Simple Chicken and Dumplings

This recipe has taken me almost my whole married life to perfect.  Really.  This is supposed to be so easy that any Southerner should be able to do it in their sleep, but not me.

Give me something hard and it’s no prob but this has kept me up at night and to make it worse, it’s one of my hubby’s favorites.  His great-aunt was amazing at it. But I think I’ve got it!  It’s probably still not perfect, but it’s darn close.  I kept it as simple as I could.  It is warm, comforting and delicious.  Again I started really easy with the seasonings because I like to adjust as things cook.  This way it becomes your recipe. You can use a whole chicken and the broth from it which would be amazing. But tonight I just had boneless, skinless chicken and it worked just fine.

People also argue over whether to do rolled dumplings or drop dumplings.  I do drop most of the time.  Mainly because it saves a lot of time and I don’t have to get flour everywhere.  There’s no need to argue and debate the type of dumplings, both are amazing!  So no more arguing people!

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Simple Chicken and Dumplings

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 5

Author Tera Bare

Ingredients

Broth:

• 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken
• 1/2 Tsp. salt
• 1/4 Tsp. pepper
• 1/4 Tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 Tsp. garlic powder
• 1 bouillon cube
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 3-4 Tbsp. flour

Dumplings:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tsp. baking powder
• 1 Tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 Tsp. butter
• 3/4– 1 cup milk

Instructions

1. Boil chicken in a large pot covered with water.  Add the seasonings and bouillon cube.  Cook chicken till done.  Then remove chicken and save the broth in the pot.  Shred chicken and add back to the pot with the broth.

2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients for the dumplings together.  Add the shortening and butter and cut in with a pastry cutter. Work together until it’s evenly mixed, but don’t overwork.  Add in 3/4 cup of the milk and stir gently until you have a nice dough. If it’s too dry add in the rest of the milk.  Too wet add a little bit of flour.  Set to the side and allow it to rest for at least 20 minutes.

3. In a small pan melt butter and add the 1/4 cup of flour.  Allow the flour and butter to cook for a few minutes to get rid of the flour taste.  Mix together adding broth with a whisk until nice and smooth.  Add to broth pot and mix.  I added it about a tablespoon at a time till I got the desired thickness of broth.  I wound up using about 1/2.  Bring the pot to a boil.  This is the time to add the soup and adjust seasonings.  I added about 1 tsp. of salt and 1/4 Tsp. more pepper and 1/4 tsp. of onion powder.  Adjust till you get the taste you want.
4. Take dumpling dough and either roll out on a floured surface and cut into thin squares or drop by tiny spoonfuls into the broth.  Every once in a while stir the dumplings very gently while adding them in.  After all dumplings have been added, reduce heat to a simmer and cover.  Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.  Do not take lid off!  When dumplings are fluffy in the middle they are done.