Description
Classic chicken and dumplings blend Southern comfort with hearty home cooking. Creamy broth, tender chicken, and pillowy dumplings create a soul-warming meal you’ll crave during cold evenings.
Ingredients
Scale
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cubed (rotisserie works great)
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
- 2 tbsps olive oil or butter
- ½ cup heavy cream (optional for creaminess)
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 tbsps butter, melted
Instructions
- Aromatics Awakening: Sauté diced onions, carrots, and celery in olive oil until vegetables become translucent, releasing their fragrant essence in a spacious pot.
- Flavor Infusion: Pour chicken broth into the vegetable base, introducing shredded chicken and seasoning with thyme, rosemary, salt, and black pepper. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, allowing ingredients to harmonize.
- Dumpling Crafting: Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Blend milk and melted butter into the dry ingredients, creating a slightly lumpy dough without overmixing.
- Dumpling Placement: Delicately spoon dumpling mixture onto the simmering soup, positioning each dollop with strategic spacing to accommodate expansion during cooking.
- Steaming Transformation: Cover the pot, allowing dumplings to steam and develop into fluffy clouds over 12-15 minutes, ensuring complete cooking and ideal texture.
- Creamy Elevation: Stir heavy cream into the soup, creating a luxurious and velvety consistency. Adjust seasonings to achieve a perfectly balanced flavor profile.
- Culinary Presentation: Ladle the hearty soup into serving bowls, distributing dumplings generously. Optionally garnish with fresh parsley for a vibrant finishing touch.
Notes
- Sauté Strategically: Carefully caramelize vegetables at medium heat to develop a deep, rich flavor base without burning, which can introduce bitter undertones.
- Dumpling Delicacy: Avoid overmixing dumpling dough to prevent tough, dense results; gently combine ingredients until just incorporated for light, fluffy texture.
- Chicken Choice: Select bone-in, skin-on chicken for more intense flavor, or use rotisserie chicken for convenient, pre-cooked meat with excellent taste profile.
- Cream Caution: Add heavy cream at the end of cooking to prevent curdling and maintain a smooth, silky consistency in the final dish.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Snacks
- Method: Simmering
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5
- Calories: 430
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 900 mg
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated Fat: 10 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 38 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 20 g
- Cholesterol: 70 mg