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!
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!
I’ve made this recipe countless times and it is always one of our favorites so thank you Beth!!
Do you think it’d be okay if I have to cook it on low for 9 or 10 hours?
Oh. My. Gosh. The Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings is absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Unfortunately, I didn’t have a large chicken breast in the freezer, so I used two chicken breasts to make up the difference. I allowed the soup to cook in the slow cooker for four hours. The dumplings were super easy to make. Although it’s hot as Hades outside in Las Vegas, Nevada, I wasn’t in the mood to turn on the oven, so using the slow cooker was a great idea. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe, Beth!!! :-)
I have some leftover celery in the freezer from a previous recipe. I can’t wait to make this. I LOVE chicken and dumplings.
I am wondering about subbing almond milk and dairy free butter for the biscuits. Any thoughts?
Hmm, unfortunately I haven’t worked much with almond milk and not at all with dairy free butter so I really don’t know how they’d perform in a recipe like this. :(
I’m sure you’ve never done this with this recipe, but I’m wondering what if I did this as a freezer meal and premade the dough and froze it too? Just let it thaw while the chicken cooked then dropped it in? Idk. What do you think? Trying to brainstorm meals to freeze before my next baby comes and unfortunately most traditional freezer meals are gross :P
I know you can freeze normal biscuit dough, but I’ve never tried it with a drop biscuit, which is much more wet than regular biscuits. Maybe if you just mix up the dry ingredients and butter, then freeze that mixture, you can just stir in the wet just before dropping them in? That would still save a lot of time.
This recipe seems like it’d be a good candidate for an Instant Pot revamp; something like: use the slow cooker function until it’s time to add the dumplings, then change the setting to Saute until the soup’s really boiling, drop in the dumplings, and cover/let them cook until nice and fluffy. I’d be interested in seeing how it works out for you :)
I’ve made this multiple times, and love it!
How well do the dumpling re-heat? Do they get super soggy?
They do get soggier, and this style is kind of soggy on the bottom to begin with. Some people don’t like that, but it’s actually one of the characteristics of them–I love it! :D
Outstanding! I followed the recipe exactly except chicken was in small cubes instead of shredded and no fresh basil for the top. Dried thyme was the perfect herb though and dumplings turned out just right. Many thanks.
Hi. I’d like to use leftover (already cooked) chicken (from a whole chicken). Are there any recipe adjustments you’d suggest since I’m starting with cooked chicken? I’m going to go for the 1/2 broth, 1/2 water split for added flavor – based on some of the comments. But I’d love to hear any additional suggestions. Thank you.
I don’t think I’d make any other adjustments. :)
I’ve tried to make chicken soup many times, but it’s always been disappointing. This recipe made the seemingly impossible possible: I made super yummy chicken soup. Plus it made me feel a little better, as I’ve been laying in bed all day with a cold.
Thank you!
I had never had chicken and dumplings, but have wanted to for a while. The weather finally got cooler, so it seemed like a good time to try it out. I used chicken broth instead of the water, but kept everything else as is. It was amazing; I loved the flavors. I keep plotting ways to incorporate this recipe into other peoples lives (where’s a potluck when you need one?) I can’t wait to make it again. I wasn’t sure how the leftovers would hold up, but they were very tasty. Thanks for sharing!
Hello,
I was planning on making this for dinner tomorrow. However, I do not have all the ingredients to make the dumplings. I do have a cheap can of biscuits in my fridge. What does anyone think about making and must pulling these biscuits into smaller pieces and throwing them on top?
I think I’ve seen other people do that, although I’ve never tried it myself. :) It sounds like it would work!
It’s cold and overcast today, and I’m making this for probably the 10th time since I discovered the recipe. It’s so simple and SO good. My daughter loves it.
This soup is awesome! My kids and I love it. I had never even had chicken and dumplings before I made this recipe and I’m so glad I tried this one because it is delicious!