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Comfort Food – Chicken and Dumplings

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Winter just requires comfort food, and one of our favorites is chicken and dumplings. Sometimes I make it to use up left over chicken in the freezer – those bits and pieces saved from a Friday night dinner or slices of turkey from the last big feast, and sometimes I poach chicken breasts to make it all fresh. You could buy a roasted chicken from the deli section of your market, and remove the meat to make it. So lots of options.

As a bonus, this is a quick meal to make – only 30-40 minutes.

Dumplings are made in almost every culture, and chicken and dumplings is iconically American. The soft pillows of dough simmered, almost steamed, on the top of some form of liquid, often broth. My mother often made them for Sunday dinner cooked over peas simmered in milk. I make my dumplings with my own homemade baking mix, so they come together quickly.

My dumplings this way are big puffy pieces of dough, not the rolled soft squares or rectangles often presented in restaurants as chicken and dumplings (though I do make and like them too, it’s really like a different dish). And I usually make chicken n’ dumplings in my favorite cast iron chicken fryer skillet – plenty deep to hold a big batch!

Make it your way

Dumplings can be bland without seasoning. I prefer herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano), but bits of minced onion can be added, or additional seasonings like onion or garlic powder, or small pieces of crumbled bacon.

Baking mix and herbs ready to turn into dumplings
Dumpling mix is really thick so it clumps together when dropped into the pot

My last suggestion is not making chicken and dumplings with whole pieces of chicken – you do not want to be picking meat off of bones! You must be able to pick up some dumpling and chicken slathered in gravy in each bite! Some of the flour from the dumplings will thicken the cooking liquid, creating a thick gravy. If you need to cook whole chicken pieces in advance, let it cool and de-bone before making the chicken and dumplings.

Oh, and I usually have to make a double batch of dumplings.

Chicken shredded and mixed with the base
Chicken and dumplings starting to cook

Chicken & Homemade dumplings

Left over chicken and a quick dumpling made with baking mix is transformed into a comfort meal

Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword chicken and dumplings, quick dumplings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups left over chicken, diced or shredded
  • 1 can condensed chicken soup
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
  • 2-3 cups chicken stock, or milk, or a combination

Dumplings

  • 1 cup baking mix
  • 1 tbsp fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried
  • 1/2 tsp dried dill

Instructions

  1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in the pot. There should be enough liquid to just cover the chicken.

  2. Heat over medium low heat until simmering.

  3. Stir together the biscuit ingredients until a soft dough forms. Drop by heaping tablespoons on top of the simmering chicken.

  4. Simmer 10 minutes.

  5. Cover the pot with the lid and simmer another 10 minutes. Teh dumplings should puff up, and a toothpick will come out clean.

  6. Serve by scooping out a dumpling and covering with a spoonful of chicken and gravy.

And just enough left for lunch
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