Gluten-free chicken pot pie with golden cheddar garlic biscuits baked on top in a skillet

Gluten-Free Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping

Name: Gluten-Free Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 22 min
Total time: 42 min
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons butter; 1 large onion, diced; 2 carrots, diced; 2 celery stalks, diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1/3 cup gluten-free 1:1 all-purpose flour blend; 3 cups chicken broth; 1 cup half and half or whole milk, warmed; 3 cups shredded cooked chicken; 1 cup frozen peas; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried; 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1 pouch (12.3 oz) Pamela's Gluten-Free Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuit Mix; 2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese; 1 cup cold water; 3 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing; 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

on Oct 14 2026

Table of Contents

Chicken pot pie is a dish people love and rarely make, because somewhere in the middle of it there is a pastry crust and a rolling pin and a decision about whether tonight is really a pastry night.

A biscuit topping skips all of that. You make the filling in a skillet, drop spoonfuls of dough across the top, and slide the whole thing into the oven. Twenty minutes later the biscuits are golden and the filling underneath is bubbling up around them.

These use Pamela's Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuit Mix, which means the topping arrives already carrying garlic, chives, and buttermilk. You fold in sharp cheddar and add water. That is the whole topping.

It feeds six out of one skillet, and the only thing you have to be careful about is not making the filling too thin. So good, no one will guess they are gluten-free, the way Pamela's has done it since 1988.

The Topping Does Not Need a Seasoning Blend

Most recipes for a cheesy biscuit topping reach for a bottled seasoning mix to get there. Garlic powder, dried herbs, something with a lot of paprika in it.

Pamela's Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuit Mix already has real buttermilk, garlic, and chives in the bag. There is nothing to add and nothing to approximate.

The mix this is built on Pamela's Gluten-Free Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuit Mix Real buttermilk, garlic, and chives in the mix. Add your own shredded sharp cheddar. GFCO-certified gluten-free and kosher.

The cheese is the part you add, and that is deliberate. Fresh shredded cheddar melts into pockets that you can see and taste. Cheese powder, which is what a shelf-stable mix would have to use, gives you an even flavor and no pockets at all.

Shred it from a block if you can. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with starch to stop it clumping, and that coating keeps it from melting cleanly.

How to Keep the Biscuits from Sinking

This is the one thing that goes wrong, and it is entirely about the filling.

The filling has to be thick enough to hold the dough up. Think gravy, not soup. When you stir it, the spoon should leave a trail that closes slowly rather than instantly.

If it looks thin, simmer it a few minutes longer before the biscuits go on. It will thicken further in the oven, so slightly too thick is the safer direction.

Drop the dough onto the filling rather than pressing it in. The mounds should sit on the surface, not sink into it. Leave gaps between them so steam can escape, which is also how the filling bubbles up through and browns at the edges.

Do not cover the skillet. A lid traps steam and the biscuit bottoms stay pale and wet.

Making the Filling

It is a roux, then broth, then cream. The same technique as a gravy and it takes about fifteen minutes.

Cook the vegetables in butter until soft, sprinkle the flour over them, and let it cook for two minutes before any liquid goes in. That step is what keeps the filling from tasting like raw flour.

Use a one-to-one gluten-free flour blend for the roux, not the biscuit mix. The mix contains baking powder, and leavening in a sauce tastes metallic.

Add the broth gradually, about a cup at a time, letting each addition come together before the next. That is what prevents lumps.

Use an oven-safe skillet, ideally cast iron, so the filling goes from the stove to the oven without moving. A 10-inch skillet or a 9x13 dish both work.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 22 minutes

Total Time 42 minutes

Yield 6

Serving Size 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup gluten-free 1:1 all-purpose flour blend
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup half and half or whole milk, warmed
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 pouch (12.3 oz) Pamela's Gluten-Free Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuit Mix
2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup cold water
3 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

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Directions

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to coat. Cook 2 minutes, stirring, to take the raw taste out.
Add the broth about a cup at a time, stirring until each addition comes together before adding the next. Stir in the warmed half and half.
Simmer 5 to 8 minutes, until thick enough that a spoon leaves a trail that closes slowly. Stir in the chicken, peas, thyme, salt, and pepper. Taste and season.
Make the topping. Empty the biscuit pouch into a bowl, add the shredded cheddar, and toss to coat the cheese in the dry mix. Add the cold water and stir about fifteen stirs, until the dry mix just disappears. The dough should look shaggy.
Drop spoonfuls of dough across the surface of the filling, leaving gaps between them. Do not press them in and do not cover the skillet.
Bake 18 to 22 minutes, until the biscuits are golden and the filling is bubbling at the edges. Lift one biscuit to check that the underside is set, not doughy.
Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter with the garlic powder and parsley. Brush over the biscuits the moment the skillet comes out.
Rest 5 minutes before serving. The filling is molten straight from the oven.

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Gluten-Free Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuit Mix

Recipe Tips & Notes

Make-Ahead and Freezing

The filling can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Reheat it to a simmer in the skillet before the biscuits go on, since cold filling will not cook the biscuit bottoms through.

Do not mix the biscuit dough ahead. The leavening starts working the moment water hits it, and a rested dough bakes flat.

Assembled and baked, this keeps 3 days refrigerated. Reheat covered at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, then uncover for the last 5 to crisp the biscuits back up.

The filling freezes well on its own, up to 3 months. The baked dish does not freeze as well, since the biscuits go soft on thawing.

For a make-ahead dinner, freeze the filling and freeze unbaked biscuit mounds separately on a sheet pan. Thaw the filling, simmer it, and bake the biscuits from frozen on top, adding 4 or 5 minutes.

Ways to Change It Up

Mushrooms. Eight ounces sliced and cooked with the vegetables until the liquid cooks off.

Turkey instead of chicken, which makes this the best possible use for Thanksgiving leftovers.

More vegetables. Corn, green beans, or diced potatoes, added with the peas.

A splash of white wine after the vegetables soften, cooked off before the flour goes in.

Buttermilk topping instead, using the Buttermilk Drop Biscuit Mix with 1 cup of water and no cheese, for a plainer version.

Individual servings. Divide the filling among four oven-safe bowls and top each with two or three biscuit mounds. Same bake time.

What This Contains

This recipe contains milk and soy.

Milk comes from the buttermilk, butter powder, and whey in the mix, the cheddar you add, and the butter and cream in the filling. Soy comes from soy flour and soy lecithin. This mix cannot be made dairy-free or vegan.

Check your chicken broth and your cooked chicken. Both sometimes contain wheat, and rotisserie seasoning blends vary by brand.

Eggs and tree nuts are not ingredients here, but Pamela's products are made on equipment that processes both.

Everything from Pamela's is certified by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, made in a certified gluten-free, peanut-free facility, and certified kosher.

Recipe FAQs

Yes, and it is far easier. You make the filling in a skillet, drop biscuit dough across the top, and bake. There is no rolling, no chilling, and no pastry to crimp. The biscuits brown on top while the filling bubbles up around them.

The filling was too thin. It needs to be thick enough that a spoon leaves a trail that closes slowly, closer to gravy than soup. Simmer it a few minutes longer before the dough goes on, and drop the mounds onto the surface rather than pressing them in.

They do, as long as the filling is hot when they go on and the skillet stays uncovered. Lift one biscuit before you take the dish out and check that the underside is set rather than doughy. A lid traps steam and leaves the bottoms pale.

No. The mix contains baking powder, and leavening in a sauce tastes metallic. Use a plain one-to-one gluten-free flour blend for the roux, about a third of a cup, cooked in the butter for two minutes before the liquid goes in.

The filling yes, up to 3 days refrigerated. Reheat it to a simmer before the biscuits go on, since cold filling will not cook the biscuit bottoms through. Do not mix the dough ahead, since the leavening activates on contact with water.