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This homemade chicken and dumplings recipe features light, fluffy drop dumplings, soft and tender chicken, and an incredibly flavorful broth.
This simple, one-pot chicken and dumplings is made entirely from scratch. The dumplings come together in minutes, and you’ll cook the chicken and make the incredible broth all in a single step.
This recipe comes from our friend Richard, who was inspired by his grandmother. His recipe makes a truly incredible, flavorful broth and tender drop dumplings. I can’t wait for you to make it!
Key Ingredients
- Whole chicken: I simmer a whole chicken with aromatics for about 1 hour, which produces the most delicious chicken broth and tender, moist chicken. Once you try making it this way, you’ll never go back. I use the same process to make our easy chicken broth. For making this with leftover chicken, see tips below the recipe.
- Aromatics: For the classic broth, we add an onion top (the part you usually throw away — you can see what I mean by looking at our photos or watching the video), carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme, and salt. These are similar ingredients used for our popular chicken noodle soup recipe.
- Self-rising flour: I use self-rising flour for the drop dumplings. Baking powder and salt have already been added, making the dumpling batter so easy! If you do not have it, I have included a DIY version in the tips section of the recipe.
- Milk: I use whole milk, which brings our dumpling batter together and helps make them tender.
- Butter: Adds flavor and keeps the dumplings moist.
- Spices: I add ground pepper, a bit of extra salt, and fresh parsley to the dumpling batter.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Chicken and Dumplings from Scratch
Tip 1: Cook the chicken and make broth in a one step. For the best chicken and dumplings, we make a broth similar to this chicken broth. It’s easy and so worth it.
Gently simmer a whole chicken in water with a few simple ingredients. It takes 1 hour, but if you are short on time, I have included a speedier option using store-bought broth below.
Tip 2: Use our wet, drop dumpling batter. This Southern-style recipe uses drop dumplings (similar to our easy drop biscuits). I love how light and fluffy the drop-style dumplings turn out. They also make the soup thicker and creamier because some batter will fall into the broth, helping to thicken it. We also have this recipe for more traditional biscuits, but I’d keep those for dipping into the broth, not for cooking on top.
Tip 3: Cooking the dumplings. To cook the dumplings, you will drop the batter by the spoonful into simmering broth. It’s easy, here are a few tips to help you out:
- Use a cookie scoop or spoon to gently drop your dumplings into the gently simmering broth. Don’t worry if the pot looks crowded. Depending on your pot shape, you might even have a few dumplings on top of each other.
- If the dumplings fully cover your soup, use a spoon to make a small hole in the middle to allow steam and some of the simmering bubbles to release.
- Covering the pot with a lid helps the dumplings steam.
- Keep the pot at a gentle simmer. An aggressive simmer or boiling will break the dumplings apart.
More Comforting Chicken Recipes
The Best Chicken and Dumplings
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PREP
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COOK
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Our recipe for chicken and dumplings starts with a whole chicken simmered with aromatics to create a rich and flavorful broth. We use self-raising flour for the drop dumplings (DIY self-raising flour is shared in the tips if needed).
Makes 6 servings
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Chicken and Broth
1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds
1 onion top, see notes
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 large carrot
2 stalks celery
3 bay leaves
8 whole peppercorns
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
12 to 14 cups (3 liters) water
1 bunch fresh thyme
Dumplings
2 ½ cups (325g) self-rising flour, spooned and leveled, see notes
8 twists black pepper
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 ½ cups (350ml) whole milk
1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
Directions
- Make Broth and Cook Chicken
1Cut a 3-inch section of the carrot, about 1/4 the size of the whole carrot, and set aside. Chop the remaining carrot into small cubes. Cut a 4-inch piece of celery stalk and set aside with the carrot. Chop the remaining celery into small cubes. Save the chopped carrot and celery for later.
2Place the chicken, breast facing up, in a large pot (we use a 9-quart Dutch oven). Then, toss the 1/4 carrot, 4-inch piece of celery, onion top, smashed garlic clove, bay leaves, peppercorns, and 1 tablespoon of salt around the chicken.
3Pour in 12 to 14 cups of water, depending on the size of your pot. In the video, we used 14 cups. It is okay if the chicken is not fully covered; an inch or so of chicken breast above the water is okay.
4Cover the pot with a lid, turn the heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Once the broth is at a simmer, reduce it so that it’s a gentle simmer — the bubbles should be slowly dancing around in the pot.
5Cook at a gentle simmer for 50 minutes. Peek under the lid occasionally to see if the heat needs to be reduced.
6After 50 minutes, the broth will be aromatic, and the chicken will be cooked through (you can test this with an internal temperature thermometer — it should read above 165 °F).
7Carefully transfer the chicken to a plate and allow it to cool until you can handle it.
8Strain the broth, wipe any foam stuck to the sides of the pot, and then pour the strained broth back into the pot used to make it. Place the pot back over medium heat, add the thyme, chopped carrots, and chopped celery.
- Finish Chicken and Dumplings
1When it is cool enough to handle, shred the chicken by hand, removing all the bones and skin. Shred as big/little as you like. We keep the chicken in larger pieces.
2To make the dumpling batter, melt the butter. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, pepper, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, parsley, milk, and melted butter until mixed.
3Remove the thyme from the soup, scraping a few leaves off the bundle as you remove it.
4Stir the shredded chicken and any juices left on the plate into the soup.
5Bring the broth to a gentle simmer, and then use a spoon to scoop golf ball-sized portions of the batter into the soup, scraping them off with your finger. (If you have a large cookie scoop, scoop balls of batter into the soup.) Do this until all the batter is in the soup — it will look crowded. Some might sink.
6Cover with a lid and cook the dumplings at a low simmer for 5 to 7 minutes or until they look like they are firming up on the bottom. Then, carefully turn each one over to simmer the other side. If there’s no space for the liquid to bubble up past the dumplings, use a spoon and make a small hole in the middle of the pot.
7Once they are all turned over, simmer over low heat with the lid on for another 8 to 10 minutes. You can test a dumpling to check they are done — The center should look cooked through and fluffy, not doughy. When cooking the dumplings, keep the pot at a gentle simmer. An aggressive simmer or boiling will break them apart. Keep the heat low and keep your pot covered so that they steam. The dumplings can cook longer than the suggested times without issues, but agitating them with an aggressive simmer will make them fall apart.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Onion top: We are only looking for a mild onion flavor in our broth. Slice an onion at the top, keeping the skins on. Use the top (what you would normally throw away) to make the broth, and save the onion for another recipe. You can also use a 1-inch slice of onion in its place.
- Self-rising flour: Unlike all-purpose flour, self-rising flour adds baking powder and salt. For 2 ½ cups of homemade self-rising flour (what you need for this recipe), whisk 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour with 3 ¾ teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Measuring your flour: Fluff the flour in its container, then gently scoop it into your measuring cup until slightly mounded. Level off the top with a knife for accurate measuring. For even more accuracy, use a scale and measure the flour by weight (in grams).
- Pot size: The perfect size for this recipe is a 9-quart Dutch oven, which is large enough to make the broth and cook all the dumplings. I have also used a 7 ½-quart Dutch oven with this recipe and found that I could only fit 12 cups of water with my chicken. If you don’t have either of these, make sure the pot is large enough to hold at least 12 cups of water with the chicken.
- Shortcut with leftover chicken: I highly recommend the homemade broth, but if you are short on time, use 10-12 cups of store-bought broth. Bring your chicken broth to a low simmer, and add chopped carrot and celery. Stir in 3 to 4 cups of shredded cooked chicken. Make the dumpling batter and cook by gently simmering them covered with a lid, per our instructions above.
- Storing: This dish is best when fresh, but you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days and gently reheat. The dumplings will be slightly more moist and might fall apart, but the flavors will all be there. We do not recommend freezing them.
- Make ahead tips: To reduce the preparation time of the recipe, you can make the broth and chicken up to three days in advance. When you are ready to serve, reheat the broth, add your carrots and celery, and then make your dumpling batter.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1/6 of the recipe
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Calories
501
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Total Fat
14.4g
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Saturated Fat
7g
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Cholesterol
136.8mg
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Sodium
1599.2mg
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Carbohydrate
48.7g
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Dietary Fiber
3.8g
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Total Sugars
4.1g
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Protein
42.4g
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