It’s time to stock my freezer with some portions of homemade chicken soup for the cold winter ahead. I’ve made a classic chicken noodle soup in the past, but I wanted to try a little something different this time.
The word “dumpling” has a million different culinary definitions. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but just about every culture has its own version of dumplings and they’re all different. The dumplings that I grew up with were fluffy biscuit-like lumps that floated on top of soup like little delicious clouds. I wanted some of those dumplings. This is not a recipe for the thick, noodle-like dumpling similar to what you’d get at Cracker Barrel.
I started with a basic chicken noodle soup recipe, but made it in the slow cooker instead of on the stove top and with less broth so that it would have more of a stew-like consistency. Instead of adding noodles at the end, I simply mixed up a batch of drop biscuits and dropped them by the spoonful on top of the “soup.” The heat from the soup steams the biscuits, turning them into fluffy, broth soaked dumplings. The part of the dumpling touching the soup does get soggy, but IMHO that’s half of the beauty. If you’re not into that sort of texture, you can simply substitute your favorite noodle and turn it into a slow cooker chicken noodle soup!
I got about six servings out of this – approx. 1 cup of the soup part and 1-2 massive dumplings. It was very filling!
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Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings
Servings 6Ingredients
Soup
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.57)
- 3 ribs celery ($0.80)
- 1/2 lb. carrots (about 4) ($0.55)
- 1 large chicken breast* (about 3/4 lb.) ($1.49)
- 1 whole bay leaf ($0.15)
- 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried thyme ($0.10)
- freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 4 cups water ($0.00)
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.05)
Dumplings
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.21)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried parsley ($0.15)
- 6 Tbsp cold butter ($0.90)
- 3/4 tsp sugar ($0.01)
- 2/3 cup milk ($0.41)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic, dice the onion, and slice the carrots and celery into small pieces. Add the garlic, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, basil, thyme, chicken breast, water, and some freshly cracked pepper to a slow cooker. Stir to combine and then cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours.
- After cooking for four hours on high or eight hours on low, remove the chicken from the broth and place it on a cutting board (if you cooked on low heat, turn it to high now). Use two forks to shred the chicken. Return the chicken to the pot and stir in 1 tsp of salt to the soup. Keep the slow cooker covered as much as possible during this process to retain heat and maintain the temperature.
- Allow the soup to continue to cook on high while you mix the dumpling batter. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, parsley, and sugar. Mix well. Add butter in small chunks and cut it in or work it in with your hands until the mixture resembles damp sand. Add the milk and stir until a very soft paste-like mixture forms.
- Remove the lid from the slow cooker and drop the dumpling batter into the soup by the heaping spoonful. Return the lid to the slow cooker and allow the dumplings to steam for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes they should have fluffed and expanded from the heat. Although they may look moist on the outside, they will be light and fluffy on the inside. Serve hot.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
I like to add a lot of vegetables to my chicken & dumplings to round out the meal. I used half of a sleeve of celery, half of a one pound bag of carrots, a medium onion, and a couple cloves of garlic. Mince the garlic, dice the onion, and cut the celery and carrots into slices.
Most of the soups that I make start with this same mix of carrots, celery, and onion. So, instead of letting the second half of the celery and carrots go to waste, I just chop them up, put them in a freezer bag, and then save them for my next batch of soup. Next time I’ll only have to do a fraction of the chopping!
Add the garlic, onion, carrot, celery, chicken breast (it’s hiding under there), bay leaf, basil, thyme, and some freshly cracked pepper to the slow cooker.
Add four cups of water and give it a good stir. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours.
After which, it will look like this. From this point forward, you want to keep the lid on the slow cooker as much as possible to hold the heat in. The hotter the liquid, the lighter and fluffier the dumplings will be. If you cooked yours on low, turn the heat to high at this point.
Quickly remove the chicken breast and replace the lid on the slow cooker. Using two forks, shred the chicken breast. It will be extremely tender, so this should only take second.
Return the chicken breast to the slow cooker and add a teaspoon of salt. Again, try to keep the lid on as much as possible, so work quickly. Allow it to continue to cook on high (with the lid on) while you mix up the batter for the dumplings… (or you can add some noodles at the point and just let them cook until tender).
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl: flour baking powder, salt, sugar, and dried parsley. Stir until they are well combined.
Add small pieces of the cold butter to the dry ingredients. Work the butter in using a pastry cutter or your hands until it resembles damp sand.
See how it kind of looks like clumpy, damp sand? Add the milk and then stir just until it forms a wet paste-like mixture.
It should be very soft and easy to scoop with a spoon. If your dough is too stiff (not enough milk) the dumplings will be dense and not light and fluffy.
Drop the batter onto the soup by the heaping spoonful. Hopefully the soup will be very close to, if not simmering at this point. The hotter the soup, the better the dumplings. Unfortunately I had kept the lid off a lot to take photos, so mine had cooled off significantly.
Keeping the lid on and the heat turned on to high, let the dumplings cook for 20 minutes. They’ll puff up like this as they cook.
I like to break the dumplings apart a bit because it also allows the bits of soaked dumpling to mix into the broth and make it a little creamy. Now it’s ready to serve!
Hearty, delicious, and 100% homemade!
Well I just made this and the flavor is really good but the dumplings just aren’t really setting. At 20 minutes they were still totally raw and mushy inside and now the time is doubled and they still aren’t set enough. I followed the directions and opened the lid quickly and brought the slow cooker to high. I used 2/3 c milk. Perhaps that was too much?
Hmm, perhaps. It’s hard to say without seeing the texture of the batter. That’s the tricky thing with moisture levels in batter and dough, it can vary depending on how the flour is measured and how much residual moisture is in the flour.
I’m having the same problem. I’m probably going to have to ditch the dumplings, lest we wait all night for them to cook.
Maybe I’ll try to figure out how to quickly steam them in the microwave.
I have never done them in the Microwave, But you could take “failed” dumplings and place them in the Oven @350 for 10-15 minutes and they will crust up and brown on the outside making fluffy biscuits.
Mom taught us Biscuits and Dumpling when we were kids and the only difference is the Moisture level and the Method of cooking. The moister dumpling batter makes fluffier biscuits. (add Garlic, Cheddar and a little Old Bay and you’ll have a pretty good approximation of Red Lobsters biscuits)
Another delicious recipe; I had to hide the leftovers for tomorrow so they didn’t get eaten tonight.
The only issue was with cooking the dumplings. They weren’t fully cooked, so I just steamed it for 10 minutes (probably only needed 5). I was using a multi function cooker (slow, pressure, steam, warmer and sauté), so that may have been the problem.
This recipe couldn’t have been better timed! My dumplings were just added to my stew! The dough was amazing so I can’t wait until it’s finished! Thank you!! Everything I make of yours is always fantastic!
What size slow cooker do you have/use? This looks wonderful, thanks for the tips for the leftover veggies.
Mine is somewhere between 5-7 quarts, but this recipe only filled it up half way, if that. It’s only about 6 cups of soup and then you’ll need some room for the dumplings.
Chicken and dumplings is one of my all time favorites! Yes. Yes Yes! Thank you.
This is right up my alley!
Hmm, it owuld seem you forgot to mention adding the chicken to the slow cooker in the first step ;-)
Ha! Thanks! I’ll fix that right away :)
Pre-chopping and freezing the extra veg is such a good idea! Maybe I’ll just start batching up all my vegetables as soon as I get them home from the store… :) These chicken & dumplings look like they would hit the spot on a cold & blustery day!
I love your blog! I have been looking for a simple but yummy slow cooker Chicken and Dumplings- I can’t wait to try it this weekend!
This looks great! I can’t wait to try it. I noticed that in your printable recipe it doesn’t state to add the chicken in step 1.
Ha! Thanks, adding it now :)
I will be making this in the next week or so for sure! Is there a reason for not using chicken broth in place of water? Or is it because the water becomes chicken broth as it all cooks?
This look delicious! Should you take out the dumplings when you store it, or would it be fine to leave them in the soup in the fridge?
I just stored them in my soup. I divided the soup and dumplings up into individual containers and then refrigerated them (and then froze half the next day – always best to chill before freezing).
Just made this and I loved it although the broth couldn’t been a little more robust. Also my dumplings tasted very floury and doughy. I let them steam for 30 min. Anything I’m doing wrong? Tips? Thank you!!
Sometimes, if the broth is not hot enough when you drop the dumplings they’ll be more dense and doughy rather than fluffy.
This looks delish! LOVE your recipes, will be trying this soon!!! Still enjoying the roasted autumn veggies and sausage I made the other day!
This looks absolutely delicious – I can’t wait to make this soup!
Looks delish!
do you chop your veggies by hand, or use a handy tool? I like to include onions, but can’t chop them before being blinded by tears.
I just chop everything by hand. I’m lucky, I wear contact lenses and they protect my eyes from onion burn! I feel nothing! :D
Regarding onions: Be very wary of tips people give you to prevent crying while cutting or peeling onions. I was told by a former friend that I should peel onions underwater to avoid crying. Well, I tried that advice and nearly drowned. Needless to say that friendship did not survive.
Ha! :)
I keep an old silicone snorkel mask in my kitchen. Awesome for chopping onions, garlic, leeks, etc. :-)
I love this idea!
I just keep my onions in the fridge for a while beforehand – cuts right down on the tears!
This looks DELICIOUS and perfect for cool weather. I’m looking to stock my freezer now, before baby gets here in January, and this looks great!