Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings is one of those family recipes that everyone thinks of when wanting and craving comfort food. In about an hour, your Dutch oven will serve up a hearty meal of homemade dumplings and shredded chicken in deliciously rich broth.
What are chicken and dumplings
Chicken and dumplings is a hybrid of chicken noodle soup with egg noodles, but thicker like chicken stew (without frozen peas,) or chicken pot pie (with no pie crust.)
Our version of Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings is not the fluffy dumpling or drop dumpling version but more in style of Cracker Barrel with flat dumplings. These style of flat dumplings is also known as Southern chicken and dumplings or Southern style chicken and dumplings.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Simple ingredients — the homemade recipes are those using simple, everyday ingredients.
- Easy to make — a little chopping, some mixing, kneading, and stirring, but really the Dutch oven will do all the hard work.
- Hearty and soul satisfying — if a recipe can be the culinary version of grandma's warm hugs, than it's this one.
- A family favorite — everyone will love this recipe, even your pickiest of eaters.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken — the key ingredient. The quickest and easiest way is using a grocery store rotisserie chicken.
- Vegetables — just the classic, mirepoix (the French culinary term used in professional kitchens everywhere for this combo) of onions, carrots, and celery, which are always the start of any good soup base. You'll also want some fresh parsley.
- Pantry — grab the flour, salt, pepper, thyme, granulated garlic, olive oil, and broth. The flour will be needed twice; for the dumpling dough and to make a thickening roux. The salt will also be needed twice; sauteing and to make the dumpling dough.
- Dairy — butter and whole milk are all you'll need.
Variations
- More veggies — add parsnips, turnips, green beans, broccoli, peas, or any of your favorites.
- Homemade broth — the convenience of boxed or canned broth is too good to pass up, but if you have the time, homemade chicken broth or chicken stock can take the recipe to greater levels.
- Seasoning — use poultry seasoning to give it a taste of the holidays. Cayenne or Cajun spice are a great way to give the dish a slight kick. Fresh herbs are always a good idea. Bouillon cubes can also increase the depth of flavor.
- Chicken — Roasting a whole chicken or bone in chicken thighs is wonderful and once the meat is removed, the remnants can be used to make a homemade flavorful broth.
How to make Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings
Step 1: Add the olive oil to the Dutch oven or other large pot over medium high heat. Once hot, sauté the finely diced onions, carrots, and onions for about 5 minutes or until they begin soften.
Step 2: Add all the seasonings. Continue to sauté and stir until everything becomes fragrant.
Step 3: Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer away at a low boil for at least 5 minutes.
Step 4: While the broth comes to a boil, combine the flour, salt, milk, and butter to a medium bowl. Use a pasty cutter to form the dough. It needs to be sticky or tacky to the touch.
Step 5: On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to between ⅛" to no more than ¼" in thickness and cut 1 x 3 inch pieces.
Step 5: Drop the dumplings into the boiling broth. As they drop, give them a quick yet GENTLE stir to prevent them from falling and sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook for 15 at a roiling boil then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer an additional 15 minutes.
Step 7: Remove a couple of cups of hot broth from the Dutch oven and in a large bowl, whisk in the reserved flour into the broth. Once combined, stir the roux into the pot.
Step 8: Add the chicken and fresh parsley. Stir well and once the chicken is warmed through, remove from heat; 2-3 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Expert Tips
- Don't over work the dough — Freshly sifted flour will help the dough come together quickly without over-kneading it. If the dough is over-worked, the end result will be chewy, tough dumplings.
- Cold butter — Just like with making biscuits, cutting cold butter into the dough will keep them lighter and prevent the development of excess gluten developing, which gives them a gummy, chewy texture.
- 3 flour tortillas — Not everyone has a ruler in the kitchen or even a good eye for rough judgements, so aim for the thickness of your rolled out dough to be about the same thickness of three stacked flour tortillas.
- Dumplings float — When the dumplings are first added to the pot, they will sink to the bottom, which is why we recommend stirring them immediately when dropped to prevent them from sticking to the hot bottom, but then leave them alone to do their thing. They will float to the surface once they're cooked.
- Pizza cutter — Once the dough is rolled out, a pizza cutter will make quick work of cutting them to size.
Serving Suggestions
We love a big, hearty bowl of Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings, but sometimes, we want more to go with it. Here's some ideas.
- Salad — A hearty green salad can add the additional vegetables needed for a nutritious and complete meal.
- Bread — Sure, the dumplings could constitute being in the bread family but our Zesty Lemon Dill Biscuits would be a wonderful and complementary side dish.
- Vegetables — The bright and fresh flavors of Asparagus and Peas would be perfect.
- Dessert — Sticking with theme of the Southern style recipes, the New Orleans favorite Bananas Foster would complete the meal.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely. Self rising flour will yield a lighter and fluffier (but still flat) dumpling. We used all purpose because we feel this is a more common, most everyone will have on-hand, ingredient versus self rising.
It's well known dark meat has a lot more flavor than white meat. If using cooked thighs, you may need 4 or more rotisserie chickens to get to the recipe requirements, but cut up raw chicken thighs can be added when sauteing the veg and continue to cook during the broth boiling stage (steps 1-4). We recommend adding some salt and pepper directly to the chopped meat before cooking.
As long as they're in an air tight container in the fridge, they'll be good for 4-5 days. You may see some separation but once reheated and stirred, it will be combined again. The dumplings are essentially bread or noodles and will continue to absorb the liquid. They can become gummy.
More Southern Style Recipes
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Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings
Equipment
- 5 quart Dutch Oven or larger
Ingredients
Base
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup onion finely diced; one small onion
- 1 cup carrots finely diced; about 3 carrots
- 1 cup celery finely diced, about 3 ribs
- ½ teaspoon granulated garlic fresh; minced
- 2 teaspoon ground thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 48 oz chicken broth
Dumplings
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon salt
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoon butter COLD; cubed
Finish
- ½ cup flour
- 4 cups chicken cooked; cubed/shredded
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- In a 5 quart Dutch oven heat olive oil over medium high heat; cook onion, carrot, and celery.
- Add all the seasonings. Continue to sauté and stir until everything becomes fragrant.
- Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer away at a low boil for at least 5 minutes.
- While the broth comes to a boil, combine the flour, salt, milk, and butter to a medium bowl to make a dough.
- Use a pasty cutter to form the dough. It needs to be sticky or tacky to the touch.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to between ⅛" to no more than ¼" in thickness and cut 1 x 3 inch pieces.
- Drop the dumplings into the boiling broth. As they drop, give them a quick yet GENTLE stir to prevent them from directly sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Cook for 15 at a roiling boil then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove a couple of cups of hot broth from the Dutch oven and in a large bowl, whisk in the reserved flour into the broth. Once combined, stir the roux into the pot.
- Add the chicken and fresh parsley. Stir well and allow the chicken to warm through; 2-3 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
- Don't over work the dough — Freshly sifted flour will help the dough come together quickly without over-kneading it. If the dough is over-worked, the end result will be chewy, tough dumplings.
- Cold butter — Just like with making biscuits, cutting cold butter into the dough will keep them lighter and prevent the development of excess gluten developing, which gives them a gummy, chewy texture.
- 3 flour tortillas — Not everyone has a ruler in the kitchen or even a good eye for rough judgements, so aim for the thickness of your rolled out dough to be about the same thickness of three stacked flour tortillas.
- Dumplings float — When the dumplings are first added to the pot, they will sink to the bottom, which is why we recommend stirring them immediately when dropped to prevent them from sticking to the hot bottom, but then leave them alone to do their thing. They will float to the surface once they're cooked.
- Pizza cutter — Once the dough is rolled out, a pizza cutter will make quick work of cutting them to size.
Nutrition
Dutch Oven Daddy is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
Edward
This is the ultimate comfort food and I enjoyed every bit of it! Thank you!!