Chicken & Dumplings

Wintertime means comfort food! Chicken & Dumplings is my all time favorite meal from childhood. Dumplings is a vague term, I’ve discovered, depending on where you live in the U.S. In parts of the south, dumplings are more of what I’d call Chicken & Pastry; long, noodle like strips of pastry dough. But in the north, fluffy, biscuit based balls are the dumplings. My mom grew up in Michigan and this is her recipe that I’m sharing. 

The recipe is at the bottom of the post but I’ll walk you through a few steps. Start by chopping up the veggies.

Brown three split chicken breasts, skin side down first, in a few tablespoons of oil. Browning first gives the stock more flavor. You’ll remove the skin and bones later.

After browning you add all your chopped veggies and spices to the pot and cover with water. Cover and simmer for one hour, then remove the chicken, de-bone it, and coarsely chop. Lightly mash the veggies in the pot with a potato masher (this helps to break up the larger chunks and helps to thicken the broth). Add a container of broth to the pot and bring back to a simmer.

Make roux (see directions below) and stir into the pot.

Prepare your dumplings (see directions below) and add all at once to the pot. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes with out lifting the lid. After 20 minutes, remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of half and half. This makes the dish rich and deliciously creamy!  Serve!

Chicken & Dumplings Recipe

INGREDIENTS 1 medium onion diced 1 cup carrots chopped 1 cup celery chopped 3 split chicken breasts 1 tsp. minced garlic 1 tsp. ground pepper 1/2 tsp. salt 1.5 quarts water 1 (32oz) chicken broth 4 T butter 4 T flour 1 tsp. paprika 2 1/2 cups Bisquick Mix 2/3 cup milk 1/2 cup half & half

DIRECTIONS Brown chicken breasts, skin side down, in a few tablespoons of oil, over medium high heat in a large, deep pot. After browning, add chopped onion, carrots, and celery, garlic, salt, and pepper on top of chicken. Cover with water (appx 1.5 quarts). Place lid on pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for one hour. After 1 hour, remove chicken, de-bone, remove skin, and coarsely chop. Set aside. With potato masher, gently mash the veggies in the pot a bit. Now is the time to add the container of Chicken Broth and bring back up to a simmer. Make roux: Over med-low heat, melt 4 T butter, then sprinkle in 4 T flour & paprika and quickly stir out all lumps. Continue stirring and cooking for 3 min. Pour into pot with veggies and stir. Add the chicken back to the pot now. Dumplings: In a bowl mix 2  1/2 cups bisquick mix with appx 2/3 cup milk. Add milk slowly until the mix is combined but not too wet. Spoon large walnut sized amount of biscuit dough on to a plate. TIP: Add all the dumplings at once to your pot. This prevents some from turning out like hockey pucks! Immediately cover pot and simmer on medium-low for 20 minutes. DO NOT LIFT LID! After 20 minutes, remove from heat, and stir in 1/2 cup of half & half. This recipe serves 6-8. Serve in bowls and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this classic comfort food dish as much as I do!

Kim

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