How to Make Chicken and Dumplings
Practically all cultures have their own version of a dumpling. From Italian gnocchi to Asian potstickers to Indian samosas, dumplings are a universal comfort food, and many were invented as a way of stretching dishes to feed just a few more people or use up bits of leftovers. It's fair to say that chicken and dumplings is the American "dumpling" of choice. The dish is most commonly associated with Southern cooking, though history indicates the recipe may have actually originated with the Pennsylvania Dutch.There's a intense controversy over which type of dumpling -- fluffy drop dumplings or slippery flat noodle-like dumplings -- are the true sultans of the stew bowl. Each kind has their own virtues, and your chicken and dumplings will likely be delicious no matter which you choose. We remain neutral on the dumpling controversy; this recipe just so happens to use drop dumplings.
Transcript
Hey, everyone, Judith here with Recipe.com. Today, I'm gonna be
showing you how to make Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings, a
good old popular, satisfying, comforting souther dish. What we're gonna
need for this is 1-3/4 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken
thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-1/2-inch pieces. We have here
two-thirds of a cup of all-purpose flour, two carrots which
we've diced, one large onion which we've diced, two stalks
of celery which we've diced, one tablespoon of poultry seasoning,
half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of black
pepper, one cup of water, and 1-1/2 cups of frozen
peas which we've thawed. Two cans of reduced sodium chicken
broth which is about 28 ounces all together, then we
have one cup of whole-wheat pastry flour, half a cup
of all-purpose flour, one teaspoon of poultry seasoning, half a
teaspoon of baking soda, half a teaspoon of salt, and
three-quarters of a cup of non-fat buttermilk. So, we have
here a large pot. If you have a dutch oven,
that's great. We're gonna put it on a medium heat
and we're just gonna toss in our chicken thighs and
our flour all together so we just wanna get those
nice and covered with the flour. So, get your hands
in there, a little lightly. So, in the pan, we
wanna put one tablespoon of our two tablespoons of canola
oil in there. We're gonna save that other tablespoon for
later, and once that's heated up, we're gonna add in
our chicken. So, once our chicken is in our pot
nicely floured, we are gonna brown that now for about
3 to 5 minutes. Well, it's been about 3 or
4 minutes and our chicken are nice and lightly brown
now, so we're just gonna transfer them to a plate.
Like so. There we go. And we'll just set those
aside for the moment. Now, we're gonna put it to
a medium heat and we're gonna put our remaining one
tablespoon of oil into the pan and now we're gonna
get our veggies in there and we want them to
get them nice and soft, so in go our carrots,
our celery and onion. Let's put in our poultry season
there, give it a nice kick, and our salt and
pepper, and we wanna cook that covered for about 5
to 7 minutes, until our vegetables get nice and soft.
Make sure to stir occasionally. So, as our stew is
simmering, we are gonna get on with our dumplings. We'll
make our dumpling mix so let's put in our whole
wheat flour. Our all-purpose flour goes in there, too. Our
poultry seasoning. The baking powder, the salt, and last but
not least, of course, our buttermilk can go in there,
too, and we're just gonna stir all that together and
those are gonna be some great dumplings which we're gonna
put in the pot after. So, get that all mixed
in together until we get it to a nice consistency
as we want. Now, if you don't have buttermilk, you
can make your own sour milk which is basically mixing
one cup of milk with one tablespoon of lemon juice
and vinegar, and that will give the same kind of
effect. All right. Okay, so we'll work on that and
putting them into little balls a little bit later. So,
now that our vegetables are nice and soft...we'll give them
a little stir. We're gonna put in that remaining flour
which we used for the chicken, so in that goes
on top. And then we'll put in our liquids, so,
our chicken broth goes in there. As well as our
water...and our peas. So, let's just give that a good
stir. So we're gonna bring our pot to a simmer
and stir occasionally. Well, we brought our chicken stew to
a simmer and now it's time to put in our
dumplings. So, get your hands dirty here and we wanna
take about one tablespoon of our dough mixture and just
put it into-- on top of our chicken stew mixture
like so, so we'll probably be able to get possibly
about 18 little balls, little dumplings, out of this, and
they will all go on top, then we wanna leave
our chicken stew with our dumplings on the stove for
about 15 minutes with the cover on until our dumplings
get nice and expanded, they puff out, and our chicken
is cooked all the way through, and our vegetables are
nice and tender. Well, it's been 15 minutes. Our chicken
and dumplings have been simmering away and they are done.
So, our dumplings have puffed out beautifully and I am
just gonna serve that up, getting all our vegetables, a
bit of chicken in there, get a nice, big bowl
and that goes in there with all that lovely sauce
and that just looks fantastic. Comforting, satisfying, it's a really
great meal for all the family. There you go, everyone.
That's how you make your Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings.
What You'll Need
- 1 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 2 14-ounce cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
- 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup nonfat buttermilk, (see Tip)
Step By Step
1
Toss chicken with 2/3 cup all-purpose flour in a medium bowl until coated. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Reserving the remaining flour, add the chicken to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
2
Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pot. Stir in carrots, celery, onion, 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle the reserved flour over the vegetables; stir to coat. Stir in broth, water, peas and the reserved chicken. Bring to a simmer, stirring often.
3
To prepare dumplings: Meanwhile, stir whole-wheat flour, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Stir in buttermilk.
4
Drop the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time, over the simmering chicken stew, making about 18 dumplings. Adjust heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover and cook undisturbed until the dumplings are puffed, the vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
5
Tip: No buttermilk? You can use buttermilk powder prepared according to package directions. Or make "sour milk": mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk.
When you know how to make chicken and dumplings, you'll never be at a loss for what to make when the mood strikes for old-fashioned comfort food.
More Recipes
A delicious weeknight meal, try this homey recipe that uses fresh mushrooms, chicken, olives and sage.
Our revision of creamy chicken and dumplings uses whole-wheat flour for the dumplings and adds lots of vegetables to the filling. The delicious, satisfying results are packed with beneficial nutrients and dietary fiber, and because we don't use canned soup for the sauce, sodium levels are drastically reduced. To go even lighter, try the recipe with boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
