Easy and Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

There’s nothing like a big bowl of creamy chicken and dumplings to warm you up during the winter months. 

In 40 minutes, you can have a comforting meal on your table with ingredients in your fridge and pantry RIGHT NOW! Perfect weeknight meal, it’s such a simple and filling recipe with a lot of flavor. 

What are chicken and dumplings?

Chicken and dumplings is a soup made of shredded chicken and vegetables cooked in a flavorful broth. The dumpling is a biscuit dough that steams in the simmering soup.

The soup can be made a couple of ways, which is to your liking. The broth for chicken and dumplings is usually thick but can be made thinner by adding more stock. A touch of dairy is added to make the broth creamy and silky, which can be omitted if you prefer. 

Also, the dumplings can be scooped into any size. It’s common for them to be portioned about 1 ounce (or 2 tablespoons), but can be made much smaller, or even the size of a biscuit!

What chicken should I use for chicken and dumplings?

Boneless and skinless chicken is best when making chicken and dumplings. The chicken gets shredded once cooked, so using bone-in chicken with the skin still attached is useless.

I prefer to use chicken thighs when cooking. It’s a bit more juicy than chicken breasts, giving it a bit more flavor. If chicken breasts are all you have available, no worries. It will still hold flavor when cooking in the broth. 

How to make the dough for chicken and dumplings

Biscuit dough is commonly made with cold ingredients, which creates those fluffy layers we love. However, the ingredients do not have to be chilled for dumplings.

Thoroughly mix together your dry ingredients in a bowl. Then, pour in your milk and melted butter. Stir these ingredients until just incorporated. The dough should be soft and able to be scooped up with a spoon. 

Cooking the dumplings

The biscuit dough is easier to scoop with a wet utensil. I use a spoon, but a cookie scoop will ensure evenly portioned dumplings.

With a wet spoon,  scoop out the desired amount of dough and immediately drop it into the simmering broth. Continue scooping the dumplings with a wet spoon until all of the dough is added, dropping each dough ball next to each other. 

Once the dumplings are in the broth, cover and simmer on low for 10 minutes, gently flipping halfway through cooking with a spoon. The dumplings evenly cook with the steam, while the broth adds more flavor. 

Why are my dumplings so dense?

Just like any dough, you want to avoid over mixing. Mixing dough and batter too much creates more gluten, making it chewy and dense when cooked.

To prevent a dense dough, make sure all of the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed before adding the wet ingredients. It also helps to mix the wet ingredients separately before pouring into the dry. Lastly, mix the wet and dry ingredients until just combined. 

Why did my dumplings fall apart while cooking?

If your dumplings break apart while they are cooking, the broth may be simmering too rapidly. You want to go for a low simmer. 

If the dumplings are breaking apart when flipping them over in the broth, there’s a chance they’ve touched the bottom of the pot. To fix this, add a half a cup of water or stock. Individually scrap up each dumpling with a spatula. Once they’ve been freed, proceed with individually flipping the dumplings with a spoon.

Chicken and dumpling ingredient substitutions 

In the dumplings, shortening or oil can be swapped for the butter.

Coconut milk can replace the milk in the dumplings.

Coconut milk can also replace the heavy cream in the soup. It can be completely omitted since the soup will have a smooth and thick consistency from the flour added early on. 

Chicken and dumplings are also a great way to use up leftover chicken, as well as turkey! Skip the step for searing the raw chicken. Add the shredded chicken after the broth has simmered for 15 minutes. 

Keep this recipe in your rotation of “what should I make for dinner tonight?” meals. Would love it if you shared your creations with me on Instagram or Twitter!

Looking for a few more easy weeknight meals? Cheesy Chicken Parmesan with Homemade Marinara Sauce and Smothered Hamburger Steaks with Mushroom Gravy are both amazing choices!

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

There’s nothing like a big bowl of creamy chicken and dumplings to warm you up during the winter months.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken, chicken and dumplings, dinner, dinner ideas, dumplings, easy meal, weeknight dinners

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Crystal

Equipment

• 4 quart pot with a lid
• wooden spoon
• Tongs
• Fork or knife with cutting board
• Small metal spoon or cookie scoop

Ingredients

Creamy Chicken Soup

• 3 tablespoon canola oil
• 1.5 pound chicken thighs boneless and skinless
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup small diced carrots
• ½ cup small diced onions
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig thyme
• ¼ cup heavy cream

Dumplings

• 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup milk
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

Instructions

For the soup:

• In a 4 quart pot, heat vegetable oil on medium heat.
• Season the chicken thighs with 1/2 tablespoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, reserving the remaining salt and pepper.
• Sear the chicken in the pan for 4 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking. Remove the partially cooked chicken from the pot and set aside.
• Add the diced carrots and onions and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds while stirring.
• Sprinkle the flour over the cooked veggies, and mix together for 1 minute.
• Pour 1 cup of the chicken stock in with the veggies and stir to combine. The mixture will thicken while simmering. Pour in the remaining chicken stock and whisk.
• Add the reserved salt and pepper, the seared chicken thighs, bay leaf, and thyme. Stir to combine.
• Turn the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Remove the cooked chicken thighs, bay leaf, and thyme. Shred the meat with forks or a knife. Add the shredded chicken back to the soup.

Dumplings:

• In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
• Pour in wet ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon.

Soup Assembly:

• With a soup spoon, scoop out a heaping spoonful of the dumpling batter. Gently drop the batter into the soup. Repeat until all the batter has been added, placing each scooped dough next to each other in the pot.
• Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Uncover and pour in the heavy cream. Gently flip over each of the partially cooked dumplings with a spoon. Cover and simmer for 5 more minutes.
• Serve immediately.

Notes

For dairy free alternatives, see notes above.