Gluten-Free Chicken Pot Pie: Casserole Style

During Zack and my engagement, my now sweet and thoughtful mother-in-law made an effort to invite us over every week to help wedding plan.  Each week, she made sure to cook one of Zack's favorite meals.  She would always ask me to help so that I would be able to make Zack a few of his favorite dinners once we were married. Clever woman!

One of Zack's all-time most favorite meals is a homemade chicken pot pie, casserole style.  It doesn't actually use a pie crust, but you add a biscuit on top of it.  I actually make sure that the entire filling is covered with biscuit so that it is more of a casserole (in other words, it doesn't just look like there are separate biscuits on top of it).  I had to modify the recipe because I use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour and the recipes are close but not perfect, because gluten-free flour difficult like that.

This honestly took me months and months to perfect, because I was constantly not making enough biscuit and then trying to cover the chicken mixture and ending up with holes in the casserole due to too little dough!

I finally created the perfect pot pie casserole that can use gluten-free or regular flour.  


Ingredients:

Chicken Mixture:
3.5 cups water
2 tbsp better than bullion  (or 2 bullion cubes)
1.5 cup frozen mixed veggies
1 cup chicken, shredded (about one medium chicken breast)
1 tbsp of flour
(optional: garlic salt, pepper, onion powder for taste: I do about 1 tsp of each)
Biscuits:
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp honey
1 egg
4 tbsp semi-soft to soft butter (not melted) 
2/3-1 cup almond milk


Preheat oven to 350.

Chicken Mixture:

In a medium pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil.

Place chicken breasts whole into pot and allow to boil.

When chicken is fully cooked, place onto a plate and allow to cool.  Discard water.

Once cooled, use 2 forks to shred.

In the same pot used to boil the chicken, add 3.5 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Add Better than Bullion, and mixed veggies to the pot (if you're using garlic, salt, and onion powder to season, add this now).

In a small measuring cup, add tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of water and mix until there are no clumps.  Add to boiling water.

Allow to cook for about 15 minutes.

Add shredded chicken, allow to cook another 10 minutes.

Biscuit:

5 minutes before the chicken mixture is done, begin to make the biscuit mixture.

In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

Add butter, you may need to use your hands to break in the butter. Wash hands.

Fold in the egg.

Add honey

Slowly add in milk but don't add in all at once, it may be too much and your mixture will not work and you will be so disappointed!  Once your mixture is the consistency of dough, you're ready to use it.  If you're using gluten free flour, do not allow it to sit and rise. The baking powder causes the flour to get air-filled and it doesn't make too great of a biscuit.

Pour the mixture into either an 8 x 8 or 7 x 11 Pyrex pan (any bigger and you won't have enough biscuit dough).

Using your hands, take a handful of dough at a time.  Flatter the dough like this.

Place dough on top of mixture, covering the chicken mixture until the entire Pyrex is covered.  You may need to take a utensil spread the mix and cover all the tiny holes as pictured below.

Put in oven and cook for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to sit for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Cheers!