to 3 |
| 23cm | 1.2 to 1.5 litres | 4 to 6 |
| 26cm | 1.8 to 2 litres | 6 to 8 |
| 25 x 35cm tray | 2.5 litres plus | 10 to 12 |
Depth, lips and other details
For a savoury pie, prefer a dish with a flat rim at least 1.5cm wide. The rim is where the pastry lid anchors, and crimping onto a proper lip is what stops the crust sliding into the filling.
Very deep dishes look generous but bake unevenly: by the time a 7cm deep filling is hot in the middle, the pastry has been in the oven a long time. If your filling exceeds the dish, do not dome it. Freeze the surplus for a future pie instead, and use a pie bird in deep dishes to vent steam and support the lid.
If a recipe names a dish size you do not own, go smaller rather than larger. A slightly overfilled small dish bakes into a generous pie, while the same filling lost in a big dish gives a thin layer under a sagging lid.