Chicken Pot Pie Casserole with Cheddar Biscuits (32g Protein)

Chicken pot pie casserole with cheddar biscuits is the pot pie I make when I do not want to roll out a crust: a creamy, from-scratch chicken and vegetable filling in a baking dish, topped with drop biscuits full of sharp cheddar and brushed with garlic butter as they come out of the oven. It is 55 minutes start to finish and 32 grams of protein a serving.

My classic chicken pot pie with a puff pastry lid is still the Sunday version. This is the weeknight one, and honestly the one my family asks for more, because the biscuits soak up the gravy underneath and stay fluffy on top, the same thing that makes my chicken and dumplings so good. I tested the biscuit dough four times to get them cooked through without a doughy bottom.

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Why this chicken pot pie casserole is better with biscuits.

• Drop biscuits need no rolling and no cutter. Flour, baking powder, cold butter, cheddar and buttermilk stirred in one bowl and dropped in mounds on the filling. They bake into craggy, golden tops with a soft underside that soaks up the sauce. Ten minutes of work, max.
• A real roux filling, no canned soup. Butter, onion, carrot and celery, then flour, then broth and milk, whisked into a thick, silky gravy. It tastes like homemade because it is, and you control the salt. It is the same base as my chicken broccoli rice casserole.
• Rotisserie chicken makes it a weeknight dinner. Three cups of shredded store-bought chicken skips 30 minutes of cooking and gives the filling 32g protein a serving. Check your own numbers with the protein calculator.

Here's what you'll need.

For the filling: butter, a yellow onion, carrots, celery, garlic, flour, chicken broth, milk, fresh thyme, a rotisserie chicken and frozen peas. For the biscuits: flour, baking powder, garlic powder, salt, very cold butter, sharp cheddar and buttermilk, plus a little melted garlic butter and parsley for brushing.

Here's how it all comes together.

STEP 1 — SOFTEN THE VEGETABLES IN BUTTER

Heat the oven to 400°F and butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. Melt 5 tablespoons of butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery with ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, for 7 to 8 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent and the carrots are starting to soften. Add the garlic and thyme for the last minute.

STEP 2 — WHISK IN THE FLOUR

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir constantly for 2 minutes, until it coats everything and smells toasty. This is the roux that thickens the filling, and cooking it for those two minutes keeps the gravy from tasting like raw flour.

STEP 3 — ADD BROTH AND MILK

Slowly pour in the chicken broth, stirring as you go so no lumps form, then add the milk. Bring it to a simmer and cook, stirring often, for 4 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is thick, creamy and coats the back of a spoon. It should look thicker than you think it needs to, because the chicken and peas will loosen it.

STEP 4 — FOLD IN CHICKEN AND PEAS

Stir in the shredded rotisserie chicken, frozen peas (no need to thaw), the remaining salt and the pepper. Taste the filling and adjust the salt, since rotisserie chickens vary a lot. Pour the filling into the baking dish and spread it out evenly.

STEP 5 — DROP THE CHEDDAR BISCUITS ON TOP

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, garlic powder and salt. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers until it looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-size pieces, stir in the cheddar, then stir in the cold buttermilk just until a shaggy dough forms. Drop 12 big spoonfuls over the hot filling, leaving small gaps so steam can escape.

STEP 6 — BAKE AND BRUSH WITH GARLIC BUTTER

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the biscuits are deep golden and the filling is bubbling at the edges. Brush the biscuits with the garlic butter and sprinkle with parsley straight out of the oven. Let it rest 10 minutes before serving so the filling thickens back up.

If you love comfort food like this but want more dinners that cook themselves, stews, braises and creamy chicken dishes made in the slow cooker, this is my go-to book, the Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook.

Things I learned while testing this recipe.

• The filling must be hot when the biscuits go on. In testing, biscuits dropped on a cooled filling had raw, gummy bottoms. On a hot filling they start cooking from underneath immediately, so the whole biscuit bakes through in the same 25 minutes.
• Keep the biscuit butter and buttermilk cold. I cube the butter and put it in the freezer while I make the filling. Cold butter makes steam pockets in the oven, which is what makes the biscuits tall and flaky instead of flat and dense.
• Make the sauce thicker than you think. The peas release water and the chicken loosens it further. If the sauce looks exactly right in the skillet, it will be soupy under the biscuits. Aim for thick gravy that holds a trail when you drag a spoon through it.
• Leave gaps between the biscuits. A solid lid of dough traps steam and the undersides stay doughy. Twelve mounds with a little space between them lets the filling bubble up and the steam escape.

Why this is the pot pie I make on a weeknight.

• No crust to roll, no canned soup. One skillet, one bowl, one baking dish, and every part of it is homemade. Drop biscuits are the easiest bread there is, and they make it feel like a special dinner.
• Thirty-two grams of protein in a serving of comfort food. Rotisserie chicken, milk and cheddar biscuits add up, so one scoop with a green side is a complete, filling dinner.
• It makes ahead and feeds a crowd. Make the filling the day before and refrigerate it, then reheat it in the dish and top with fresh biscuit dough to bake. It feeds six generously, and I have doubled it into two dishes for potlucks.

Here's what I'd serve with this.

• Air fryer Brussels sprouts — a crispy green side that cuts through the creamy filling.
• Roasted cauliflower — it roasts at the same 400°F right beside the casserole.
• Mediterranean chickpea salad — a bright, lemony salad to balance the richness.
• Fried cabbage — a Southern side that belongs next to biscuits and gravy.
• Apple crisp — the dessert for a proper comfort food dinner.

Just in case you have leftovers.

Storing: Cool the casserole, cover the dish tightly and refrigerate for up to 4 days. The biscuits will soften as they absorb the filling. To freeze, cool completely, wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months, or freeze the filling alone and bake with fresh biscuits later.

Reheating: Reheat individual servings in the microwave for 1½ to 2 minutes. To crisp the biscuits back up, warm the whole dish covered with foil at 350°F for 20 minutes, then uncover for the last 5. A serving in the air fryer at 325°F for 5 to 6 minutes brings back the crunchy biscuit top.

More easy comfort food recipes...

Easy chicken pot pie Homemade chicken and dumplings Chicken broccoli rice casserole Chicken bacon ranch casserole

For more creamy chicken comfort food, my creamy chicken and wild rice soup is the one-pot soup version. And today's other new comfort food recipe is my slow cooker Mississippi chicken, buttery ranch shredded chicken piled on toasted buns.

More comfort food, cooked low and slow.

The Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is full of cozy, creamy dinners like this one, chicken stews, braises and one-pot meals that cook hands-off and taste like Sunday.

Get the cookbook on Amazon

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