The Easy Chicken and Dumplings I’m Making All Winter Long
This easy recipe for chicken and dumplings relies on rotisserie chicken, condensed cream of chicken soup, and Bisquick as speedy shortcuts for a weeknight-friendly version of the Southern classic. It’s on the table for family dinner in just one hour!
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Chicken and dumplings is a quintessential, soulful Southern dish akin to classic chicken noodle or matzo ball soup. Which is to say: it is the ultimate comfort food. If you, like me, didn’t grow up eating chicken and dumplings, let me describe it to you: On top of a thick, velvety broth full of tender stewed chicken perches a layer of moist, biscuit-like dumplings. The dumplings can be rolled, giving them a more chewy, gnocchi-like texture, or dropped, so they cook up plump and pillowy.
Making traditional chicken and dumplings can be an all-day endeavor involving stewing a whole chicken, making a rich stock from the chicken bones, and meticulously mixing your dumplings before you even assemble the finished dish.
When I married into a Southern family and learned all about chicken and dumplings, I was determined to find a shortcut version that we would still love for cold rainy days as well as celebrations. Luckily, I found a way to make a very good and super easy version of chicken and dumplings with just a handful of staple ingredients and a few shortcuts.
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How To Make Chicken and Dumplings Easier
- Compromise with aromatic vegetables: Many Southerners swear that true chicken and dumplings don’t have any vegetables in them at all, though you’ll see lots of adaptations that include carrots and peas. To appease my Southern family and still make a dinner that feels complete, I start my shortcut chicken and dumplings with chopped celery and carrots. I opt out of prepping other vegetables by adding onion and garlic powder later in the soup.
- Use a rotisserie chicken: Classic chicken and dumplings usually starts with stewing a whole chicken, which makes for really tender chicken and a thick broth, but takes a long time. You can take a shortcut to the tender chicken by grabbing a rotisserie chicken at the supermarket. If you opt to use leftover chicken instead, note that you’ll need about 4 cups of shredded chicken for this recipe.
- Use condensed soup: Condensed soup is a super-fast shortcut to a rich, creamy, thick gravy base. Condensed cream of chicken soup makes this recipe taste more like traditional chicken and dumplings, but you can opt for cream of celery or a combination of soups if you prefer.
- Use Bisquick baking mix: I’ve tried a handful of other shortcut ingredients (like canned biscuits and self-rising flour) to make the dumplings, but the best, most consistent dumplings I’ve made are from Bisquick plus milk. Krusteaz baking mix also works well here.
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How To Tell When Your Shortcut Dumplings Are Done
A good rule of thumb for testing the dumplings’ doneness is to see whether or not they float, but depending on the size of your soup pot, this may be hard to check visually. Instead, I check for firmness. The dumplings should feel firm when pressed with a spoon or spatula with no raw batter visible.
You can also poke a dumpling with a skewer or fork to check it, and it should come out clean. Or, you can remove a dumpling from the soup and cut it in half. The interior should be fluffy with no visible wet spots. No matter how you check, just make sure that your dumplings are fully cooked before serving—nobody likes a soggy dumpling!
Cook the vegetables:
In a medium Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the soup base and chicken:
Add the chicken broth, condensed soup, onion powder, and garlic powder to the pot and stir to combine. Stir in the shredded chicken. Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a simmer, about 15 minutes.
Make the dumpling batter:
Once the soup base has come to a simmer, in a medium bowl, stir together the baking mix and milk. The mixture will look a bit wet and that’s just fine!
Add the dumplings:
Uncover the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Scoop the dumpling batter into ping pong ball-sized portions (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) and drop them directly into the soup in a single layer. When the dumpling batter has been portioned into the pot, cover the pot and cook undisturbed until the dumplings are cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Uncover the pot and check the dumplings for doneness by poking them with a spoon or spatula; they should feel firm with no wet batter visible in the center. If the dumplings are still wet, re-cover the pot and continue cooking for a few minutes until they’re done.
Serve:
Serve the finished soup with two or three dumplings in each bowl, garnishing with chopped parsley if desired.
Leftovers can be stored for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. The dumplings will get mushier after 3 days but are still delicious when reheated.
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