Description
There is nothing like Chicken and Dumplings, y’all. It’s the coziest pot of hearty chicken and a variety of tender veggies married in a rich and flavorful broth with pillowy-soft dumplings. This chicken and dumplings recipe is so easy to make and the perfect go-to soup to chill with when the craving hits. Mmm, it’s sooo delicious!
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 4 large carrots, chopped
- 4 celery stalks, diced
- 1 large leek, pale green & white part only, cut in half lengthwise & then chopped- (about 1 cup)
- 2 tablespoons garlic paste
- Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper- to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 lbs boneless/skinless chicken thighs
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme, destemmed
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
- 6 cups chicken stock or broth
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream (or coconut cream as dairy-free sub)
- 1 cup frozen green peas
For the dumplings:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup fine yellow cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper- to taste
- 5 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven or stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Once sizzling, add the onion, carrots, celery, and leek. Sauté the veggies, stirring often, until tender and golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. If you notice the veggies browning too quickly, reduce the heat to medium. Then stir in the garlic and continue cooking until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Season the veggies with salt/pepper- to taste, and the ground allspice and stir the spices with the veggie mixture for about 1 minute.
- Then sprinkle the flour over the veggie mixture and stir to combine; continue cooking until the flour dissipates and the mixture is golden brown and most of the butter has been absorbed, about 2-3 minutes
- Then add the chicken thighs and fresh thyme + chopped rosemary and stir the chicken to combine with the veggies. Then cover the chicken with the stock/broth and stir once more to ensure everything is fully combined.
- Cover the pot and let the chicken simmer for 25-30 minutes over medium heat- or until the chicken is cooked through.
- After cooking the chicken, use a slotted utensil to remove the chicken and transfer it to a cutting board or rimmed baking sheet and shred the chicken with two forks. Then return the shredded chicken to the pot along with any residual juices as well as the heavy cream, and stir until well combined.
- Bring the soup up to a rolling boil and let simmer for about 5-6 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium-low. Meanwhile, let’s prepare the dumplings.
- To make the dumplings: In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt/pepper- to taste. Whisk the dry ingredients well to combine. Then add the melted butter and buttermilk and stir with a spatula until a dough forms.
- Back to the soup, stir in the frozen peas. Then use a medium spring-loaded ice cream scoop to scoop and drop the raw dumpling mixture right on top of the soup, scattering them all around the surface. Spoon some of the soup broth over the tops of the dumplings. Then cover the pot with a lid and let the soup simmer over low heat for 15-18 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked through. When fully cooked, the dumplings will be nice and plump, almost doubling in size. You can test dumplings for doneness if you’d like by cutting through one and ensuring it’s tender with no dryness.
- Taste the soup and adjust with salt/pepper to your desired preference, if needed. Serve the chicken and dumplings immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
- Gluten-free needs? Swap the all-purpose flour for any gluten-free baking flour as a 1:1 ratio (we love Bob’s Red Mill gf flour!).
- Please read blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.