Chicken and dumplings were on my bucket list … sort of. As in, I have wanted to make them, for some time, but I didn’t actually write them down on my ‘official’ bucket list.
Recently, someone posted a picture on FB and, since I had six chicken drumsticks thawing in the fridge, and all the other ingredients needed, I thought I’d finally give it a try.
The dish is a soup but I’ve seen a thickened version which is almost stew-like. I found a nice simple recipe online … and then I messed with it by deciding to thicken it with a ‘beurre manie’, a flour and butter paste. I combined a tablespoon each of the two until it formed a paste and stirred about a third of the mixture into my chicken soup. But then, I said what the heck and stirred in a bit more. At the end, I had added the entire thing. A bad move it turned out.
I had concerns about the dumpling part of this dish, too. There are two versions. A batter that’s scooped onto the top of the simmering soup and allowed to steam with the lid on until set. And a rolled out thick ‘noodle’ which cooks in the broth. You need both a big pot of soup stock for this latter version, and time to roll it out and cut it. Neither of which I had. So I went with the steamed batter version. At least this part of the dish turned out well. Another possible problem, along with thickening the soup too much, was my choice of cooking vessel. I used a large (11 inch diameter) saute pot which meant that the soup level was fairly shallow and the large surface area meant that a lot of the liquid evaporated even with the lid on.
While steaming the dumplings, I lost even more liquid to the dumplings, and the thickening soup stuck to the bottom of the pan and scorched. I couldn’t lift the lid but I shook the pan several times to free any dumplings. The dumplings didn’t stick … but the ‘soup’ did because by that point I had something that was more like the filling for chicken pot pie in density.
On the plus side, it was all edible. Even the scorched bits.
It was also saltier than I would have liked.
Oh well.
Chicken and Dumplings
NOTE: The recipe below doesn’t use a thickener for the soup.
Chicken and Dumplings – serves 3-4 people
Chicken Soup
2 tsp vegetable oil
6 chicken drumsticks
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 large or 2 medium carrots, peeled, medium dice
2 celery stalks, medium dice
1 clove garlic clove, peeled and smashed but still intact
4-5 cups chicken stock, divided (edited: increased from 3 cups)
salt and pepper to taste (1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground black pepper to start)
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tbsp dried parsley
Over medium heat saute onions, carrots, celery and garlic clove until the onions start to caramelize on the edges. Remove the vegetables and brown the chicken drumsticks on both sides.
Return about half of the veggies to the pot (retain the rest of the veggies until the last 15 minutes so they’ll still have some texture), four cups of the chicken stock, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and parsley. Bring to the boil, cover and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes, turning the chicken at least once.
Remove the garlic clove and discard.
Remove the drumsticks to a large bowl and take the meat off the bones. Discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Return the meat to the saute pan along with the reserved vegetables. Simmer for another 15 minutes. If the soup looks like it’s reduced too much, add the reserved cup of chicken stock.
Make the batter for the dumplings and spoon rounded teaspoonfuls over the top of the soup, leaving some space between the dumplings so they can swell during cooking.
Place the lid on tightly and steam for 15 minutes, shaking gently a few times to reduce the chance of scorching.
Dumplings – makes 12 dumplings, serves 3-4
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter or margarine
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and parsley.
Cut in the butter.
Stir in the milk just until the flour is moistened.
Drop heaping teaspoonfuls batter on top of chicken mixture. Cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 12-15 minutes. (I steamed them for the full 15 minutes.)
Serve the chicken and dumplings topped with additional chopped parsley.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 
Yummy! It’s a variation of “klyotzki,” or of matzo balls, if you make them round, but with milk. Next time, I’ll try your recipe with soy milk.
I’m definitely going to make this again but use a lot more chicken stock (I’ll try 5 cups) cause those dumplings are ‘thirsty’. Leftover shredded or diced chicken or turkey would save a lot of time from having to cook the chicken from the raw state.
Good idea. I usually throw chicken pieces into crock pot, add all the veggies, and leave them to talk to each other until ready.
Harmony among your chicken and veggies is a good thing. 🙂
Harmony is always a good thing! 😻
Mmm, love chicken and dumplings! You have the basis for an excellent pot of it next time around.
I think so too. Thank you.
I’m going to edit the recipe to increase the broth amount … to 5 cups I think.
I love dumplings, the chicken looks so succulent and tasty.
Thank you.
These are very unusual dumplings for me! I’ve never seen anything similar, but it looks really good!
The dumplings are something found in the southern parts of the US. A batter steamed on top of a pot of soup/stew with the lid on. I’ll have to try this dish again now that I’ve learned a few things on this attempt.
There’s a fruit dessert which similarly steams a sweet batter/biscuit/dough on top of a fruit mixture which is called a fruit ‘cobbler’ perhaps because the dough looks something like cobblestones on a pavement.
https://www.inspiredtaste.net/24496/spiced-peach-cobbler-recipe/
Thank you, I have seen and/or heard of cobblers indeed! (Never tasted them either, though).
Some people don’t like making pie crust. Cobblers are much easier to manage. 🙂
Great job for a first try! And hey, if it was edible then it wasn’t “burned”. Just “deliciously browned” 🙂
I grew up on this version, which in my home we called “New England Style” chicken and dumplings. However my wife loves the southern style “chicken ‘n dumplin’s” version – the rolled out noodles you alluded to. So that’s what I make primarily these days, even though I still prefer the New England version (don’t tell her, though!) 🙂
Thank you. I’m going to try the noodle version too. You should know that I make a mean pasta, even though I don’t do it often, just cause it’s so much fun to make. 🙂
Woo hoo, your own pasta! Awesome!
The noodles I make for my wife are taken directly from the handwritten “receipt book” that her grandmother left her. Really only 10 or so recipes, but they’re fascinating for showing what they ate and how they got around scarcity of ingredients. Her “chicken ‘n dumplins” recipe for instance notes that squirrel is an acceptable variant if you don’t have a chicken in the yard.
So as you might imagine, the noodle recipe is hardly the classic pasta of today. Basically you take a ton of flour and work in fat that you’ve skimmed off a stewing hen (or rodent) along with some of the broth, and….that’s it. Like most of the recipes, it’s basic and not dependant on flavor accents like herbs or spices. I guess out on the plains of South Dakota at the turn of the last century, you worked with what you had.
🙂
Many years ago my BFF gave me a pasta machine. I don’t know why cause I wasn’t doing a lot of cooking, bar pizza dough and cheesecake, at the time.
In any case, my mom co-opted the machine and for many years made the best egg noodles to add to her chicken soup. After she passed away I reclaimed the machine and finally used it. Actually, first thing I did with the machine was roll out the pastry for cannoli shells. Which I had to fry. Cause I’m a glutton for punishment. Eventually, I made pasta … plain, egg/semolina, spinach, cocoa powder and even chickpea flour. 🙂
Haha! Excellent! 🙂