Chicken potpie is true comfort food. We love to order a piping-hot potpie at diners and family restaurants, but the dish can seem daunting to make at home (especially during the week!). The beauty of this chicken potpie casserole is that it captures the rich, from-scratch flavor without as much prep work. From start to finish, the whole recipe is ready in under an hour. It may just join your list of best chicken recipes ever!
Our chicken potpie casserole features the familiar tender veggies and chicken blanketed in a creamy gravy. Instead of being tucked inside a flaky pie crust, however, the filling is topped with giant, fluffy biscuits. The biscuit dough comes together in mere minutes. Then you simply cut out the rounds and drop them on top of the casserole, where they bake up beautifully golden.
As one of our creamiest chicken casserole recipes, chicken potpie casserole is not only a tasty weeknight dinner dish, it’s also a great choice for potlucks, brunches with friends, and weekend family meals.
Ingredients for Chicken Potpie Casserole
- Cooked chicken: White meat and dark meat will all work in this recipe, so pick which you prefer! Use leftover chicken from a roast or shredded rotisserie chicken (as this recipe is among the best rotisserie chicken recipes), or cook some fresh chicken just for this dish. Here are 10 ways to cook chicken, including easy methods like poaching and baking.
- Vegetables: The recipe features a classic potpie combination of carrots, onions and mushrooms, all softened in butter. Frozen peas are added to the mixture just before baking. If you’re short on time, use frozen diced vegetables for a quick fix.
- Gravy: One of the best parts of a potpie is the gravy, and there’s plenty of it in our casserole. Flour, milk and broth come together to create the luscious sauce. Use store-bought or homemade chicken broth for the gravy. Follow some of Grandma’s homemade gravy tips to make it perfect.
- Butter: Cutting cubes of cold butter into flour is the first step to making these biscuits. We tested this recipe with lightly salted butter, but if you want to use unsalted, you may need to adjust the seasoning of the biscuit dough a bit.
- Baking powder: Baking powder is the sole rising agent for our fluffy biscuits.
- Milk: You’ll use milk in the gravy and the biscuits. It adds richness to the biscuits, though they’re not as tangy as buttermilk biscuits.
Directions
Step 1: Cook the veggies
Preheat the oven to 400°F, and grease an 11×7-inch baking dish. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, carrots and onions. Saute and stir the veggies until they’re softened.
Step 2: Make the gravy
Sprinkle flour over the butter and veggie mixture, and stir over medium heat until it’s completely blended in. Pour in the chicken broth and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir the mixture for two minutes until it’s thickened.
Step 3: Stir in the remaining filling ingredients
Add in the chicken, frozen peas and pimientos; continue stirring until all of the ingredients are heated through. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Step 4: Make the biscuits
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter (a must-have baking tool) or two forks to cut in the cold butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in just enough milk to moisten the mixture.
Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface; knead the dough 8 to 10 times to bring it together. Pat it out into a slab about 1/2-inch thick. Use a 2-1/2-inch cutter to cut out the biscuits.
Editor’s Tip:Â If you don’t have a pastry cutter, no problem! Simply cut the slab of dough into equal squares or rectangles.
Step 5: Assemble and bake
Arrange the biscuits over the top of the chicken mixture in the baking dish. Bake the casserole for 15 to 20 minutes, until the biscuits look puffed and golden brown.
Recipe Variations
- Try other vegetables: Here’s your chance to make this recipe your own. Broccoli florets, cauliflower, diced bell peppers, corn, chopped leeks and minced garlic can be used (from fresh or frozen) and sauteed in butter until tender. Fresh greens like kale or Swiss chard can also be cooked with the other veggies. To add frozen spinach, let it thaw, then squeeze out the excess water before cooking.
- Use a different meat:Â This recipe is equally good for using leftover turkey meat from the holiday table. You can even use cooked ground turkey or chicken.
- Add seasoning:Â The recipe as written has a mild flavor from the sauteed vegetables, chicken broth and a little salt. To punch it up a little, get creative with additional seasonings. Stir in some black pepper, ground sage, smoked paprika, onion powder or garlic powder. Salt-free spice blends are a great way to add lots of flavor, too.
- Use biscuit dough from a tube: When you’re pinched for time, refrigerated biscuit dough from a tube can be used (and omit the ingredients listed under biscuit topping). Our Test Kitchen recommends these best store-bought biscuits above the rest.
- Make a crescent roll crust: Use refrigerated crescent roll dough to make a flaky topping that resembles a traditional potpie. Look for crescent dough sheets that unroll as one solid piece. If you can only find the perforated roll dough, just pinch the seams together. Unroll the dough, transfer it to the top of the casserole and bake as directed. (If the dough is browning too quickly, drape a sheet of foil over the top to shield it.)
How to Store Chicken Potpie Casserole
The casserole lasts for three to five days in the fridge. Allow it to cool completely, then cover the dish tightly before refrigerating. Reheat the casserole, covered, in a low-temperature oven. You can also portion the casserole and biscuits into individual containers for individual servings that are easy to reheat in the microwave, making them perfect for a take-to-work lunch.
Can you freeze chicken potpie casserole?
Chicken potpie casserole is a great make-ahead freezer meal. You just need to freeze the two parts of the dish separately. Follow directions through Step 3 to make the filling. Pour the mixture into a freezer-proof or disposable aluminum baking dish, and tightly cover. Once you make and cut out the biscuits, place them in a separate container in a single layer. Store components in the freezer for up to two to three months. Let the filling and biscuits thaw in the fridge. Place the biscuits on top of the filling in the baking dish, and bake as directed.
Chicken Potpie Casserole Tips
How can I make individual potpie servings?
It’s easy to transform this large casserole into cute, individual potpies. Instead of using a large baking dish, divide the potpie mixture evenly among oven-safe, single-serving soup crocks (like those used for French onion soup!). Top each crock with a round of biscuit dough, then bake as directed.
How can you thicken chicken potpie filling?
The chicken potpie filling for this casserole should be a good consistency, but if it seems thick, cook the sauce a bit longer to thicken up. Or add a cornstarch slurry. It’s one of the best ways to thicken sauce.
What can you serve with chicken potpie casserole?
Full of protein, vegetables and biscuits, chicken potpie casserole is already a meal in itself. However, you can always add a crisp salad to the dinner table. One of our side salad recipes would surely fit the bill.
