How to make Chicken and Biscuits (a casserole)
When Sonia and Zoe stayed with my parents recently, my mom made a dish from my childhood: chicken and biscuits.
It's basically leftover chicken or turkey in gravy, topped with biscuit dough and then baked until the biscuits are browned. Serious comfort food!
Sonia in particular was quite enamored with this casserole, so Mr. FG and I made a pan when we got home.
But I felt like the proportions weren't quite like what I remember my mom using.
(The recipe is sort of cobbled together and not very specific and my reading of it was a little off, I think. My grandma wrote recipes directing stuff like, "bake until browned" with no oven temperature or time!)
So I gave it a second try with some tweaks.
(More sauce and chicken, a different biscuit dough, a deeper pan)
The result was most excellent.
Several of you asked for the recipe after seeing the dish on Instagram.
And I wanted to write down what I did so I can replicate this version.
So, here we are! This post will serve you AND me. 😉
The gravy is not at all complicated to make. Melt butter, stir in flour, boil for a minute.
Then you whisk in a 50/50 mixture of chicken broth and milk.
Bring that to a boil, whisking the whole time, and once it boils, whisk and cook it for one minute.
You should have nice, smooth gravy at this point.
Add 3 cups of cooked chicken, and you've got your filling. A rotisserie chicken is a super easy option if you don't feel like cooking chicken.
To make the biscuits, just mix the dry ingredients, add in the cream, stir, and then knead for 30 seconds.
EASY PEASY.
Press the dough about ¾ inch thick, and use a small biscuit cutter to cut circles. Place biscuits on top of chicken and gravy.
I'll use a cutter one size smaller next time and I think the biscuits will fit perfectly.
Bake the pan, uncovered, in a preheated 375° F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the biscuits are browned and gravy is bubbling.
Let it cool for at least 5 minutes before serving, or you will definitely burn your mouth.
Let's talk about pans for just a sec.
If you have an 8x8 pan with deep sides, you can use that.
I personally use my 11-cup Pyrex dish, which is about the same total size as an 8x8 pan, but with taller sides, which helps prevent boiling over in the oven.
This pan is one of my VERY favorites; I use it all the time, for overnight French toast casserole, for marinating meats, for storing leftovers...it is just so super useful and I love that it has a lid for storage purposes (not for cooking, because it's plastic!)
The cheapest way to get it on Amazon is in a three-piece set of rectangular dishes, so that's what I'd recommend.
And I think that's all the words I've got to say. Printable recipe below!
Chicken and Biscuits
This comfort food casserole comes together quickly, especially if you use a rotisserie chicken. Don't be scared by the homemade biscuit topping; the dough is super quick to make!
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-size pieces (rotisserie chicken works great!)
Gravy
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 teaspoon salt (depending how salty your broth is)
- pepper to taste
Cream biscuits
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
Instructions
Notes
If your broth is salty, taste the gravy before adding any additional salt.
Note that you need 1 ½ cups of heavy cream for the biscuit dough; shop accordingly!
If you have a larger household, you can double this and use a 9x13 inch pan. Just make sure it has high sides so that the filling doesn't bubble over. If you're worried about it, you can put a large sheet pan underneath your 9x13 pan.
I use my Pyrex 11 cup rectangular dish for a single recipe and it works perfectly. I linked to the set I have below. I LOVE these rectangular dishes.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 675Total Fat 44gSaturated Fat 24gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 16gCholesterol 167mgSodium 1110mgCarbohydrates 45gFiber 1gSugar 4gProtein 26g
Interesting. I showed this to my British husband and he called it a chicken cobbler (the biscuits/scones/dumplings on top resemble the cobbles on old streets, so I'm told). We live in Australia (I'm Australian) and what you call biscuits I would call scones and my husband insists they're dumplings, and what you call gravy I would call a white sauce (although white sauce doesn't usually have stock in it). And I would have put onions and garlic with the chicken. But I make something very similar on the other side of the world. It fascinates me the way the same things are named differently in different places and are cooked oh so slightly differently. I'm going to try your gravy with the chicken stock. Thank you for sharing. Frances
Yes, that's what would make the difference between white sauce and gravy to me...the stock. This is what I'd call a milk gravy.
And it definitely does look like a cobbler to me! We make fruit dishes here in the US with a cooked fruit filling, topping with a biscuit or sweet crumble mixture, and that's called a cobbler. So, this is a little like a savory cobbler.
I did not know that this is why they call it a cobbler.
Mind.
Blown.
The sweet crumble topping is called crumble in the UK, like apple crumble. These here looks like dry dumplings (UK dumplings wetter as they sit in the stew).
I made this for dinner last night and my kids declared it the best dinner ever! They helped make the biscuits too. I've never made them with cream before - it's much easier than rubbing in butter. They were delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Right? The cream biscuits are so, so easy.
I'm really glad your kids liked it!
This looks very similar to a Southern sausage biscuit and gravy bake I make on Christmas morning. Sounds like a great one for when cooler temps ever get here, thanks!
I love cream biscuits! Much easier than flaky butter biscuits. So, I’ve always been weary of baking in those glass dishes, but I guess it’s OK?
Oh yeah, they're oven-safe and I bake in them all the time. I have glass 8x8, 9x13, and then this 11-cup one and they're all good in the oven.
You're not supposed to broil in them, though.
For the non-Americans in the crowd, how does this differ from chicken pot pie?
(Still looks yummy!)
I was coming on here to say all you need to do is add a pile of veggies and this is my lazy pot pie! Everyone gets a biscuit and lots of filling!
My mom made what we called chicken pot pie, and that was like an actual pie, with a bottom crust and a top crust. It looked basically like an apple pie, except with a chicken and veggie filling.
I've always preferred biscuits over pie crust, so this dish was much more my favorite!
Yes to the veggies! I add whatever veggies are leftover or languishing in the crisper ( par cook the firmer ones like carrots first) Toupin the nutrition factor. Leftover corn kernels cut off the cob, or even frozen corn or peas straight from the bag, are a favourite
I definitely would add veggies and serve it up as chicken pot pie.(I've also made chicken pot pie with a double pie crust, but this is a quick, very yummy version.)
My picky 14 year old, does not like Chicken Casserole because of the "soup". We will be trying this soon with the hope I can find something she'll like. Thanks for the recipe.
I make something similar to this but I never named it. If I add veggies, I call it pot pie, but usually I make pot pie with a double pie crust, rarely the biscuits. This is real comfort food.
It's funny, I've made biscuits for 40 years and never made cream biscuits. I think I will try them!
Cream biscuits are delicious. It's 100 degrees outside today so I will save this recipe for fall and will add veggies because I love a one-dish meal. It looks yum!
Is heavy cream the same thing as heavy whipping cream? I feel like I should know this already.
Yep, yep. I used heavy whipping cream. You can also use light cream or half and half, but I don't think that makes biscuits as tasty. 😉
I made it tonight and it is a winner! I'm throwing a retirement party for my husband soon and believe this will be on our menu. Thanks!
Oh, yay!
Thanks for sharing Kristen - I love anything resembling gravy/sauce/soupy meat & the topping looks yum real warming comfort food, so happy for you could recreate this for yourself & your daughter; special.
I just made the chicken and gravy part. Can I make up the biscuits and set on the gravy then refrigerate until tonight?
I imagine that would work out all right, although maybe you'd need to bake it longer, since the biscuits and the filling will both be cold.
I'd take the pan out of the fridge a little before you want to bake it to let the chill come off a bit before baking.
Thought I'd share this: when I need cooked chicken for a recipe, I usually just poach some chicken breasts. Easy, fast & cheap! Just put raw (not frozen) skinless, boneless chicken breasts in a cold skillet, cover them with water, put on a lid and get the water to boiling. Once the water has boiled, turn the heat down and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. I generally check the internal temp with a meat thermometer, but it's usually spot on. You can season the chicken or poach in broth for some flavor (pretty bland otherwise). Anyway, it's easy to make while you're doing other things.
This is very similar to how my family makes chicken pot pie - my mom doesn't like making pie crust, and really dislikes soggy pie crust (which is what frequently happens to the bottom crust of traditional pot pie), so she would just do drop biscuit dough on top of a filling like this one.
However, she was also a bit of a nutrition nut, so she'd mixed a bag of frozen mixed vegetables into everything, including this!
I thought this was basically what my mom made and called it Chicken A la king. Okay, maybe adding some peas and carrots, but otherwise the same. Something like this. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24007/easy-a-la-king-biscuit-casserole/
This was a win with my family down under, thank you for the recipe!
The biscuits were easy to make and tasted delicious-so much better than any scone I've made. A very adaptable recipe which is always useful.
Those cream biscuits are insanely good, aren't they??
I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Does this dish freeze well? I am preparing meals for postpartum and this comfort food would be such a yummy dish to eat during that time.
You know, I have never tried it! But here's what I'd do: make a batch as usual, but set aside a small portion, freeze it for a few days, and then thaw it.
That way you can test a little bit and see if you like the results.