This easy recipe for Chicken and Dumplings is the ideal comfort food. A hearty recipe that uses roasted chicken, fluffy buttermilk and chive dumplings that’s both simple to make and shockingly easy to lose yourself in for a moment or two.
Chicken and Dumplings hold such a special spot in my heart. Every time I stand over the pot, watching those little dumplings bobbing at the surface, I feel as if I’m sitting in my moms kitchen once again. I would eat the soup quickly, leaving the dumplings for last to savour nice and slowly.
While my mom’s recipe was a little less traditional, a thinner more clear soup paired with semolina flour dumplings, the one I’ll be showing you today is far more traditional – closer to a stew than a soup. If you’re craving something savory, simple, and good for the soul consider curling up with a bowl your plans for the rest of the night.
Ingredients In Chicken And Dumplings
For the soup:
- Celery, carrot & onion – Otherwise known in cooking as mirepoix (there’s a fun little French word for you). Mirepoix is a base in so many recipes that allows for a good foundation for further depth of flavor. Stir regularly to ensure that there’s no browning or caramelizing going on, we want to soften and sweeten the mirepoix rather than cook or saute it.
- Chicken broth – I like to use my own homemade broth, store bought will do just fine but when it comes to simple recipes, I like to ensure that each ingredient is the best version it can be. For a delicious stock recipe, check out my chicken noodle soup.
- Thyme – Even if you’re not the biggest thyme fan, there are just some recipes that absolutely need it, and this is in one of them. I used dried for this dish.
- Shredded chicken – The more chicken the better, we want a rich stew like consistency at the end with roasted chicken in each bite. You’ll want to ensure the chicken is cooked before adding it.
- Frozen peas – Don’t worry mom, I’m including veggies.
- Flour – I’m using all purpose as a thickening agent for our soup.
- Salt & Pepper – Just to taste, keep in mind sodium levels when using store bought versus homemade broth.
For the dumplings:
- Flour – Gluten flour can be substituted but may give your dumplings a more gritty texture that has a bit more difficulty binding.
- Baking powder – A leavening agent that will allow our dumplings to puff up in the soup.
- Chives – Added to the dumplings for flavor.
- Egg – Just one large, whole egg will do. We will need both the white and the yolk to bind our batter.
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk is more acidic than regular milk and as a result will react more readily with our baking powder. This makes the dumplings light and fluffy.
- Salt – All good batters need a little salt.
How To Make Chicken And Dumplings
- Start with your base: Put some olive oil in a Dutch oven and bring to medium high heat. Add your carrots, celery, and onion and allow them to sweat until the onions become soft and translucent.
- Incorporate your broth – Add dried thyme followed by the chicken broth to the pot. Reserve a ladle full to be put in a small bowl with 1/3 a cup of flour. You will whisk this together till smooth before adding it back to your pot. Whisk once more to ensure there are no lumps before adding the frozen peas and shredded chicken.
- Prepare the dumplings – The broth will need a few minutes to cook which gives us some time to make the dumplings. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, buttermilk, chives, baking powder, flour, and salt till the consistency is smooth. Be sure not to over-mix as over-mixing will make your dumplings dense.
- Bring the two together – Using a spoon drop the dumpling batter one at a time into the now thick broth. The dumplings will double in size once they’re cooked so start small and tweak from there.
- Finish the chicken and dumplings – Cover the pot and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked. Resist the urge to peek! All the steam in the pot is needed to cook our batter fully. After about 15 minutes stick a tooth pick through the centre of a dumpling to test its doneness. Once that toothpick comes out clean, your soup is ready! Serve up and enjoy.
Can I Make Chicken And Dumplings In A Pressure Or Slow Cooker?
Pressure cooker
If you’d like to take your new pressure cooker for a spin, I’ve got a delicious recipe for instant pot chicken and dumplings. Check it out and enjoy!
Slow cooker
You’ll want to combine the soup ingredients in your slow cooker, save the shredded chicken, and allow to cook on low for 1 hour. Add the chicken and your dumplings, leaving space between the dumplings to prevent them from sticking. Cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes.
Leftovers
Chicken and dumplings can be stored up to 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Keep in mind that the more times this recipe is reheated, the more the dumplings may fall apart. Freezing is possible but again the dumplings may fall apart when thawed, so be gentle. Ensure the soup is completely cooled before storing in a shallow container.
Change It Up
This dish is simple comfort food at it’s core, so we want to keep the recipe list short. There are simple swaps you can make if you don’t have ingredients on hand.
- Parsley can be substituted for the chives in the dumplings and will still easily achieve that sharp fresh taste.
- If you’ve got leftover ham on hand instead of chicken that will easily make a savory, scrumptious soup too.
- If you want a sweet little burst of flavour, corn is a great addition either instead or alongside your peas.
Looking For More Chicken Recipes? Try These:
- Bang Bang Chicken
- Chipotle Popcorn Chicken
- Coconut Chicken
- Chicken Poppers
- Cuban Chicharrones de Pollo
- Shanghai Chicken
- Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Lasagna Soup
- Chicken and Corn Chowder
- Firecracker Chicken Meatballs
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Chicken and Dumplings
Equipment
Ingredients
For Dumplings
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg beaten
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon chives chopped
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Chicken soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large carrot chopped
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme dried
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 1/2 cup peas frozen
- 2 cups roasted chicken shredded (any part of the chicken will do, both white and dark meat would be great for flavor)
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven add the olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery to the pot and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes until the onion sweats and becomes translucent. Add thyme to the pot and the 4 cups of chicken broth.
- In a small bowl whisk the flour with a ladle of the broth from the pot then pour back into the pot and whisk making sure there are no lumps. Stir in the frozen peas and the shredded chicken. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.
- While the broth is cooking, prepare the dumplings. In a bowl whisk together all the dumpling ingredients, making sure not to overmix, if you overmix the dumplings will turn out too dense.
- Drop dumpling batter using a spoon into the thick broth. Make sure you don’t take too much batter at once because the dumplings will double in size while they cook, so make them as big or small as you wish.
- Cover the pot and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked. Make sure you don’t peek while the dumplings are cooking, because they need to steam in order for them to cook and be nice and fluffy, lifting the lid will release the steam. After about 15 minutes use a toothpick to test if the dumplings are cooked through.
Recipe Notes
- Check out how to make this soup in an Instant pot!!
- This recipe can be stored up to 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Keep in mind that the more times this recipe is reheated, the more the dumplings may fall apart. Freezing is possible but again the dumplings may fall apart when thawed, so be gentle. Ensure the soup is completely cooled before storing in a shallow container.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
This is a great recipe…with modifications. I think the carrots and celery would be pretty hard in the soup so I cooked them in water for a few minutes in the micro. I added butter to the olive oil and onion start. Adds flavor imho. And I use bisquick for the dumplings. It’s so much easier than making from scratch and just as good.
My husband doesn’t eat chicken (3 x food poisoning) so I made a beef mince and gravy with carrots, beans, onions, celery and used the dumplings recipe – it was superb, my hubby said ‘that’s a Do-Again’.
So glad you liked it!
Thank you or the recipe, I only use the dumplings recipe. I made a double batch, and it came out just perfect! I didn’t have buttermilk, but I did substitute it with milk and lemon juice and let it sat for 15-20 mins. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you or sharing your recipe with the world.
My pleasure, glad you liked it!
How do I get the heavy more doughy style dumplings? My mother loves light and fluffy but I love the doughy ones. I haven’t been able to figure out the secret to making them
Oh, probably add a bit more flour but I’d have to give them a try, I’m with your mom, but I found Jamie Oliver’s recipe for the more doughy dumplings, perhaps it’s what you’re looking for: https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/dumplings/
I loved this recipe. It was simple to do and so flavorful. I didn’t have thyme or Chives but I used Herbes de Provence in both the soup and dumplings along with garlic, a tinge of paprika, and Vegeta. It was absolutely delicious.
Sooooo soooo good!! I didn’t change a thing and it was absolutely delicious!!
Hi there – I’m wondering if it’s possible to substitute whole milk for buttermilk for the dumplings? Thanks so much!
The buttermilk is what is going to help make your dumplings light and fluffy! If don’t have buttermilk or can’t find it, you can use whole milk, but I would recommend adding a bit of lemon juice or vinegar to it for the acidity! That is going to help with the reaction of the baking powder, which will result in perfect dumplings 🙂
Thank you so much! I appreciate your response 😀 Can’t wait to try it this week!
I loved this recipe so much!
This was a great/simple recipe. I wanted to make this to try it for the first time and looked for a quick simple recipe. It was great!
Loved this recipe mine just stuck to the bottom of my Dutch oven pretty bad
Make sure to stir it often and reduce the heat to a simmer, and you shouldn’t have any more issues!
I made this today for my husband and 23 year old son. I didn’t have chives so I used scallions. Otherwise followed reciie exactly. I am vegetarian so I couldn’t taste it but they raved about it and devoured it! Thank you for the recipe!
Glad you liked it!
My 70 yr old husband says this tastes exactly like his mother’s! I’ve made it 4 times in the last three months😋
This is my go-to recipe for chicken soup. I have made it so many times. The whole family devours it. Only slight change is that I add more broth! Otherwise, I make it as written. Amazing, Jo!
So glad you liked it, Kelly! Stay safe!
I wanted to add that I continue to make this and continue to swear by it! The dumplings are unreal!
This was so filling, delicious, and easy. The dumplings are so pillowy and light, and so good! I used fresh thyme in mine (3x the amount of dried, for anyone wanting to substitute) and some chopped parsley that needed to be used up. My family of three loved it and devoured a whole pot in one sitting! Thanks for another winner, Jo!
Your recipe looks simply outstanding! Thank you for sharing and after my diet (seriously on one and not just saying that), I am all in for making your recipe!
I cant wait to try this out!!.. do you have any suggestions for sides that will go well with this?
This recipe is a great hearty meal on it’s own! For sides it would go well with some freshly baked bread , or a refreshing salad.
Best yet!
Didn’t change a thing. Most delicious!