Reduce Your Chicken Pot Pie Prep Time With Biscuits

Chicken pot pie might just be the ultimate comfort food. A savory chicken-and-veggie filling sandwiched between two flaky pie crusts — what's not to love? The answer: the prep time! Making your own chicken pot pie completely from scratch can take more than two hours, and that's if you're using pre-cooked chicken. If you buy your protein raw, the process will take even longer.

Thankfully, there's an easy trick to cut down your time in the kitchen when it's chicken pot pie night. Canned biscuit dough is a quick and delicious substitute for homemade pie crust. Plus, since canned biscuits are great for breakfast and have plenty of other uses — like making your own big-batch donut holes — it makes sense to keep a tin or two stocked in the fridge.

Simply prepare the filling in an oven-safe skillet (like cast iron), top with biscuits, brush with an egg wash or half-and-half, and bake. If you prefer a crisper bottom on your biscuits, they can be baked separately and placed on top of the filling just before serving.

When buying your canned biscuits, it's best to use a flaky-style biscuit rather than homestyle, as they will have a more similar texture to the traditional pie crust topping. However, any kind of biscuit will work in a pinch! Feel free to use frozen biscuits instead of canned; just follow the baking instructions as a guideline for the temperature and time to bake the whole pot pie.

Punch up the savoriness by swapping in Cheddar Bay biscuits for plain, or by topping canned biscuits with a garlic-and-herb butter. Sprinkle with delicate sea salt flakes to enhance the pot pie's flavors and earn extra presentation points. While chicken pot pie is truly a one-dish meal, it can be paired with a quick side salad or roasted root veggies if desired.

If you're really pressed for time, opt for chopped rotisserie chicken and frozen or steam-in-the-bag mixed veggies, and look for recipes that call for canned soup in the filling instead of a made-from-scratch gravy. If even that sounds like too much work, check out Food Republic's hacks to dress up store-bought pot pies.