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This simple weeknight-friendly chicken pot pie casserole recipe delivers big on flavor with a creamy homemade filling and store-bought flaky biscuit topping.
Heading into fall and winter, easy cozy meals are on everyone’s radar. This casserole is a comfort food favorite that pairs a flavorful creamy chicken and vegetable pot pie filling with store-bought flaky biscuits. It’s a no-fail, no-stress meal that’s sure to become part of your family’s regular dinner rotation!
What Makes This Chicken Casserole a Winner
- It’s a semi-homemade meal, which means it’s not fussy or super time-consuming, but it still has all the flavors of a home cooked dinner. We make the creamy chicken and vegetable stew from scratch (no canned cream soups here!), but we use refrigerated flaky biscuits on top. And of course if you have time, you can make homemade biscuits for the topping too!
- Here we use simple ingredients, so you might already have everything on hand to make this recipe. This dish showcases how a few ordinary ingredients can marry beautifully and create something that’s more than the sum of its parts. And it’s budget-friendly!
- This creamy, cozy chicken casserole comes together in just 1 hour, which makes it a weeknight friendly dinner for evenings that aren’t too crazy. You’ll need about 25 minutes of hands-on prep time and 35 minutes for it to babysit itself in the oven. Pro Tip: Clean up while dinner is in the oven, and then you can enjoy the rest of the evening after your meal.
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
- Unsalted butter – For this recipe, we build a rich base flavor by sautéing onion, carrot, and celery in butter. After that, we use the butter to essentially make a roux by adding flour, similar to how you’d make a roux for thickening gravies, stews, and sauces (such as béchamel and velouté).
- Onion – Onion adds a delicious savory base flavor for this creamy pot pie filling. You’ll need a large onion, which is about 2 cups diced.
- Carrot – Carrot is a classic ingredient in chicken pot pie. It adds earthy sweetness that pairs well savory onion.
- Celery – If you think you don’t like celery, try it in a soup, stew, or pot pie. Its flavor mellows and transforms into something almost sweet and nutty. And it doesn’t have a stringy texture like celery sticks because we slice it.
- Garlic – A ton of the flavor of this creamy stew comes from the garlic.
- Fresh thyme – This herb adds a bright, citrusy note that pairs well with chicken and offsets the creamy sauce.
- Flour – This is the thickener in our chicken pot pie filling. We’re going for a sauce that’s thicker than a creamy soup, but not so thick that it’s stodgy.
- Chicken stock – Use a good quality homemade or store-bought chicken stock for rich depth of flavor.
- Whole milk – I like to use whole milk for the richness it adds, but you can use any kind of milk you like. To avoid curdling, make sure it’s at room temperature (pull it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before using it).
- Yellow potato – Use a waxy yellow potato, such as Yukon Gold, so it won’t disintegrate into the stew. You can leave the peel on if you like.
- Salt and black pepper – These pantry-staple spices make sure this dish isn’t bland.
- Frozen green peas – Thaw and drain them before adding so you don’t water down the filling.
- Cooked, chopped chicken – Rotisserie chicken, leftover roast chicken, or leftover turkey all work well here.
- Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layers Original Biscuits – Look for this in the refrigerated area of the grocery store, usually in the dairy aisle near the butter.
- Egg that’s lightly beaten with water – To make egg wash to brush on top of the biscuits, lightly beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon water. This helps them turn a beautiful golden brown while baking.
How to Make This Chicken Pot Pie Casserole Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Add the butter to a 5 or 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Once it’s mostly melted, add the onion, carrot, and celery, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic and thyme, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute, continuing to stir constantly.
- Add the chicken stock, milk, potato, salt, and black pepper, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer 8 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the peas and chopped chicken.
- Arrange the biscuits on top of the filling, spacing them evenly apart. Lightly brush the biscuit tops with egg wash.
- Bake (uncovered) until the biscuits are golden and the filling is bubbling throughout, about 20 minutes. Serve warm, garnished with fresh thyme.
Pro Tip: Don’t worry if you don’t have a 5 or 6-quart Dutch oven. This recipe will also work with a 4-quart Dutch oven with 7 biscuits on top. You can bake the eighth biscuit separately on a baking tray, or save it to make for breakfast.
Meal Prep, Storage & Reheating
One of the best things about this recipe is that it makes 8 servings. If you have a family of four, you will get two meals out of it – leftovers are even better! Or if you’re cooking for just you and your sweetie, make this for meal prep because it freezes well.
You can store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you want to reheat it, thaw the casserole if it was frozen. To make sure the biscuits crisp again, reheat it the oven. Put the amount you want to reheat in an oven-safe dish, cover it with foil, and put it in an oven preheated to 350F until warm. If you don’t mind the biscuits not being crispy, you can reheat it in the microwave.
Expert Tips
- You aren’t limited to store-bought biscuits on top! You can use homemade buttermilk biscuits, easy drop biscuit dough, fluffy chicken and dumpling biscuits, puff pastry, or pie crust (you’ll need enough shortcrust dough for 1 9-inch pie, which is half of this recipe).
- If you’re pressed for time you can simplify this casserole even more. Stir together 2 (10-ounce) cans of cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom soup), 3/4 cup of milk or chicken stock, a 20-ounce bag of thawed and drained frozen mixed vegetables, 3 cups of cooked chopped chicken, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon garlic powder. Follow the same cooking method.
Variations
- Use leftover turkey instead of chicken. Bookmark this recipe for after Thanksgiving if you’re always looking for delicious dinner ideas using leftovers!
- Simplify and frozen vegetables instead of fresh carrot and celery. Omit the fresh carrot and fresh celery. Use a 20-ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables (with carrots, green beans, corn, and peas) instead. Thaw and drain the mixed vegetables, and add them when you would have added the frozen peas.
- Swap out the herbs. Instead of fresh thyme, use your favorite fresh herbs, such as rosemary, marjoram, parsley, chives, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Butter, flour, chicken stock, milk, and seasonings. To make chicken pot pie gravy, we cook the butter and flour to form a roux, and then whisk in the liquids and seasonings.
If we just add milk it would become béchamel, and if we only add chicken stock it would be called velouté. However, here we add both chicken stock (for richness) and milk (for creaminess) to the roux for the best of both worlds.
Flour is the classic thickener for pot pie filling. Sometimes I use cream cheese as a thickener to reduce the carbs. If you want to use cream cheese here instead of flour, reduce the chicken stock and milk to 1 cup each, omit the flour, and add 8 ounces of cream cheese.
A pot pie has crust! The crust is either on the top and bottom or just on the top. Alternatively, casserole doesn’t have a bottom crust, but it usually has some kind of topping, such as pastry crust, biscuits, breadcrumbs, crushed crackers, etc.
More Family-Friendly Chicken Casserole Dinners to Try
- Chicken Stuffed Shells with Alfredo Sauce
- 30-Minute Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Million Dollar Chicken Casserole with Ritz Crackers
Let’s Connect
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Chicken Pot Pie Casserole Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 1 1/2 cups peeled and sliced carrot
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 8 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves plus more for garnish
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk at room temperature
- 1 cup yellow potato peeled and diced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup frozen green peas thawed and drained
- 3 cups cooked chopped chicken such as rotisserie chicken
- 16.3 ounce tube Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layers Original Biscuits
- 1 large egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water (for egg wash)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Add the butter to a 5 or 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Once it’s mostly melted, add the onion, carrot, and celery, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic and thyme, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute, continuing to stir constantly.
- Add the chicken stock, milk, potato, salt, and black pepper, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer 8 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the peas and chopped chicken.
- Arrange the biscuits on top of the filling, spacing them evenly apart. Lightly brush the biscuit tops with egg wash.
- Bake (uncovered) until the biscuits are golden and the filling is bubbling throughout, about 20 minutes.
- Serve warm, garnished with fresh thyme.
Notes
- Meal Prep: One of the best things about this recipe is that it makes 8 servings. If you have a family of four, you will get two meals out of it – leftovers are even better! Or if you’re cooking for just you and your sweetie, make this for meal prep because it freezes well.
- Storage: You can store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Reheating: When you want to reheat it, thaw the casserole if it was frozen. To make sure the biscuits crisp again, reheat it the oven. Put the amount you want to reheat in an oven-safe dish, cover it with foil, and put it in an oven preheated to 350F until warm. If you don’t mind the biscuits not being crispy, you can reheat it in the microwave.
- Other Topping Ideas: You aren’t limited to store-bought biscuits on top! You can use homemade buttermilk biscuits, easy drop biscuit dough, fluffy chicken and dumpling biscuits, puff pastry, or pie crust (you’ll need enough shortcrust dough for 1 9-inch pie, which is half of this recipe).
- The Super Easy Version: If you’re pressed for time you can simplify this casserole even more. Stir together 2 (10-ounce) cans of cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom soup), 3/4 cup of milk or chicken stock, a 20-ounce bag of thawed and drained frozen mixed vegetables, 3 cups of cooked chopped chicken, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon garlic powder. Follow the same cooking method.
- The Cooking Vessel: Don’t worry if you don’t have a 5 or 6-quart Dutch oven. This recipe will also work with a 4-quart Dutch oven with 7 biscuits on top. You can bake the eighth biscuit separately on a baking tray, or save it to make for breakfast.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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