This recipe for Chicken and Biscuit Casserole is a spin on one I’ve been making for friends and family since I had my first kitchen in college. Back in those days, we called it “Sexy Casserole,” because it’s the perfect balance between a vegetable-heavy meal and an indulgent splurge. I’m still making this casserole today because it is endlessly versatile—a true “everything but the kitchen sink” kind of meal—and always satisfying.
Can I substitute…everything?
Yes, you can substitute just about every ingredient in this recipe! That’s why this casserole is an absolute stunner! It can be made at the drop of a hat with whatever you happen to have on hand. For instance:
- Ground chicken: Sub it for ground turkey, pork or beef.
- Vegetables: Use whatever you have in the crisper or freezer. (You just want about 4 cups of chopped vegetables, total.)
- Seasonings: You can use any of your favorite herbs, spices, or seasoning blends.
- Cheese: Try parmesan or pecorino, white cheddar, asiago – or even without cheese!
Do I have to make the biscuits from scratch?
Nope! You don’t have to make the biscuits from scratch! You can buy a boxed mix and add the cheese to the dry ingredients before following the package instructions for suggested bake times and temperatures. Or, make it even easier, and top it with canned biscuits straight from the tube!
Do I really need to use buttermilk?
Nope! Buttermilk isn’t necessary. Any dairy products like heavy cream, half & half, or whole milk will work, too! You can also make a wonderful buttermilk substitute by stirring ¼ tsp lemon juice into ½ cup of milk or cream and let it sit for 1-2 minutes. (And like magic, you have buttermilk!)
If you don’t want to buy buttermilk just for this recipe, you can use the leftovers to make Soda Bread or Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake. Or freeze the leftover buttermilk to use later!
Can I make chicken and biscuit casserole in one pot or pan?
Absolutely! This casserole can be baked right in the same skillet you used on the stovetop–IF that skillet is oven-safe at high temperatures. (No plastic handles, people!) Cast iron or stainless steel skillets are both great options.
Chicken and Biscuit Casserole
Servings 6Ingredients
Casserole Base
- 4 Tbsp salted butter, divided ($0.60)
- 1 lb. ground chicken ($4.49)
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes ($0.05)
- 1 tsp rubbed sage ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper ($0.02)
- 1 yellow onion, diced ($0.37)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 3 carrots, sliced ($0.19)
- 3 stalks celery, sliced ($0.48)
- 1 cup frozen corn ($0.47)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth* ($0.18)
Biscuit Topping
- 3 Tbsp salted butter, divided ($0.45)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk ($0.32)
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour ($0.12)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.04)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp granulated sugar ($0.01)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese ($0.62)
Instructions
Casserole Base
- Dice the onion; slice the carrots and celery; mince the garlic; and set the vegetables aside.
- Add 1 Tbsp of butter to a deep-sided skillet and melt over medium heat. Add the ground chicken to the skillet and season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and sage.
- Let the chicken cook, stirring only occasionally to allow time for the chicken to brown. Once fully cooked, remove the chicken from the skillet with a slotted spoon, leaving the extra fat in the pan. If no fat remains, add an additional 1 Tbsp of butter.
- After removing the chicken from the skillet, add the diced onion to the skillet. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add chopped carrots, celery, corn, garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute the vegetables for about 5 minutes until the carrots are slightly soft.
- Break the chicken into smaller pieces and add back to the skillet and stir to combine.
- Add 2 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbsp of flour to the skillet. Stir and cook this mixture for about 2 minutes, continuing to stir until the butter has melted and the flour is coating the vegetables.
- Stir in the chicken broth, making sure to dissolve all of the flour and browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Bring the broth to a simmer, at which point the broth will thicken slightly. Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Remove the skillet from heat and transfer the mixture to a casserole dish. Set aside.
Biscuit Topping
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and sugar to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Sprinkle grated cheese into dry ingredients and toss to coat.
- Melt 2 Tbsp of butter and stir it into the buttermilk. (It’s okay if the mixture curdles.) Fold the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Drop dollops of the biscuit mixture evenly around the top of the casserole.
- Cut 1 Tbsp of chilled butter into very small pieces and sprinkle over the biscuits.
- Bake the casserole for about 25 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Chicken and biscuit casserole – Step by Step Photos
Add 1 Tbsp of butter to a skillet and melt over medium heat. Add 1 lb. of ground chicken to the skillet and season it with 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp. rubbed sage, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally, until brown. Remove the cooked chicken from the skillet with a slotted spoon, leaving the extra fat behind.
Break the ground chicken into smaller pieces, add back to the skillet, and stir to combine. Add 2 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbsp of flour to the skillet and stir. Continue to stir and cook until all the butter has melted and the flour coats the vegetables (about 2 minutes).
Stir in 1½ cups of chicken broth, making sure to dissolve all of the flour and browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
Bring the broth up to a simmer so it has a chance to thicken slightly (about 10 minutes). It will still be slightly soupy! Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Melt 2 Tbsp of butter and stir it into a 1/2 cup of buttermilk. (It’s okay if the mixture curdles.)
Fold the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients.
Stir until just combined, taking care not to overwork the mixture.
I just made this, it was so good!!
This was delicious! Could I use the biscuit topping part of the recipe to just make biscuits? It was so tasty and so much easier than other biscuit recipes. If so, what would the oven temp and baking time be? Thanks!
I made this recipe because to use up a bunch of odds and ends (including half a cup of buttermilk) in my fridge. I did not expect it to be so good! It is definitely comfort food, but the little additions like cheese in the biscuits and red pepper flakes as seasoning added some zing to make it more interesting than lots of other comfort food recipes.
Soooo delicious. I’ve never used ground chicken before and it gave off like 1/2 cup liquid. I ended up spooning it out so it could brown instead of steam, but I added it back with the veggies. I chopped my veggies a lot smaller, and cooked/baked it in a big cast iron skillet.
I would double the biscuit batter, mine only covered half my pan. My oven is pretty slow so I broiled for a minute at the end.
Also, I love spicy but 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes is almost too spicy for me haha. 🥵
This was really good and a perfect cozy winter dinner! My one suggestion is to add a note *not* to cover the dish while it’s in the oven… I’m sure it’s obvious to those with casserole experience, but for anyone like me who’s new to them / doesn’t have a good grasp of things that are obvious to others, it would have helped me avoid a bit of a mess. Luckily I saved it in time and fixed my mistake, so I got to enjoy the dish in the end!
10/10!!!
While this recipe took a bit longer than I expected, it was well worth it. Literally amazing.
Making it again tomorrow. Used beef instead of chicken and rosemary instead of sage, I also just used heavy whipping cream instead of buttermilk.
I also made a little extra of the biscuit portion :)
Can this recipe be made ahead of time and put in the freezer? If so do you have any guidance on how to prep, freeze, and reheat? Thanks!
Hi, Anissa! You can definitely make the base ahead and freeze it — that is if the vegetables you choose can stand up to a freeze. (The ones I use should be a-ok!) Let it cool down completely before refrigerating or freezing. Once frozen, allow it to fully thaw in the fridge (perhaps overnight) before baking. Since the casserole base is fully cooked, you just want to make sure it reaches a safe reheating temperature of 160-165*F. If fully thawed, you should have no trouble with this!
The biscuit dough can also be made ahead, and then immediately frozen (separately from the casserole base). I like to line a 1/4 sheet tray with parchment, drop the biscuits onto the parchment, and then freeze solid before transferring them to a storage bag. The biscuits also need to be fully thawed before baking, as well. Since freezing baking powder can hinder its ability to rise, the biscuits may spread more (and rise less) than if you made them fresh right before you bake the casserole (my suggestion, since they are so easy to whip up!), or substitute with a boxed or canned biscuit. ~Marion :)
I’m a little confused. The actual recipe says to chop the carrots and celery, but the picture part says to slice. Which is correct?
Hi, Barbara! Sorry for the inconsistencies in word choice. I understand how that would be confusing! You can cut the veggies any way you want, making sure they are small enough to cook quickly, and roughly the same size so they cook at the same rate. (Carrots usually take the longest!) I would suggest a medium dice on the onion, slicing the carrots and celery horizontally so they are around 1/8 inch wide, and mincing the garlic.
I have also updated the recipe card to make this clear. Thank you & I hope you enjoy the recipe! ~Marion :)
Thank you, Marion! :)
I adapted this for Christmas leftovers. I chopped up leftover turkey, mixed it with leftover stuffing and gravy. Then made the biscuit topping according to the recipe. Delicious!
I made this with canned biscuits instead of the homemade ones, and ground turkey instead of chicken because I managed to score a bunch on clearance. This was so delicious and easy! This chicken and biscuit casserole is definitely going to be a regular in the rotation from now on.
Did you mean to add the salt, sage and red pepper flakes twice? It’s mentioned with the chicken and the veggies. I added it when I cooked the chicken. I made this with boneless skinless thighs that I diced up into bite size pieces. Thanks for the tip about 4 cups of veggies. To keep it super simple, I diced an onion and then used all frozen mixed veggies. This is excellent winter comfort food. Next time I’ll double it so we can have more leftovers.
Hi, Alice! Thanks for catching that!!! When I originally wrote the recipe, I had the spices divided, using half on the chicken and half on the veggies. However, when testing it out with Beth, we decided it would be best to simplify a little and only add them in one step (but still seasoning with a pinch of salt & pepper in both steps)…and it looks like I missed some of the old copy during my final edit! I’ve updated the recipe card, so it is now correct. ~Marion :)
This looks so great! I often find I can sub half or more of the meat in a recipe with beans, so I’d consider trying this with a half pound of chicken and one 15oz can of white beans or chickpeas drained. Anyone have suggestions or advice?
Hi, J! I think that sounds amazing and it would definitely work!
– If you go with white beans, they could be added after the vegetables are cooked but before you add the chicken back to the skillet. Super easy! (This is probably what I would choose!)
– Since chickpeas take longer to cook than beans — I would cook off the chicken with half of the seasonings, remove it, add a bit more oil, and then fry the chickpeas (drained, rinsed, and seasoned with the reserved spices) in the skillet for 5-7 minutes until golden. Depending on how soft you want them to be in the final dish, you can either reserve them to add back with the chicken at the end OR leave them in the skillet and proceed with the recipe as written. Left in, they will get super soft, start to break down, and help thicken the casserole base. If added back later, they will have more texture (but will be totally cooked through) after spending that extended time in the oven.
I hope that helps! ~Marion :)
Hi J! Sounds like a plan to me! I think I would go with chickpeas since they have more flavor and aren’t as soft as white beans. That is probably just me, though. :)
I can’t find a general question/answer board, so I’ll ask here.
How do you figure the nutritional information?Dr zzz The sodium content seems to be off the charts for so many recipes. I’m wondering if it’s accurate or if something is off in the algorithm.
Hi, JCS! I’m glad you asked. To be honest, it’s a bit of both. There’s a lot of salt in this recipe…coming from the salted butter we use, the Better than Bouillion chicken broth (which is a bit saltier than the average boxed chicken broth), and the added salt on top of that. However, we do also use a widget that’s integrated into our recipe card to calculate the nutrition information after we manually add each ingredient and the amount. It usually does a wonderful job, but it can be off from time to time — so take anything you see in that area with “a grain of salt!” (HA!) I’ll dig in and do some calculations to be sure one way or the other.
If you want to reduce the sodium on your own, start by reducing the added salt in the casserole base by half and use unsalted butter in the biscuits and only 1/4tsp of salt in the biscuits. ~ Marion
There actually is the FAQ section found if you keep scrolling down to the bottom of the page (below the comments section).
This might help also:
https://www.budgetbytes.com/faq/
And questions here are often answered by the BB team pretty quickly too.
I used unsalted chicken broth and unsalted butter (both standard in my house), and sea salt, which has less sodium. It ended up delicious despite unsalted ingredients, so give that a try.
This is my kind of recipe. I love recipes where you can use whatever you have. I call these day-before-payday recipes.
Thank you! Glad to hear you like it. I really love this recipe — it will truly help you get through whatever you’ve got left in the fridge but in a way that feels special! Check back in with the combination of ingredients you land on & let me know how it goes! — Marion :)
Can you make this with pre-cooked chicken breast? Thanksl
Yes, Glenda! This recipe can handle just about *any* substitution. Just skip that first step where you cook the chicken and proceed with the recipe as written, adding the seasonings to the vegetables instead. You could add the chicken breasts in larger pieces when I add the ground chicken back to the casserole mixture. Or, if you wanted to really shred it, you could add it after the broth has reduced a bit. The key is to make sure it has time to meld with the other flavors of the casserole but not so long that it gets overcooked and dry — since it’s already cooked (and will hit a safe-reheating temperature of 160*F in the oven)! Trust your instincts! It will be fabulous. ~Marion :)