Mostly made from scratch, this is our go-to, easy chicken and dumplings recipe. It’s perfect for dreary weeknights and lazy Sundays. Cozy and deeply comforting, if you think making homemade chicken and dumplings in under an hour sounds impossible, here’s our secret short-cut: Make the dumplings from scratch, but use a store-bought rotisserie chicken for the chicken. Viola! Easy comfort, here we come. For more creamy chicken dinners, check out our Chicken Pot Pie, and Chicken à la King, or for a super rich and hearty soup, try our Creamy Potato Soup with Bacon!
Key Ingredients
(Scroll down for the full recipe with measurements below)
- Chicken: We use the shredded chicken meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken to make our easy chicken and dumplings recipe come together (relatively) fast. You could certainly use homemade Shredded Chicken, if you’ve got the time. If you’re a meal prep person and need even more chicken dinner ideas, don’t miss our 60 Best Chicken Breast Recipes — it will keep you busy!
- Mirepoix: That’s just a fancy French word for onions, carrots and celery, which make up our flavorful soup base. We also add garlic, because why the heck wouldn’t we?
- Roux: This mixture of butter and flour is also a classic French culinary trick for thickening creamy soups and stews like this. You’ll need lots of flour for the soup and for the dumplings, too. You could try using a gluten-free flour if you want to make a gluten-free version of this recipe, but we haven’t tested the recipe with GF flour so it’s hard to say exactly how it would turn out.
- Chicken stock: At its core, this is really just a punched up version of a very basic chicken soup recipe. A high-quality chicken stock (or Homemade Stock if you’ve got it) will shine here.
- Whole milk: You’ll use milk in both the chicken soup and the dumplings, and whole milk really is best here — a little fat is your friend when making a creamy dinner like this.
- Buttermilk: This is for the dumpling dough, and we really love the flavor it gives these simple dumplings. However, if you’re in a pinch you could use all whole milk instead of adding buttermilk.
- Baking powder: This makes the dumplings rise, and to ensure that your biscuits are airy and fluffy, it’s really important to use fresh baking powder. If yours is older than about 6 months, it’s worth buying fresh baking powder.
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, dill.
How To Make Chicken and Dumplings
- Make the chicken soup base. This is a really basic chicken soup, and it starts like all the others do: Onion, carrots, celery, garlic.
- A roux of butter and flour is the key to thickening your chicken soup. You’ll add those to the lidded pot, give it a little stir, and then slowly add the stock.
- Make it creamy: Pour in milk, shredded chicken and seasonings.
- Mix up the dumpling dough while the soup simmers. See tips below for how to make sure that your dumplings are super tender and fluffy.
- Drop the dumplings into the chicken soup.
- Cover the pot. The dumplings will steam as they sit on the top of the creamy chicken stew and under the lid — this is key to achieving the fluffy-tenderness you want.
- Stir and serve!
How To Make Perfect Dumplings
- First, know your dumplings: Not to be confused with Asian-style dumplings, the ‘dumplings’ in Southern-style chicken and dumplings are basically just drop biscuits! That means they’re easy to make; there is no rolling or cutting needed.
- When you’re mixing the dumpling dough, stir just until all the dry ingredients are moistened, taking care not to overmix. Much like with scones and other biscuit recipes, it’s important to mix with a light tough. This ensures that the finished dumplings are really tender and fluffy instead of tough.
- Don’t overcook them: After you drop the dumplings into the chicken stew, cover the pot and set a timer for 15 minutes. Pull the pot off the heat right away when the timer goes off. Try not to peek at your dumplings — that will release the steam that’s building up under the lid.
How To Store + A Note On Freezing
- Leftover chicken and dumplings can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat it gently on the stove for best results (or, you know, microwave it if you’re in a hurry — it’ll be fine).
- Chicken and dumplings is not our favorite freezer meal. You could freeze just the soup (it’ll be OK in the freezer for a month or two), defrost it, reheat it and add the dumplings in the moment. But creamy soups can be tricky to reheat, so freezing them is not something we love telling people to do. If you want a creamy chicken dinner that IS freezer-friendly, our classic Chicken Divan is a terrific freezer meal.
Serving Suggestions
- A refreshing side salad like our Fennel Salad, The Kale Salad or Simple Butter Lettuce Salad would be lovely.
- If you’re looking to get more vegetables on the table, you can also prepare Perfectly Roasted Broccoli, Roasted Beets, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, or Green Beans Almondine for a little extra crunch.
- If you want to go all in on the Southern comfort food-level, we recommend baking up our Homemade Cornbread.
More Comforting & Creamy Chicken Dinners
Don’t Worry Dumplin’, There’s More Where This Came From
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