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!
Just found your blog yesterday after I saw a friend’s pin on Pinterest. Love it! I make the crustless quiche yesterday and now this is bubbling away in my slow cooker as I type this. Great blog, Beth! Looking forward to many more meals :)
I’m making this tonight, but added some potatoes, frozen corn, and frozen peas to give it more a stew/ chicken pot pie feeling to it! I will have to let you all know how it goes!
I just made this and I’ve never had or cooked chicken and dumplings before but this is the most amazing soup! I had 2 bowls of it (piggy heehee) for lunch and I can’t wait to have more. Perfectly balanced. And the best part I had everything I needed in the house.
LOVED this! Thank you!
I know people are always curious about variations – works great with thighs, and I second adding a tsp or so of Better than Bouillon (or not, if you like very veggie broth – I consider celery a necessary evil at best). My dumplings weren’t totally SET after 20min (I also let a lot of heat out), but the flour was cooked in the runny parts, so they still tasted fine. They were set when I went back for seconds :).
Just made this and it was delicious. Definitely going to make this again!
It finally started to look like fall yesterday so I had to make this. While I love how easy this was and the flavour was really good, the texture of the dumplings aren’t what I remember having as a kid. Plus towards the end, I ran out of liquid while I still had a bunch of dumplings so I quickly boiled some chicken broth and added it.
I made this tonight and it turned out amazing. The dumplings really made it all come together. I can’t wait to make it again soon.
Would this still work if I substituted the milk for lactose free milk?
Yep, that should still work fine.
I made this for the second time tonight, and my husband says it’s the best version of chicken and dumplings he’s ever had. :) Thanks!!
I used whole wheat flour for the dumplings and they were really gooey, even after about 50 minutes. Is there a difference in how you treat white vs. whole wheat flour? I’m eating the leftovers now and it’s still delicious (and since no eggs are in the dumpling batter, not a big deal if it was slightly undercooked!) but I was just wondering. I did use the 2/3c milk as directed. Thanks!
Yes, whole wheat and white flour absorb moisture differently, so the ratios probably won’t be the same :(
Did you use the hard whole wheat or the soft? The soft whole wheat can be used basically the same as the all purpose. The hard whole wheat won’t act the same as the all purpose will. If you used the hard whole wheat try the soft stuff. If you use King Arthur the one in the orange bad.
I don’t have dried basil do you think I will be missing out on the full flavor? Thinking about running to the store now.
Yes, I’d definitely get some.
I really wanted to love this but I didn’t.
After 4 hours on high, the chicken was dry and my vegetables were overly soft and pale. The dumplings while fluffy on the outside were under-cooked in the middle. Not sure what went wrong…
Had left over chicken breast from an earlier meal so I didn’t make this in the slow cooker but it still turned out DELISH! Cut up all ingredients (including my left over chicken), simmered them in a stock pot with veggie broth (made from organic bouillon cube) instead of plain water, just cuz, until tender but not soft. Added dumpling mixture (used silk original coconut milk, that’s all I had). Done and done. Yum and yum :) Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Beth. Saturday night is really def-con 5 for me. I have My Keeblers (my picky eating Parents) all-day and the tummy crusher questions…what do I cook, especially dinner? And, can I do without buying more groceries? Budgetbytes and a crockpot to the rescue. Chicken and dumplings. Don’t need it until 6pm next day. Frozen drumsticks in the pot. Threw in frozen veggies, carrots left over from carrot cake, basil, thyme, pepper, garlic, and better than bouillon. Dumplings at 5:30pm. Will let you know how it goes, but I am feeling like the guys in the Lowes commercial when building a deck!