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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
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’m looking forward to making this! I want to substitute Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuit mix.
Will I need to adjust to ensure they hold together? Thank you.
I’m sorry, I’ve never used that mix so I’m not sure how it should be handled.
I always use canned biscuits and frozen carrots as 73, I don’t have patience anymore for mixing and dicing. Enjoy.
I make chicken and dumplings a lot, but never in the crockpot before. I used this recipe, and this was one of the best I ever had. Followed almost exact recipe (added sage, threw in half a bag of frozen mixed veggies, and used chicken broth instead of water). The dumplings took longer than 20 minutes. My husband had 3 bowls.
Have you made this in a instant pot? If so can you tell me the adjustment for the time?
I just made this in the Instant Pot tonight. It turned out great. I cooked to on high pressure for about 20 minutes (it could probably have been shorter), then put it on saute while I shredded the chicken. When is was starting to boil, I added the biscuit dough. I let it boil for about 20 minutes.
I am an older cook and cutting the carrots is hard for me . I cut off the ends and peel them and then put the whole carrots in the crockpot . I cut the carrots up when they are cooked . I use the small red and white potatoes . Wash them , leave skins on and cut them up and put them in the pot .
Get a food processor with a slicer- no effort!
Tucking into a comforting bowl of this after a long, cold day of Christmas shopping. I kind of decided to make this on a whim so I didn’t have time for the slow cooker, but it worked just fine on the stovetop! I used 2 bone-in breasts, and of course the bones fall right off once the chicken is tender. I used 6 cups of water and a Bullion cube and a half, simmered it for about an hour and a half, then dropped the dumpling dough in (I used soy milk in the dough). Another Budget Bytes hit! I can see this one being a staple this winter :)
My family loves this and it was so easy!
I did use broth instead of water however
I wanted to like these so bad. Is the dough suppose to taste like flour? I did everything the recipe said.
Delicious and filling! I will be adding this to my chilly-weather meal rotation for sure!
This recipe was delicious! The dumplings turned out perfect and the soup was so flavorful. This is a keeper in my book. Thanks for sharing!
Finally! Fluffy dumplings that taste like what my Kentuckian grandmother used to make! Thank so much for sharing.
Delish! Just made this tonight, I also added a little slurry to thicken it up a bit. Might add a pasta noodle next time… Thanks!!!
This is delicious! I love how the dumplings turn out, and that it’s done in the slowcooker. I’ve made this about 5 times. The family loves it too.
This has become a staple in my freezer meal line up. I use basil and onion powder for a more savory dumpling. Love this site!
I also make thisure dairy free with almond coconut milk :)
This was absolutely delicious!
I followed some suggestions from the comments and used better than bouillon instead of plain water.
Because I didn’t have milk or dry parsley I used unsweetened cashew milk and dried chives for the dumplings. They were fantastic!
Also made it on the Instapot and pureed the veggies in the blender as someone suggested. Perhaps good idea for picky little ones that don’t like to see veggies on their plate :)
Good thing this is very filling otherwise I would have eaten the entire pot. Delish!
I wonder if this freezes well? Have never frozen soups that contain dumplings.