Chicken and dumplings, made in one pot with a flavorful chicken broth and big fluffy dumplings that float right on top.
You’ll find the full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Be sure to check out the blog post itself for extra tips and tricks!
Chicken and Dumplings at a Glance
- Best for: Sunday dinner, cold weather, feeding a crowd from one pot
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Serves: 4-6
- Good to know: One pot start to finish, no rolling or cutting dough, and the dumplings steam on top of the broth instead of boiling in it
My Take on This Recipe
Chicken and dumplings is comfort food to me. What I love about this Southern dish is that it's built from scratch for the most part, and that starts with the chicken. I use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to really amp up the flavor of the broth. Plus, the chicken stays nice and juicy, and it's easy to shred. Thighs are what I use in my braised chicken thighs, too.
For dumplings, I stick to the biscuit-like ones. Some recipes have dumplings that are rolled thin before being added to the soup. I do the fluffy ones because they remind me of the dumplings I ate in my soups when I was growing up. Whichever one you choose, you can't go wrong. This is comfort food at its finest.
Happy Cooking,
Tanya
Equipment You May Need
You need a large Dutch oven to make a good pot of chicken and dumplings. A good dutch oven will allow you to sear the chicken well, developing flavor, and allow the soup to simmer away without burning the bottom of your pot.
How to Make Chicken and Dumplings
Make the Chicken and Gravy
Step 1: Season and brown the chicken. Pat the thighs dry and season both sides with kosher salt and black pepper.
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Lay the thighs in skin side down and brown 5 to 7 minutes, until they release from the pot on their own. Flip and brown 3 to 4 minutes more. They don't need to be cooked through. Move them to a plate.
Step 2: Cook the vegetables and toast the flour. Drain the fat down to about 2 tablespoons and lower the heat to medium. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and cook 5 to 6 minutes, until softened.
Add the garlic for 30 seconds, then sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute. It'll look coated and pasty, which is right. That minute keeps the broth from tasting floury later.
Step 3: Simmer the chicken. Pour in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot as you go. Add the poultry seasoning and thyme, then return the thighs and their juices.
Bring it to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook 35 to 45 minutes, until the chicken pulls apart with a fork. Chicken is safe at 165°F (74°C), and after this long in the broth the thighs will be well past it.
Make the Dumplings
Step 4: Shred the chicken and shape the dumplings. Transfer the thighs to a plate. Once cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones, shred the meat, and return it to the pot. Add heavy cream and simmer gently. Taste the broth and season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cold butter until it forms coarse crumbs with pea-sized bits remaining, then stir in the heavy cream just until a soft dough forms. Divide and gently shape the dough into rounds (about 10-12 golf-ball-sized portions). They do not need to look perfect.
Step 5: Cook the dumplings. Drop the rounds into the simmering broth with space between them. They swell, so a crowded pot gives you one big raft.
Cover and cook 12 to 15 minutes without stirring and without lifting the lid. They're done when they're puffed and dry in the center.
Step 6: Rest and serve. Off the heat, covered, for 5 minutes. Serve hot.
Tanya's Top Tips
- Brown the chicken well. Deep golden, not pale. Most of what the broth tastes like comes from those first 10 minutes.
- Keep the butter cold. Cold butter steams inside the dumpling. Warm butter blends into the flour and you get dense little rocks.
- Don't lift the lid. The dumplings cook by steam, so every peek drops the temperature and leaves the tops wet.
- Gentle simmer, not a boil. A hard boil knocks the dumplings around until they break apart.
Variations - How to Change Up This Recipe
- Use rotisserie or leftover chicken. Skip the browning, cook the vegetables in butter or oil, and stir the shredded chicken into the broth before the dumplings go on. My slow cooker whole chicken leaves you with the right kind of leftovers for this dish.
- Add peas. Frozen peas stirred in with the shredded chicken need a couple of minutes, no more.
- Make it thicker. Simmer the broth uncovered for a few minutes before the dumplings go in.
Drop Dumplings vs. Rolled Dumplings
Dumplings come in two classic styles, and depending on where you grew up, you likely have a strong loyalty to one or the other:
- Drop Dumplings: Made from a soft, biscuit dough spooned over simmering broth. As they steam under the closed lid, they puff up into light, pillowy mounds floating on top.
- Rolled Dumplings: Rolled flat, cut into strips or squares, and dropped into broth. They cook into chewy, slick noodles that thicken the soup into a rich stew.
This recipe uses drop dumplings. They soak up all that rich chicken flavor while staying light and fluffy inside, with no rolling pin or floured counter required. I do roll them into balls, similar to how my granny makes her dumplings.
Storage, Reheating, and Freezing
- Refrigerator. Airtight container up to 3 days. The dumplings keep drinking broth, so what you put away as soup often comes out as stew.
- Reheating. Low heat on the stovetop with a splash of broth stirred in, covered so the dumplings warm through by steam. Skip the hard boil, it breaks them down.
- Freezing. I wouldn't freeze it with the dumplings in. Flour, butter, and cream all come back grainy. Freeze the chicken and broth on their own, then make a fresh batch of dough when you thaw it.
FAQs
Drop dumplings, what I make here, are a soft biscuit-style dough dropped in as rounds that puff up and stay tall. Rolled dumplings get rolled flat, cut into strips, and go soft and slick in the broth. People are loyal to whichever one they grew up on.
Depends on who raised you. Mine sits between a soup and a stew, thick enough to coat a spoon but still loose enough to eat with one. Simmer it uncovered for a few minutes before the dumplings go in if you want it thicker.
Looking for more hearty soup recipes? Check these out:
- Vegetable Beef Soup - Tender beef and a pile of vegetables in a rich, savory broth. Another big pot situation.
- Split Pea Soup with Ham - Thick, smoky, and one of the easiest soups on the site.
- Oxtail Soup - Oxtail simmered low and slow into a deep, beefy broth.
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do. If you have tried this recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! Your feedback is invaluable and helps us grow. Thank you for your support!
Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Instructions
- Pat the chicken thighs dry and season both sides with the kosher salt and black pepper.
- Heat the neutral oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs skin side down and cook until well browned, about 5 to 7 minutes. Turn and brown the second side, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
- Drain off the excess fat, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the pot. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the flour, stir, and cook 1 minute.
- Pour in the chicken broth, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the poultry seasoning and dried thyme. Return the chicken thighs and any accumulated juices to the pot.
- Bring the broth to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook until the chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Chicken is safe at an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C).
- Transfer the chicken thighs to a plate. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin and bones. Shred or chop the chicken into bite-size pieces.
- Return the shredded chicken to the pot, along with the heavy cream, and bring the broth back to a gentle simmer. Taste and season with additional salt and black pepper as needed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter, fork, or fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-size pieces of butter. Stir in the heavy cream just until a thick dough forms. If the dough appears dry, add more cream 1 teaspoon at a time.
- Break the dough into rounds, about 10-12 golf-ball sized rounds, and drop them into the gently simmering chicken mixture, leaving space between each dumpling.
- Cover the pot and cook without stirring for 12 to 15 minutes, until the dumplings are puffed and cooked through.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition
Notes
- Chicken: Bone-in, skin-on thighs give the broth the most flavor. Boneless or skinless can be used, but brown them anyway and expect a lighter broth. You could use chicken breast if that's what you prefer.
- Broth: Use low-sodium chicken broth to control the amount of salt in the final dish.
- Shortcut: Cooked rotisserie or leftover chicken can be used. Skip the browning step, cook the vegetables in butter or oil, and stir the shredded chicken into the broth before adding the dumplings.
- Lid: Do not lift the lid or stir while the dumplings cook. They cook by trapped steam.
- Storage: Refrigerate up to 3 days. Reheat gently, covered, with a splash of broth. Freezing with the dumplings in is not recommended.
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