Skillet Tomato Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie. Similar tomato cheddar soup, but baked into a cozy skillet pot pie with a golden, flaky crust on top. It’s simple, delicious, and all made in one skillet with a creamy cherry tomato base. There’s butter, onions, garlic, fresh cherry tomatoes, thyme, basil, milk, shredded chicken, and, of course, plenty of cheddar cheese. Top it all with store-bought pastry, and you’ve got the easiest pot pie that comes out of the oven looking beautiful and tasting even better. This is the updated chicken pot pie we all want to eat!

Well, that was quick. I barely got a taste of summer, and suddenly we’re back to the cozy days of September cooking and baking. The leaves here are already changing, and our nights are turning chilly—fall is definitely in the air!

I’ve been working through the last of my cherry tomatoes, making sure not a single one goes to waste. This pot pie turned out to be the perfect way to use them.

My mom really loves pot pie. She grew up in Ohio (as did my dad), and my Nonnie made it often when she was little. It’s always been such a comforting meal for her.

Whenever my family has been away and we’re all coming back home, I love to make a cozy dinner that first night—a Sunday-style meal that feels extra special. This pot pie was perfect for that a couple of weeks ago, and since then I’ve made it three weeks in a row. It’s safe to say we love this one!

Let me walk you through the recipe

Ingredients

• prosciutto – optional, but it’s surely an added layer of deliciousness
• salted butter, or use olive oil
• yellow onions
• garlic
• fresh thyme
• paprika and cayenne pepper
• flour
• broth – you could use wine or water too
• cherry tomatoes
• milk, use what you drink at home, or use cream
• shredded chicken, I recommend rotisserie chicken
• fresh basil leaves
• cheddar cheese, try a spicy cheddar for more flavor
• frozen puff pastry, I always keep this on hand
• an egg yolk
• flaky sea salt

Special Tools

All you need is an oven-safe 11 or 12-inch skillet. I’ve always recommended this one, it’s my favorite.

Steps

Step 1: Get the prosciutto crisp

This is optional, but since I created this recipe with my mom in mind (she loves prosciutto!), I included it. Cook the prosciutto in an oven-safe skillet with butter until crispy, just a few minutes. Remove and set aside.

Step 2: Create the creamy base

In the same skillet, cook the onion, garlic, and thyme in butter. Add a pinch of paprika and cayenne until fragrant. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 2 minutes to remove the raw flour flavor.

Step 3: The broth

Mix in the cherry tomatoes, then pour in the broth (or white wine). Simmer until the tomatoes begin to burst.

Step 4: The milk and chicken

Stir in fresh basil leaves or a spoonful of basil pesto. Add the milk and let the sauce thicken. Mix in the shredded chicken (I love using rotisserie chicken—my Nonnie always bought one, and it’s inspired me to do the same). Stir in the cheddar, then remove the skillet from the heat. Nestle the prosciutto on top.

Step 5: Add the pastry, then bake

Unroll the pastry and brush with beaten egg yolk. Lay it over the skillet filling. Bake until the crust is deeply golden and smells amazing!

Serve

Let the pot pie rest for a few minutes before cutting in—it’s hot and saucy. I like to top mine with flaked sea salt and fresh thyme. Serve in low bowls so you get plenty of the creamy tomato cheddar sauce.

Additions/Notes

For a classic twist, stir in frozen peas—or any vegetables you love. And if prosciutto isn’t your thing, feel free to leave it out!

Looking for other easy dinner recipes? Here are a few ideas: 

Broccoli Cheddar Chicken and Rice Casserole

Garlic Butter Creamed Corn Chicken

Cheesy Zucchini Chicken and Rice Bake

One Skillet Street Corn Chicken Enchilada Bake

Broccoli Cheddar Chicken and Noodle Casserole

Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Casserole with Garlic Butter Pretzels

Lastly, if you make this Skillet Tomato Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!

Jalapeño Honey Butter Cheddar Corn Biscuits.
Made with stone-ground cornmeal, buttermilk,  cheddar cheese, sweet yellow corn, and salted butter. Serve these warm with spicy/sweet jalapeño honey butter. Every bite is soft, layered with cheese, a little sweet, a little spicy, and perfectly salty. Pull them apart, sprinkle with fresh thyme and flaky sea salt, and enjoy while still warm—so delicious! Definitely a summer (or early fall!) treat.

This recipe really says summer to me—but it kind of leans into early fall too. As we head into August, sweet corn and peaches are coming into their peak, so now’s the time to take full advantage!

When I spotted ears of fresh yellow corn at the store last week, I got so excited. There’s nothing like summertime corn. When my family lived in Ohio, we’d take weekend trips out to the local corn farms and pick fresh ears right from the stalk.

We’d always go back again in October, but then it was for the corn mazes and pumpkins—such fun memories. If you’ve never experienced a corn maze in fall, it’s the best!

I remember the corn being extra sweet, especially after my mom would slather it with salted butter. We never did anything fancy like honey butter, but now I know, a little honey makes sweet corn even better.

This biscuit recipe is one of my favorite combos. I used my go-to cheddar biscuit base and added in cornmeal, fresh kernels, and just the right amount of heat. The jalapeño honey butter really takes things over the top. My mom is so sad she missed these!

Here are the details

Ingredients:

• all-purpose flour
• cornmeal
• baking powder
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• fresh or frozen corn
• salted butter
• shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• buttermilk
• honey
• jalepeño
• fresh thyme
• sea salt

Steps

Step 1: Mix the dough

Toss a stick of salted butter in the freezer and get it nice and cold. This helps create those flaky biscuit layers we all love.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Add in the fresh corn kernels.

Grate the cold butter on a box grater—just like cheese! Mix the shredded butter and cheddar into the dry ingredients, then pour in the buttermilk and honey. Gently mix until just combined—don’t overdo it.

Step 2: Roll the biscuits out

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Pat it into a rectangle, then fold the sides inward like you’re folding a letter. Press it back out, then fold it again. Repeat a few times.

This folding trick is the secret to those flaky, layered biscuits—kind of like the ones from Bob Evan’s or Cracker Barrel. I’ve never had the real thing, but my Nonnie always kept the frozen ones in the freezer, and my oldest brother loved them.

Step 3: Bake the biscuits

Cut out your biscuits and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until golden and the cheese is bubbling. Your kitchen is going to smell amazing.

Step 4: Make the honey butter

While the biscuits bake, melt the remaining butter on the stove with a jalapeño, garlic powder, and honey. Let everything get nice and bubbly, then stir in fresh thyme or parsley. I love thyme with the sweetness of the corn.

To serve

Spoon that warm, spicy-sweet butter over each biscuit while they’re still hot. Finish with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. So simple, so delicious. These are best straight out of the oven!

Looking for other savory bread recipes? Try these.

The Best (easiest) No Knead Bread

Salted Honey Butter Jalapeño Cheddar Rolls 

Salted Honey Butter Parker House Rolls

Jalapeño Cheddar Popovers with Honey Butter

Soft Garlic Herb Cheddar Cheese Bread

Swirled Garlic Herb Bread

Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuits

Lastly, if you make these Jalapeño Honey Butter Cheddar Corn Biscuits, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love hearing from you and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!

The prompt for this taste test sparked wild debate across our team, particularly around what cheese belongs on burgers to begin with. After two hours (!) of back and forth (we are nothing here at Serious Eats if not unfailingly thorough), we…didn’t even reach a consensus. How could we have slept soundly that night knowing we’d declared American cheese—the gummy-but-meltier option—correct? How could we have shown our faces in the kitchens the next day had we instead ratified cheddar—the objectively better-tasting but inferior-melting selection—as the winner?

So we didn’t. But because Kenji did this exercise with American cheese quite some time ago and because we all just wanted to eat a fair amount of cheese, we went the cheddar route. Little did we know, it wouldn’t be an entirely American cheese-less day. 

You know the shtick: The SE team pulled together eight brands of cheddar cheese slices you’re likely to find in your local supermarket and methodically, empirically, scientifically! tasted its way through them all in a quest to identify the very best one to put atop all your forthcoming cheeseburgers. We had a blast! We needed to take a few deep breaths and a few long walks! We all took a lot of grease-tinged pictures of piles of cheese!

(I have no skin in this game; I love cheeseburgers, but I sat in the corner taking meticulous reaction notes and enjoying three slices of what ultimately became Genevieve’s strawberry rhubarb pie. Enjoy!)

The Criteria

Cheddar cheese for cheeseburgers needs to be tangy and sharp. Like, sharp and distinct enough that you could eat it as a standalone snack without having to wonder what you just ate. It should also be just salty enough that once you’re done with said snack, you shouldn’t immediately need water—you should just kinda want a few sips. 

The addition of heat should not mitigate the integrity or flavor of the cheese (see: slices should converge to evenly coat the patty; it should not create any kind of sideways cheese drippings that require you to remove a hand from your burger to catch or clean). Proper meltability also means there are no non-melted sections of the slice that eat dryly. Mid-slice stretch is important, too! A few bites per burger should yield a fine, thin string of cheese that breaks gently of its own accord. Finally, there shouldn’t be much slick cheese grease. Grease is best as a patty’s thing! We added two slices of each cheese to each burger for the best gauging of flavor and meltability. 

While we didn’t ultimately include a color criterion, we just for funsies verbally agreed that orange cheddar felt more correct in this context.

Overall Winner

Tillamook Sharp Cheddar

The only cheese among the contenders to be unanimously described as having a “distinct cheddar flavor.” Some called it “nice,” others called it “very nice,” one called it “really nice,” and so on and so forth. In fact, Daniel declared, if flavor is most important to you when choosing a cheddar for cheeseburgers, Tillamook’s should be your top choice. Jake whooped when he learned it’d been his top pick. He is to Tillamook cheddar as Genevieve is to Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream, I suppose.

Runner-Up

Kraft Singles Sharp Cheddar

Listen. Just listen! These slices sat there and took endless admonishment from the team before a single member had even taken a bite. “Psh,” they scoffed. “We know exactly what this is,” they huffed. “OBVIOUSLY KRAFT AMERICAN CHEESE SINGLES,” they pooh-poohed. They then promptly gave the stuff near-top numbers for both flavor and meltability. They took note of the glorious, thick coating and its unequivocal nostalgic yumminess when paired with meat, all while attempting to disqualify the cheese’s participation in the ranking because they were so convinced it really was an American cheese entry snuck in. Maybe it was? (It’s not quite, but it’s not not. Kraft cheddar goes a little heavier on whey and has fewer preservatives than its American counterpart childhood dream-stuff does. Daniel says this doesn’t matter.) Regardless, ya know, if color or congealment over time had been a consideration, you’d be reading a different set of rankings.

The Contenders

• 365 by Whole Foods Market Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slices
• Applegate Naturals Medium Cheddar Cheese Slices
• Boar’s Head Vermont White Cheddar Cheese Slices
• Cracker Barrel Wisconsin Extra Sharp Yellow Cheddar
• Kraft Singles Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slices
• Sargento Creamery Sliced Cheddar Cheese
• Stop & Shop Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slices
• Tillamook Farmstyle Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slices

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Our winner contains just four ingredients: cultured milk, salt, enzymes, and annatto (a food coloring derived from achiote that is frequently used to give orange cheese its color). Our runner-up, on the other hand, has a bevy of preservatives and flavor enhancers, including maltodextrin, lactic acid, and sorbic acid. All this to say: Though our editors prefer cheddar slices that have a distinct cheesiness and tang, they aren’t immune to the charms of processed cheese with great meltability. 

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.