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!
I made this today with good results overall! I did have to use Jocelyn’s tip to insulate the slow cooker a little better, as even on high, it wasn’t vigourously hot enough to cook the dumplings in the time stated. Ended up with fluffy, soft dumplings, but very wet. Before wrapping the top in foil and a dishtowel, the dumplings were still gooey, raw dough, even given extra time. In the end, everyone liked it.
I love this recipe. I even make it in my instant pot. Throw everything in, dumplings on top. Set it on manual for 9 minutes. Let it natural release for 8 min. Perfect! I often use broth instead of water and thrown in a few potatoes too.
Hello budget bytes! First of all, I love your recipes and have made several. This is one of my daughters favorites and I make it frequently. With the stores being limited in what they have, I couldn’t get chicken breast, but I did manage to get chicken thighs. Would that work just the same? I usually use breast for most things and am super unfamiliar with using thighs. Thank you!
Yes thighs will work just fine!
What size slow cooker did you use for this? I have a 4-quart slow cooker that I’m concerned might be too small, but I could use my larger 6-quart instant pot on the slow cooker setting instead.
I would use your larger one for this recipe just to be on the safe side.
Mine came out SUPER dough-ey. I even tried cooking them for longer. Not sure what I did wrong :(
It’s hard to say without seeing the texture for myself, but my first guess is that the dough was a bit too dry. If there isn’t enough liquid in the dough, they’ll be more dense and turn out more doughy instead of fluffy.
At first I was like omg this isnt what I imagined
but it actually worked out really well. the only thing I did different was instead of water I used 4 cups of chicken broth and a can of cream of chicken soup. Making more of a creamy broth and more tasteful. Making more of smaller dumpling works out way better. I wouldnt use all the dough that ends up being made from the recipe.
Good to know Feli! Thanks for sharing.
I would like to make this for a pot luck at work. Can you make the dumpling mixture the night before?
Yes I think that would be fine! What a lucky workplace to have you! :)
The flavors were all great, but I ended up with very little broth, barely three servings, and a bunch of dumpling left over in the crock pot. Did anyone else have this issue?
I had this issue as well, it was like straight dumplings with a bit of broth the flavor was amazing and it was a tease bc not everyone got enough soup. I wonder if we should add twice the amount of water? Not sure…
Can I use almond milk instead of dairy?
Personally I don’t think almond milk would be creamy enough for this.
i did it turned out well as well as vegan butter
Do the dumplings reheat well? How do you suggest freezing this with the dumplings in it for later without the dumplings getting really soggy? I’m cooking for one over here!
Well, the dumplings are soggy on the bottom even when fresh (that’s just how this style of dumpling is), so if that texture bothers you, you may not be a fan of this one. To freeze them I’d just divide into single portions and freeze the stew and dumplings together in one container. :)
My boyfriend and I love this recipe and have made it several times. Its hearty but doesn’t make you feel overly full after eating. Great flavor and a favorite in our household. Budget Bytes is our go-to site when looking to make something delicious for dinner. Keep up the great work!
Absolutely Delish! The first time I made this I forgot to stick it in the crock pot so I just made in on the stovetop (cooked for about an hour?) and it turned out perfect. When I made it in the crock pot the dumplings were a little doughy and I agree with one other comment that maybe a few minutes longer they would have been better. My husband is obsessed with this recipe too, which is saying a lot if you know him.
Can u use frozen chicken breast
You will need to thaw them first.
I just made this with a frozen chicken breast and it turned out fine.
This recipe was fabulous!!! We used 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and it made no difference in flavor or texture. We also used 2 chicken bouillion cubes (added when we put in the veggies and chicken) instead of 1 tsp. salt and think it would be pretty much perfect with 1 more cube since it needed a tiny bit more salt. The dumplings were a little doughy and but we think with 3-5 more minutes of simmer time they would be absolutely perfect! This recipe is DEFINITELY a keeper!! :)
Both my husbands and one of the kids reaction was dont loose that recipe. That was really good. Naturally there’s a bit of tweaking and everyone’s kitchen I use bone in chicken breasts three of them left them for about 3 and a half to 4 hours deboned the meat fluffed it up and devoured it once the dumplings are done. That was so good. A definite keeper for the repertoire. Thanks again Merry Christmas to all.