Chicken and Dumplings
About the Recipe
This homemade version of stew holds a special place in many hearts. Depending on how your mother or father made it as a kid, will determine how you like it now. Some people love chicken and dumplings with biscuit dough on top to form the dumplings, and some prefer a more dense noodle dumpling in the stew.
It is quite simple to make but can be time-consuming, so you won't see it made at home much anymore. But I hope to change that, and maybe this recipe or some version of it will become a special dinner in your home.
I will show you how to make the dense noodle dumplings and how to thicken the stew. You will love it once you make it.
Variations
As I mentioned before some people will use biscuit dough on top as they bake it. But this leads to a more soft bread texture in the stew versus a firmer dumpling. I had a friend who is from Vermont make a bowl of his Chicken and Dumplings for me and they were delicious. He uses the biscuit dough because that is how he had it as a kid. Needless to say, even though I prefer the firmer texture of a noodle dumpling, I enjoyed every bite of his chicken and dumplings with the biscuit dough.
You may want to add some softer vegetables to yours such as small diced carrots and peas. Hmm, this sounds like it is turning into the base for Chicken Pot Pies.
After you've made this recipe, you must try the Beef and Dumplings recipe I created. It is so rich and flavorful. It is the perfect counterpart to Chicken and Dumplings. I made it with my beef stew meat and beef stock. So good.
Equipment Needed
Your primary tool will be the stock pot, a mixing bowl, and a pizza cutter to easily cut the dumplings.
Man, Oh, Man. You have not lived until you've had a bowl of great chicken and dumplings. This will be the recipe that does that for you.
- 4 cup All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Kosher Salt (Morton Coarse Kosher Salt, for boiling potatoes)
- .25 cup Avocado Oil
- 1.75 cup Water (Ice cold)
- .5 cup All Purpose Flour
- 4 oz Butter (Grassfed)
- 1.5 cup Onions (Chopped, Frozen)
- .25 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 gal Chicken Stock
- 4 Sprig Thyme (Fresh)
- 2 lb Rotisserie Chicken Meat (Pulled and chopped)
- .5 tsp Black Pepper (Ground)
- Dumplings
Combine the water, oil, and salt.
Add the flour and combine until well mixed.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.
Roll the dough into a thin layer on the floured surface to a thickness of about 2/8 - 3/8" thick. Dust the top of the dough with more flour. The trick to handling these dumplings is making sure that the dough is dry with a dusting of flour. If they get sticky, toss some flour on them to dry them up. Don't worry about the amount of flour, this will help thicken the chicken and dumplings.
Using a dough or bench scraper or a pizza cutter, cut the dough into strips and then into pieces about 1 x 2" long.
- Soup
In a large pot, melt butter, and saute onions until translucent on medium heat.
Add 1/4 cup flour and cook the roux on medium-low for about 5 minutes.
Add 1-gallon water and chicken base to the pot and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, drop the dumplings into the soup one or two at a time to prevent clumping and sticking to the bottom. Stir occasionally. Continue until all dumplings are in the soup.
Once all dumplings are in the soup, reduce heat to a rolling simmer and let cook for 25 minutes. This will cook the flour and allow the soup to really thicken.
Dice the chicken into 1/2" dice and stir into soup. Continue to simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.
FLAVOR TIP
Use chicken base to make your stock, and add more to deepen the flavor. I do this instead of adding salt. When making stock from the base, I think they are very conservative on the base-to-water ratio. Depending on your brand of chicken base, you may need to add a little or a lot to get that rich chicken flavor.
