Chicken and Dumplings. What does that mean to you? There are about a million (okay, maybe more like 900,000) different interpretations of this comfort food. When I was growing up it was basically chicken soup with fluffy, cloud like biscuits cooked on top. In the south, it’s more often like chicken and gravy with thick noodle-like dumplings. I’m sure your family has its own version, too. But for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been craving the rich gravy type with those deliciously thick noodles (oops, I mean dumplings)! And, because I always try to make my meals a little more well rounded, I made this Chicken and Dumplings with Vegetables.
To make these Chicken and Dumplings with Vegetables, I basically took my Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, thickened up the broth, added my own homemade noodle/dumpling things, and added in peas. I also used chicken broth in place of the water in my soup recipe to make sure everything was operating at maximum flavor. Because this recipe uses pre-made chicken broth, you can probably get away with using boneless chicken breasts instead of the split breasts (bone-in) that I used, but the bone-in is often cheaper and not really much more work.
Can You Freeze Chicken and Dumplings?
This recipe does make a pretty big batch, but in general soups and sauces thickened by flour don’t hold up well to freezing and thawing. Instead, I suggest halving the recipe if a smaller yield is needed. Simply cut all of the ingredients in half, while leaving cooking times the same. Simply adjust the serving sizes in the recipe card below and the ingredient amounts will automatically adjust.
Chicken and Dumplings with Vegetables
Servings 8 about 2 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 3 carrots ($0.22)
- 3 ribs celery ($0.35)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 2 split chicken breasts*, about 2.5 lbs. total ($6.47)
- 6 cups chicken broth ** ($0.78)
- salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)
- 1 cup whole milk ($0.38)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas ($0.19)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley ($0.22)
Dumplings
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.19)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder ($0.06)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.26)
- 1 cup milk ($0.38)
Instructions
- Finely dice the onion, carrots, and celery. Add them all to a large soup pot with the olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Remove the skin from the split chicken breasts and then add the breasts and chicken broth to the pot. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow it to come to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, prepare the dumplings. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder, and stir until evenly combined. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture until there are no large lumps of butter left.
- Pour the milk into the dumpling mix and stir until a sticky ball of dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough 5 or 6 times, or until it is no longer sticky. Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes.
- Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/8″ thick, adding flour as needed to keep it from sticking, then use a pizza cutter or knife to cut it into 1×2″ rectangles. Place the cut dumplings back in the bowl until you’re ready to use them. Make sure they’re dusted with a light coating of flour to keep them from sticking to one another.
- After the chicken breasts have simmered for 30 minutes, remove them to a cutting board. Let them cool slightly, then use two forks to remove the meat from the bone and shred it into bite-sized chunks.
- While the chicken is out of the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high and wait until it returns to a boil. Once boiling, drop in the dumplings, one by one. Let them boil in the soup, stirring occasionally, until they’re all floating (about 5 minutes).
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the 1 cup of milk and 2 Tbsp flour. Pour the mixture into the soup. Stir and cook the soup until it returns to a simmer, at which point it will thicken slightly.
- Finally, return the shredded chicken to the thickened soup, along with the frozen peas, and chopped parsley. Turn the heat off, give it a taste, and add salt or pepper if needed. Serve hot.
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Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Chicken and Dumplings – Step by Step Photos
Finely dice one yellow onion, 3 carrots, and 3 ribs of celery. Add them to a large pot along with 1 Tbsp olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are softened and translucent.
Add two split chicken breasts. A “split” breast is basically just a whole breast that has been split in two, but otherwise left intact,with bones, rib meat, and skin. I removed the skin, but you can leave it on if you want the soup to have a little more fat, which can make it a bit more rich (you’ll remove it with the bones later).
Add 6 cups chicken broth. Ideally, the broth will totally cover the breasts. I’m using an unusually wide and shallow pot because it’s easier to see the contents in photography, but traditional soup pots are a bit more narrow and will allow the broth to more adequately cover the breasts. Cover the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and let it come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
While the soup is simmering, begin the dumplings. Combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp baking powder in a bowl. Stir until they’re well combined, then add 2 Tbsp butter and work the butter into the flour until no lumps of butter remain (I use my hands, but you can use a pastry cutter if that’s easier).
Pour one cup milk into the dry ingredients…
Stir until a sticky ball of dumpling dough forms.
Turn the dumpling dough out onto a well floured surface and knead 5-6 times, or just until the dough is no longer sticky. Let the dumpling dough rest for about 5 minutes. This helps it relax so it’s a bit easier to roll out.
Roll the dumpling dough out until it’s about 1/8″ thick, then use a pizza cutter or knife to cut it into 1×2″ rectangles. They don’t have to be perfect, just keep in mind that these little guys puff a little get get thicker as they cook, so make them a bit thinner and smaller than you’d think they should be. If there is still a bit of simmer time left on the chicken, you can place the cut dumplings back into the mixing bowl until you’re ready to add them to the soup. Just make sure the dumplings are dusted with flour to keep them from sticking to one another.
After the chicken has simmered in the soup for 30 minutes, remove it to a cutting board and let it cool for a few minutes. Turn the heat up to medium-high and wait for the soup to come to a boil, then drop the dumplings in, one by one. Let the dumplings boil in the soup until they’re all floating (about 5 minutes). Also, use two forks to remove the chicken from the bones and shred it into bite-sized pieces.
Now it’s time to thicken the soup into something more like gravy. Whisk 2 Tbsp flour into 1 cup milk, then pour that mixture into the soup. Stir and bring it back up to a simmer, at which point it will thicken slightly. At simmering temp it may still seem a bit thin, but as it cools to just “hot” instead of “simmering” it will thicken a little more.
Finally, return the shredded chicken to the pot and add 1/2 cup frozen peas (no need to thaw) and about 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley.
Stir it all together, give it one final taste to adjust the salt and pepper, then serve! SO GOOD.
Chicken and Dumplings (and vegetables) FTW!
Made this a few times now and I just use about 1.5-2 lbs boneless chicken breasts because cooking with the bones intimidates me for no good reason lol. But it works great for me and the end result is sooo delicious!
Looks great Thanks..I can’t find the serving size please ? (I’m going to scale this up)
JRS
Hi! It is 8 servings about 2 cups each. In the future just look near the top of the recipe card where it says servings. xoxo Monti
I made this last night and by mistake added cilantro instead of parsley (because it looks like Italian parsley). Wow! It was delicious!
Just an FYI for other folks – I made this with Oat milk and it worked well, nice and creamy. Also added a few more seasonings and frozen veg. Exactly the kind of comfort food I was looking for. Thanks!
I also just tried this recipe with oat milk in the broth and in the dumplings and it worked well! I used the Extra Creamy Planet Oat Milk.
It was delicious! Got a rating of “busing busing” from teenagers which Is quite a a compliment. I died adding thyme and a little poultry seasoning because had no parsley.
My goodness !! However delicious this looks I do not understand why anyone would need to write that much about a recipe. Seriously not to be rude but most really don’t care about how it all came to be a recipe, they just want the recipe. So no way did I read all that , felt like I was wasting mins of my life so went on to another recipe which turned out to be even better but thank you for sharing … So much
Well, the cool thing is that you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to. :) You can either scroll past it or use the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page.
“Not to be rude”…proceeds to leave the rudest comment imaginable
Okay, this thing is delicious. However, it makes a TON. My boyfriend and I have eaten it 5 meals in a row and still haven’t made a dent. If it froze well, this wouldn’t bother me, but we have so much I don’t know what to do with!
Will definitely cook again, but half the recipe. Strange, because the portions on every other Budget Bytes recipe is spot on for the two of us (dinner and lunch the next day). Oh well!
This recipe was delicious! I made enough for a few servings for me, and I will be giving the rest to a friend (since the soup doesn’t freeze too well). Just delicious!
In Pennsylvania this is called “Chicken Pot Pie’….my family had it like this chicken soup with noodle dumplings, but other would call chicken pot pie a pie with a flakey crust. Either way, delicious :-)
Note: this concept of Chicken Pot Pie is from Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
My grandma makes it not creamy but its my favorite!
This looks so yummy and easy to cook! But what can I use instead of celery? I know it has nice and specific taste that pairs well with chicken but it is also unresonably costly in my local shops
You could just omit it if you’d like.
You could use cream of celery soup
You could probably add a can of that instead of doing the flour and milk combo.
Great dish! I will make biscuits next time, and will not add chicken broth.
Can’t wait to hear how it goes next time. Thanks Mike!
Amazing. I added farro before the first simmer and added an extra 1/3 cup of water to help it along. Beautiful dish!! Excited to make it again with more veggies!
Miss Beth — needing your recommendations for “best” dairy free substitute for milk/sour cream please? Instead of cows milk, would plain soy or almond “milk” work just as well in a recipe like this?
Unfortunately I’ve not tried that substitution so I don’t know how well it will work. You may be able to get away with replacing the milk with soy or almond milk, but they will likely not be as creamy. I don’t suggest using those as a replacement for sour cream, though, as they have a very different flavor, texture, and composition (no acid, much less fat, etc.).
Tried it last night, and everybody loved it! It was simpler to put together than other chicken and dumpling recipes out there, but every bit as good.
As usual, another winner. I threw in a large sweet potato too- when the almost-5-year-old requests a certain veggie, you accommodate it! I barely even noticed it but I’m sure it just makes it that much more wholesome.