This chicken and dumplings recipe is really just chicken soup, amplified by dumplings, but it is good enough to warrant its own place on our website. I searched and searched for a dumpling recipe that was almost like a noodle–not too fluffy, but not too firm. This is the final version that I came up with, and my family loves it. Chicken and dumplings is a rich, filling meal that is delicious because it is made with real ingredients and a well-raised chicken, all from scratch.
I have provided two methods here. You can start with all raw ingredients and end with a delicious soup, or if you have homemade broth on hand, you can make the “fast version” with that. I do not recommend using store-bought broth as it likely does not contain the gelatin and other nutrients found in real homemade bone broth. I refer to the store-bought stuff as salty chicken water.
Chicken and Dumplings Recipe (Slow Version)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4-12 hours
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
Soup:
- 1 whole pasture-raised young chicken, 3-5 pounds
- Leftover chicken bones and vegetable trimmings, if you have them.
- 5-6 organic carrots, chopped (you don’t have to peel them if you don’t want to)
- 1 small bunch organic celery, chopped
- 1 large organic yellow onion, chopped
- Your choice of fresh minced garlic, thyme, oregano, and parsley
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Dumplings:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 Tbs. lard or softened butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup broth, water, or milk, at room temp
Place the chicken in a large soup kettle with thyme and oregano. Barely cover with about 3-4 quarts of water. Bring to boil over medium-high, reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour.
Remove chicken carefully from water and set on large dish to cool. Once cool enough to handle, separate meat from skin and bones, setting meat aside. Put skin and bones back into water and return to boil. Boil bones and skin for at least 4 hours, or simmer up to 24 hours. Pour through strainer into metal or glass bowl. Discard herbs, skin and bones (great dog food once cool!). Return liquid to pot. Reserve 1 cup broth for dumplings.
Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to broth and bring to boil.
Meanwhile prepare dumplings:
Stir together flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in fat with pastry cutter. Add broth and egg and mix well, adding more flour or liquid as needed to form a soft, not-too-sticky dough. You may either roll the dumplings on a floured board and cut them into shapes or rectangles, or you may simply drop them as lumps (half-dollar size up to the size of small cookies) into the boiling soup.
Drop dumplings into boiling broth. Take care not to get splashed by the boiling broth. After the last dumpling is dropped, boil for another 2 minutes, then turn off heat. Chop cooked reserved chicken into bite-size pieces and gently stir these into broth. Season broth to taste with salt and pepper. (Careful–it’s probably still really hot!)
Chicken and Dumplings Recipe (Fast Version)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1.5 hours
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
Soup:
- 1 whole pasture-raised young chicken, 3-5 pounds
- 2-4 quarts homemade chicken bone broth
- 5-6 organic carrots, chopped (you don’t have to peel them if you don’t want to)
- 1 small bunch organic celery, chopped
- 1 large organic yellow onion, chopped
- Your choice of fresh minced garlic, thyme, oregano, and parsley
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Dumplings:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 Tbs. lard or softened butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup broth, water, or milk, at room temp
Place the chicken in a large soup kettle with thyme and oregano. Add enough broth to barely cover the chicken. Bring to boil over medium-high, reduce heat and let simmer for 1 hour.
Remove chicken carefully from broth and set on large dish to cool. Once cool enough to handle, separate meat from skin and bones, setting meat aside to save for future batches of broth. Reserve 1 cup broth for dumplings.
Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to broth and return broth to boil.
Meanwhile prepare dumplings:
Stir together flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in fat with pastry cutter. Add broth and egg and mix well, adding more flour or liquid as needed to form a soft, not-too-sticky dough. You may either roll the dumplings on a floured board and cut them into shapes or rectangles, or you may simply drop them as lumps (half-dollar size up to the size of small cookies) into the boiling soup.
Drop dumplings into boiling broth. Take care not to get splashed by the boiling broth. After the last dumpling is dropped, boil for another 2 minutes, then turn off heat. Chop cooked reserved chicken into bite-size pieces and gently stir these into broth. Season broth to taste with salt and pepper. (Careful–it’s probably still really hot!)
