The Black Pepper Chicken Pie is DonChef's chicken pie with an extra peppery kick. It uses the same pastry as the Original Chicken Pie, with a chicken filling seasoned more boldly with black pepper. It comes in Personal and Whole sizes, and its filling is also the base of our Chicken Shepherd's Pie.
What is the Black Pepper Chicken Pie?
The Black Pepper Chicken Pie is our chicken pie for people who like heat. Our menu describes it simply: the same pastry as the Original, with an extra peppery kick. The crust is the one from the recipe Chef Don Lim created, and the one the kitchen he co-founded bakes today under the DonChef name. The filling is chicken, seasoned more boldly with black pepper.
It sits on our menu directly beneath the Original Chicken Pie, and Eatbook’s round-up of Singapore pies lists the two together. For an outside view of this pie in particular, read donpies.com’s tasting notes on the Black Pepper.
How is it related to the Original?
The Black Pepper Chicken Pie is the Original’s closest sibling. It shares the pastry, which is the part of a pie that takes the most practice to get right, and it shares the kitchen and the small-batch bake. What changes is the seasoning of the filling.
We do not publish when the Black Pepper version first joined the menu, because we have not found a dated record of it. What we can say is that it is made by the same kitchen to the same standard as the Original, and that its filling is also used under the mash of our Chicken Shepherd’s Pie.
What does it taste like?
The Black Pepper Chicken Pie tastes familiar for the first moment and then it doesn’t. The crust gives the same golden, flaky start as the Original. Then the pepper arrives, not as a burn but as a warm, aromatic heat that builds as you eat and lingers after. Black pepper and chicken have a long, comfortable history in Singapore cooking, from black pepper crab to pepper-laced soups, and the pie leans into that.
Why black pepper?
Black pepper suits a chicken pie because it lifts a creamy filling without hiding it. Cream and potato are gentle flavours. Pepper gives them an edge and makes the chicken taste more savoury. It is also a seasoning Singaporeans know well, which makes a black pepper chicken pie feel local rather than imported.
Our craft note on pepper and seasoning in old-school pies goes further into why seasoning matters so much in a pie, where the filling is sealed in and cannot be adjusted at the table.
What sizes does it come in?
The Black Pepper Chicken Pie comes in the same two sizes as the Original on our printed menu: Personal, which feeds one, and Whole, which feeds four to six. A whole Black Pepper pie next to a whole Original makes a good table for a group that cannot agree.
Original or Black Pepper: which should I choose?
| If you want | Choose |
|---|---|
| DonChef’s pie as it has always been, with half an egg | Original Chicken Pie |
| The same pastry with more heat | Black Pepper Chicken Pie |
| A mash-topped tray with the black pepper filling | Chicken Shepherd’s Pie |
| Your first taste of the kitchen | Original first, then come back for Black Pepper |
Is it halal?
The Black Pepper Chicken Pie follows the same rule as everything we make: no pork, no lard; not Halal-certified. Our restaurant serves alcohol and welcomes pets, so we cannot be certified, and we do not claim that any product is Halal.
How should I keep and reheat it?
Treat it like the Original. Eat within about four hours of buying for the best crust, or refrigerate and eat within three days. Reheat until piping hot in the centre; our air fryer guidance is 150C for about five minutes, then 200C for about five minutes. Let it stand briefly before cutting. The rest of the range is on our pies page.
Sources and how we checked
- Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab, printed menu, February 2026
- Eatbook, Best pies in Singapore
