Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings
Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings is the ultimate comfort food, with tender chicken, fluffy dumplings, and a rich, savory broth. You’ll love this cozy, homemade classic!
Chicken and Dumplings is the best kind of comfort food! This recipe is adapted from the 1977 edition of the Southern Junior League Cookbook. It’s titled “Aunt Clara’s Chicken and Dumplings”, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much flavor it delivered with simple, minimal ingredients.
The broth is flavorful, the chicken is tender, and the dumplings are delightfully fluffy without getting soggy or mushy.
This recipe was just what I needed the week that I made it, and I happily devoured the leftovers for lunch all week long. Even my “soup is not dinner” husband gobbled it up! I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did.
Jump to:
Ingredients
- You can use a whole chicken (which was the most economical at my grocery store) or cut up chicken pieces.
- I inadvertently placed the parsley above the carrot so it looks like it’s coming out of the carrot—ha! But that’s fresh parsley there, which adds a lovely herbaceous flavor to the broth.
- The sugar seems surprising. It’s for the dumplings, and it’s only a teaspoon. It really does balance all of the savory flavors in the dish, and does NOT make the dumplings sweet.
How to Make Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings
- Place the chicken, parsley, celery, carrot, salt, and pepper in a large pot or dutch oven. Cover with water and cook for 1½ hours or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and vegetables from the broth.
- Shake the flour and water together in a jar until smooth, then stir that into the broth in the pot. Let simmer while you chop the chicken.
- Whisk the milk and egg together in a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar, and stir to combine to make the dumpling batter.
- Add the chicken back to the pot, then drop the dumpling batter by spoonfuls into the pot. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve!
Want to add vegetables?
This recipe is simply chicken and dumplings. If you’d like to add veggies, carrots and peas are classic additions.
The carrots will need about 30 minutes in the simmering broth. Slice the carrots, and add them to the broth while you shred the chicken and stir together the dumpling batter. They will continue to cook when you add the dumplings, and will be tender when the dumplings are done.
The peas only need a few minutes to warm through. Add them right before you drop the dumplings into the broth (make sure the broth is at a simmer before adding the dumplings).
📖 Recipe
Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 raw chicken whole or cut into pieces
- 3 sprigs parsley plus more for garnish
- 2 stalks celery chopped into 3 pieces per stalk
- 1 carrot chopped into 3 pieces
- 2½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup flour
For the dumplings:
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg beaten
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Would you like to save this?
I’ll email this post to you, so you can easily find it later. Plus you’ll get new recipes from me every week!
Instructions
For the chicken:
- Place the chicken in a dutch oven or another large pot, and cover with water. Add the parsley, celery, carrot, salt, and pepper.1 raw chicken, 3 sprigs parsley, 2 stalks celery, 1 carrot, 2½ teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon pepper
- Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 1½ hours or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken and vegetables from the broth. If the broth comes up more than halfway in the pot, you can remove a few cups of broth if you’d like a thicker sauce.
- Place the ¼ cup flour in a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, along with ¼ cup water. Shake to combine. Whisk the mixture into the hot broth and let cook until thickened slightly.¼ cup flour
- Remove the meat from the chicken, remove the skin, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add back to the pot.
For the dumplings:
- In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and egg together. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar, and stir to combine.1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1½ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar
- Drop by teaspoon-full into pot (the broth should be at a simmer). It may feel like too much batter but keep dropping them in—it'll all work out. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes. Don’t peek!
- Garnish with fresh parsley or chives, and serve.
Comments
No Comments