Lazy Girl's Chicken Pot Pie | Sunday Night Suppers

Sunday Night Supper is a weekly tradition that holds memories for a lot of people. If there’s one thing every culture and every person can relate to, its the comfort that food brings when it reminds them of home. Whether that’s a giant pot of Noni’s red gravy or the first crisp bite of Grandma’s fried chicken, we can taste and smell the memory as if it happened yesterday. Sunday Night Supper each week is a time where everyone comes together to be with one another and catch up on each other’s lives while enjoying a great meal. As fun as summer is, this weekly tradition tends to take a back seat to the barbecues, graduation parties, birthday parties and vacations. Now that school is back in session and things have started to settle down, it’s time to start bringing the family around the table again for Sunday Night Suppers.

One of the best things about Sunday Night Supper is the comfort food. It’s the dishes that take too much time to prepare on a regular weeknight. Instead, they take a little extra prep than you probably want to handle and sometimes cook for hours. It’s bolognese instead of marinara, rump roast instead of steaks on the grill. Or in the case of today’s recipe, Chicken Pot Pie instead of pan-seared chicken breasts. Chicken Pot Pie is a classic American comfort food but its history actually goes back to Roman empire times. Bottom line, it’s a meat pie. Meat and veggies cooked in a creamy sauce and served pie-style with pastry dough. There are a lot of moving parts though. So instead of creating a recipe that scares you away from these memorable dinners, I morphed Chicken Pot Pie into a more approachable recipe. Let’s be honest though, I hate dealing with pie dough and the thought of having one part of this dish already finished sounded pretty darn good.

Chicken Pot Pie made in its classic form includes cooking the chicken and the vegetables, preparing the sauce (or roux) for the chicken and vegetables to bathe in, and prepping a seamless pie crust. This recipe cuts a few steps. For starters, instead of cooking the chicken we’re using a store-bought Rotisserie Chicken. Any leftover chicken shredded or diced would work though. Second, we’re cutting the whole pie dough step and using store-bought biscuits instead. It’s a trick that not only is equally as tasty but so simple and seamless. I kind of like it better because biscuits make it easier to scoop up the delicious sauce. If you have a cast-iron skillet or another type of very large oven-safe skillet, this recipe only gets better because that makes it one-dish! If not, no worries.

When making chicken pot pie, it’s important that you cook all the ingredients through before putting the final product in the oven. This recipe has a little more leniency since there isn’t a traditional pie crust. If you were to put undercooked ingredients in the pie crust to finish in the oven, it risks being a liquidy pie. Since we’re placing biscuits on top, it’s not vital to have the ingredients cooked through before baking but you want the end result to be creamy and chunkier. Almost like a very hearty stew. So I'd suggest to cook everything through. One more important note before you get cooking, store-bought biscuits or your own favorite biscuit recipe will work. The point of the pot pie going into the oven is to cook the dough. So regardless of what recipe or store-bought option you use, follow those directions. I used Pillsbury Homestyle Southern-Style Biscuits which is what you see pictured.

Lazy Girl’s Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. Butter + 4 tbsp. For the roux
1 Onion, diced
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
3 large Carrots, diced
3 Celery Stalks, sliced
¼ cup Flour
2 cups Chicken Stock
1 Rotisserie Chicken, shredded (about 3-4 cups)
3 Ears of Corn, kernels removed
2 cups frozen Peas
1 tsp. Thyme
Salt & Pepper
1 package store-bought Biscuits

Directions:
1 - Preheat the oven to 325 degrees*. Prepare the filling.

2 - Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Cook 15-20 minutes until the carrots have softened. Remove from the skillet and set aside.

3 - Back in the skillet, melt 4 tbsp of the butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the flour. Whisk constantly until the roux turns a golden brown color. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock, continuing to whisk to remove any clumps. Let simmer 3-5 minutes until thickened.

4 - Add the vegetables back to the skillet with the shredded rotisserie chicken, peas and corn. Stir to coat all the ingredients with the sauce. Bring back to a simmer, season with thyme, salt and pepper.

5 - Top the pot pie mixture in the skillet with the biscuits. Move to the oven and bake 20-25 minutes* until the biscuits are cooked through and the filling is bubbly**. Let sit about 10 minutes before serving.

NOTES:
If you do not have a cast-iron skillet, prepare the filling in a large skillet and move to a buttered baking dish to finish the recipe in the oven.

*Oven temperature and baking time depend on the store-bought biscuits that you purchase. Adjust if necessary according to the package directions
**If the biscuits are browning too quickly on top but the rest still needs time, cover the dish with tin foil and remove 2-3 minutes before taking it out of the oven