Easy Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie

Two months ago I saw a Facebook video of seafood pot pie with Red Lobster biscuits on top. Looked weird but also really good. Couldn't stop thinking about it so I tried making it. First batch turned into soup because frozen seafood leaked everywhere. Second time the shrimp were rubber. Third time not enough filling, just biscuits. Fourth try worked. Now this cheddar bay biscuit seafood pot pie is what I make when I want restaurant food at home without spending fifty bucks. Creamy seafood with shrimp and crab under garlic butter cheddar biscuits. Liam called it "the best thing he ever ate" and he usually only eats chicken nuggets. My husband had it three nights straight without complaining.

Why You'll Love This Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie

Regular Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie is boring. Chicken, vegetables, bland gravy, basic crust. This is nothing like that. Shrimp, crab, creamy garlic sauce, those cheddar bay biscuit seafood pot pie on top that taste like Red Lobster but better because they're hot from your oven instead of sitting under a heat lamp. It's like someone took the good parts of Red Lobster and stuck them in one dish. The biscuits soak up seafood sauce while they bake so the bottoms get soft and buttery while tops stay golden and crispy. Liam picks food apart normally and only eats certain pieces. With this he just ate it. No picking, no whining. Never happens.

Looks way harder than it is too. People see Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie with golden biscuits and think you spent all afternoon cooking. It's thirty minutes of work. Rest is just waiting for it to bake. Made this when my sister visited last month. She kept asking how long it took. Told her thirty minutes of actual doing stuff. She got mad because she thought I'd been cooking all day for her and really I just threw things in a pan an hour before she showed up.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie
• Ingredients For Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie
• How to Make Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie
• Equipment For Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie
• Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie Variations
• Substitutions
• How to Store Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie
• Top Tip
• Why This Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie Works
• FAQ
• Just Make This Already
• Related
• Pairing
• cheddar bay biscuit seafood pot pie

Ingredients For Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie

For the Seafood Filling:

• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 lb lump crab meat
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup seafood stock
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
• Salt and pepper

For the Cheddar Bay Biscuits:

• 2 cups Bisquick or baking mix
• ⅔ cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley

For the Topping:

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch of parsley

How to Make Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie

Make the Seafood Filling:

Heat oven to 375°F. Melt butter in a big oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Throw in the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute until it smells good. Sprinkle flour over everything and stir for a minute or two. Pour in the cream and stock slowly while whisking so it doesn't get lumpy. Keep stirring until it thickens up, maybe 5 minutes. Add the Old Bay, salt, and pepper.

Add the Seafood:

Toss in the shrimp, crab, peas and carrots. Stir it all together and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes until shrimp turn pink. Don't cook them all the way - they'll keep cooking in the oven. Take the skillet off the heat.

Make the Biscuits:

Mix Bisquick, milk, and cheddar cheese in a bowl until it comes together into dough. Don't overmix or biscuits get tough. Drop spoonfuls of dough on top of the seafood filling. Doesn't have to be perfect, just get it covered mostly.

Bake It:

Stick the whole skillet in the oven for 25-30 minutes until biscuits are golden brown on top. While it's baking, mix that melted butter with garlic powder and parsley. When you pull it out, brush that butter mixture all over the biscuits right away.

Let It Rest:

Wait 5 minutes before serving or everyone burns their mouth on lava-hot seafood sauce. The filling also thickens up a bit as it sits.

Equipment For Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie

• Large oven-safe skillet (cast iron works great)
• Mixing bowls (at least 2)
• Whisk for the sauce
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Pastry brush for butter topping

Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie Variations

Lobster Pot Pie Version:

• Use 1 lb lobster meat instead of shrimp and crab
• Add splash of sherry to the cream sauce
• Use Gruyere instead of cheddar in biscuits
• Way fancier, costs twice as much

Cajun Seafood Style:

• Add 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning to filling
• Use andouille sausage with the seafood
• Top biscuits with hot sauce butter
• Liam won't eat this version but adults love it

New England Clam Chowder Pot Pie:

• Replace seafood with chopped clams and potatoes
• Use clam juice instead of seafood stock
• Add crispy bacon to filling
• Tastes like clam chowder with biscuits

Cheddar Bay Muffin Seafood Pot Pie:

• Make biscuit dough and bake in muffin tin separately
• Spoon seafood filling into bowls
• Top each bowl with a biscuit muffin
• Individual servings, easier to portion

Substitutions

Seafood Options:

• Shrimp and crab → All shrimp (cheaper)
• Real crab → Imitation crab (way cheaper, tastes fine)
• Shrimp/crab → Lobster chunks (fancier, expensive)
• Mixed seafood → Just white fish cut in chunks (boring but works)

Biscuit Mix Alternatives:

• Bisquick → Homemade baking mix (more work)
• Store mix → Red Lobster biscuit mix if you find it (easiest)
• Bisquick → Jiffy baking mix (cheaper)
• Biscuit dough → Canned biscuits torn up (fastest option)

Cream Swaps:

• Heavy cream → Half and half (lighter, thinner sauce)
• All cream → Half cream, half milk (less rich)
• Dairy cream → Coconut cream (weird but dairy-free)
• Heavy cream → Evaporated milk (different texture)

Vegetable Changes:

• Peas and carrots → Just peas (simpler)
• Frozen mix → Fresh vegetables diced small (more work)
• Peas/carrots → Corn and peppers (different flavor)
• Regular veggies → Skip them completely (just seafood)

Cheese Substitutions:

• Cheddar → Monterey Jack (milder)
• Sharp cheddar → Mild cheddar (less bite)
• Regular cheese → Smoked cheddar (deeper flavor)
• Cheddar → Gruyere (fancy version)

How to Store Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie

In the Fridge (2-3 days):

• Let cool completely before covering
• Store in airtight container or cover pan with foil
• Biscuits get softer as they sit in sauce
• Reheat in 350°F oven for 20 minutes until hot

Freezing (Not Great):

• Seafood and biscuits don't freeze well together
• Biscuits get mushy when thawed
• Shrimp texture gets weird
• Just make it fresh instead

Make-Ahead Tips:

• Make filling up to 1 day ahead, store in fridge
• Make biscuit dough ahead and keep chilled
• Assemble and bake day of serving
• Don't bake biscuits ahead - they get hard

Reheating:

• Oven at 350°F for 20-25 minutes covered with foil
• Microwave works but biscuits get soggy
• Add splash of cream if filling looks dry
• Don't overheat or shrimp get rubbery

Why This Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie Works

The whole thing works because of timing and texture. Regular Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie has thick crust that takes forever to bake and gets soggy on bottom. These biscuits cook in 25 minutes and bottoms soak up just enough sauce to stay soft while tops get crispy and brown. Two textures in one bite instead of just mushy crust. The cream sauce thickens right because you make a roux first - cook butter and flour, then add liquid slow. That stops it from being watery soup or thick glob. Gets it right in the middle where sauce coats a spoon but still moves.

Garlic butter brushed on right after baking is what makes these taste like Red Lobster instead of regular biscuits. Butter soaks into hot biscuits and gets everywhere. Wait until they cool and butter just sits on top doing nothing. Has to be hot. That's the trick. Using Old Bay instead of salt and pepper is what makes filling taste like Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie instead of fish in white sauce. Old Bay has all that stuff in it - celery salt, paprika, mustard - that works with seafood. Without it the filling tastes boring. With it everything tastes like you know what you're doing even when you're just following a recipe and hoping.

FAQ

Just Make This Already

So that's everything about Cheddar Bay Biscuit Seafood Pot Pie after I've made it probably twenty or thirty times by now. Works for dinner parties when you want to look like you tried really hard, date nights at home when you're too lazy to go out but still want good food, or random Tuesday nights when you're bored of eating the same boring chicken and rice for the millionth time. Nobody has to know you threw the whole thing together in thirty minutes while half-watching TV.

If you want more recipes that don't take your whole day, try our Easy Tennessee Onions Recipe - these are what I bring to every single cookout now because people go nuts over them and they're literally just onions with butter and cheese on top. Our Garlic Butter Bacon Cheeseburger Rollups are what happens when you want a cheeseburger but don't want to deal with buns falling apart and condiments going everywhere. And our The Best Pink Velvet Cake is for when you're sick of regular red velvet that doesn't taste like anything except red food coloring.

Make this cheddar bay biscuit seafood pot pie and let me know how it goes.I actually read all the comments even the ones that are just emojis.

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Pairing

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