Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
Is there anything more comforting and delicious than a bowl of hot, fresh, homemade chicken and dumplings? This recipe is perfect for fall and winter weather as the temperature starts to drop and we all need to be warmed up from the inside out.
Soup Season Is Finally Here!
There’s just something about cold weather that makes you crave soup, especially soup that sticks to your bones and keeps you full all day or night. It’s safe to say that this easy chicken and dumplings recipe fits the bill!
While it’s the perfect cold weather meal, I truly love making this comfort food year-round. I first had when I was in college on a beach trip with friends and their families. It was a great meal to come home to after a long day of playing in the sun and surf. This is also one of my go-to recipes to make any time someone in my family is sick or whenever I’m taking a meal to friends or family. (Can you tell cooking is my love language?)
What Is Chicken and Dumplings, Exactly?
Chicken and dumplings is essentially a thick, creamy, and flavorful chicken stew made with dumplings cooked right on its surface via steaming. For maximum flavor, we want to make a really rich and hearty stew base that just screams comfort food.
Additionally, this soup is packed with tender cooked chicken, fresh veggies, herbs, and spices. Think chicken pot pie, but as a soup. And instead of a flakey pie crust, you get light, fluffy, biscuit-like dumplings. Yum!
You can make this dish even simpler to throw together any night of the week by using a cooked rotisserie chicken. (And save the carcass to make some homemade chicken stock!)
Key Ingredients
This recipe is twofold — the rich chicken soup and the fluffy homemade dumplings.
For the soup portion, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Unsalted butter
- Yellow onion (finely chopped; can swap for a white or sweet onion, but no reds)
- Carrots (diced)
- Celery (finely chopped)
- Garlic (minced finely)
- All-purpose flour
- Chicken broth (homemade or store-bought; organic, free-range, and low-sodium, if possible)
- Heavy cream (can also use whole milk or half-and-half)
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Dried thyme (or fresh, if you have it handy)
- Dried bay leaves
- Frozen green field peas
- Cooked chicken (diced small; can use white or dark meat, or a mix)
- Minced parsley (dried or fresh)
And for the homemade bread dumplings, you’ll need: all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, melted unsalted butter, and milk. (This is a similar ingredients list for homemade drop biscuits.)
How To Make It
First, we need to make the soup. Begin with a common soup starter trio — onion, carrots, and celery — aka a mirepoix. They are sautéed in butter, and then we add garlic to cook for a minute or so, just until it’s aromatic and not letting it burn.
Then we need to make a roux to thicken the chicken stew base. Stir in the flour until it is thoroughly cooked through, the vegetables are coated, and the roux starts to brown. Then, add the chicken stock and stir to incorporate before adding the heavy cream, salt, pepper, thyme, and bay leaves. Let all of that simmer while you prepare the dumplings.
How To Make Soup Dumplings
Want to hear an undeniable truth? No one wants to bite into a dense, soggy dumpling. So, I set out to perfect a method for making easy, delicious dumplings that are light and fluffy to complement this rich soup.
- Start by whisking or sifting together the flour, baking powder, and salt. (The baking powder is what gives the dumplings a nice, fluffy interior.)
- Then, add the melted butter and milk for moisture and fat. These also help the dumplings hold their shape, and keep them nice and tender.
- Don’t over-mix the dough, or they will be tough and dense. All you need is a quick stir to get them to come together, and then set the dough aside.
Assemble the Chicken and Dumplings
Now that your dumpling dough is prepared, let’s get back to the soup. It’s time to add the cooked chicken, frozen peas, and chopped parsley. You don’t want to add these any earlier, or else they’ll cook for too long and can get tough, particularly the chicken.
Next, drop the dumplings into the very top of the chicken soup. Cover with a lid, and do not peek! You want that steam trapped inside the pot to get those dumplings nice and fluffy.
Set a timer for 15 minutes. After that time has passed, test the dumplings for doneness. If they need a few more minutes to cook, you can flip them over at this point, then cover again and cook for a few minutes at a time until done.
Once the dumplings are cooked, this dish is ready to serve!
Recipe Tips
- To make this a quick dinner, use a cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.
- If cooking the chicken from scratch, I like to use chicken thighs because they are more flavorful, but you can use breasts as well. Prepare any way you’d like – saute in a pan, poach, or roast in the oven, then chop. I typically use about 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe.
- For uniform dumplings, I like to use a medium cookie scoop, which holds about 1½ tablespoons, for dropping the dough into the pot.
Storage, Freezing, and Reheating Instructions
- Storage: The chicken and dumplings can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the chicken and dumplings in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Reheating: Allow these homemade chicken and dumplings to thaw from frozen in the fridge overnight. Then, reheat over low heat on the stove (or in the microwave), adding extra liquid as needed to loosen it up, until it’s bubbling and warmed through evenly.
Watch How to Make Chicken and Dumplings:
More Chicken Comfort Food Recipes To Try
If you love chicken-based comfort food dishes, these will be right up your alley:
- Chipotle Chicken and Corn Chowder
- White Chicken Chili
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Bisquick Chicken Pot Pie
- Classic Chicken Pot Pie
- Buttermilk Fried Chicken
I would absolutely love it if you made this for dinner sometime soon. If you do, please stop back and leave a rating, and let me know how you liked it. Or tag me on Instagram. And enjoy! 😍
Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 carrots, cut into ½-inch dice
- 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ½ cup (60 g) all-purpose flour
- 5 cups (1200 ml) chicken broth
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 4 cups cooked chicken, diced small
- 3 tablespoons minced parsley
For the Dumplings:
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (240 ml) milk
Instructions
- Place the chicken stock in a small saucepan and warm over low heat.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and saute until the onion is translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Slowly add the hot chicken stock, stirring constantly, and simmer over low heat until thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in the heavy cream, salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaves. Adjust the heat to maintain a slow simmer while you prepare the dumplings.
- Make the Dumplings: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the melted butter and milk and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough just comes together.
- Stir the chicken, peas, and parsley into the pot. Drop the dumpling mixture by large spoonfuls of dough over the surface of the chicken stew. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Check the dumplings with a toothpick to see if they’re done; if they are still doughy in the middle, flip them over, cover and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
Notes
- To make this a quick dinner, use a cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.
- If cooking the chicken from scratch, I like to use chicken thighs because they are more flavorful, but you can use breasts as well. Prepare any way you’d like – saute in a pan, poach, or roast in the oven, then chop. I typically use about 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe.
- For uniform dumplings, I like to use a medium cookie scoop, which holds about 1½ tablespoons, for dropping the dough into the pot.
- Storage: The chicken and dumplings can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When reheating, you may want to add a splash of chicken stock to loosen it up a bit.
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the chicken and dumplings in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat over low heat on the stove (or in the microwave), adding extra liquid as needed.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Photography by Ari Laing.
Can I make this in the slow cooker?
This was a home run and the best Chicken and dumplings I have ever made. The entire family loved it and will be added to our rotating dinner classics. I didn’t add or change a thing.
Fantastic recipe! It was delicious and will make again!
I am out west right now and had occasion to make this recipe for myself and four other people. The dish was delicious and the dumplings turned out much better than grand mothers. A bonis in this recipe was a few great preparation tips.
I didn’t see serving size anywhere?
Warm. Cozy. Comforting. Zesty. Filling. Soooo much flavor. My hubby went crazy. So simple to make. I used all odds and ends from the fridge. I think I may only do half the amount of dumplings next time. It’s definitely in the rotation!!!
Made this over the weekend during snowstorm – seemed appropriate. First time making dumplings; took care not to over handle the dough. Used 2% milk and light cream as I didn’t have heavy cream. Didn’t miss it but am sure using the heavy cream would elevate even further! Result was excellent! Tasty, tender dumplings, and even better the next day.
This is now a go to recipe, my husband says it tastes just like his mothers. I have made this several times, all time the best!
I’ve made this twice and it is absolutely delicious!
I have a couple questions for you:
1) After I’ve added the dumplings to my pot to allow them to steam, I am getting a portion of the stew that is cooking on to the bottom of the pot. Is there a way to avoid this? At what setting should my fire be in order to steam and not burn?
2)We are having a Soup Party for our Christmas gathering next weekend and this is the “soup” I’d like to take.
If I prepare the body of the stew in the Dutch oven/pot as usual and then transfer to a crock pot, do you know of a way to prepare the dumplings in the crock pot? Or do you have another suggestion for cooking/transporting that might work better?
Thank you so much for any guidance you can give!
We love every recipe of yours that we’ve tried!
OMG. Soooo good. Like professional chef good.
I cut the recipe in half. I cut my raw chicken thighs into 1” chunks and cooked in my Instant Pot with 1c of chicken stock and 2t of chicken better than bouillon. 8min with a quick release. I did not use this stock in the final dish as it was very salty – but infused the chicken with great flavor.
I used 1.5c frozen mirepoix mix, but added a carrot and a stalk of celery cut into larger chunks for more texture. I omitted the peas because I don’t like them.
To clarify – I only cooked the chicken in the IP…I made the actual recipe on the stovetop!
I didn’t think I liked chicken and dumplings but decided to give it one more chance. This was excellent. I made it exactly as written using a whole rotisserie chicken. Just the comfort food I needed!
Perfect meal for an on-the-mend COVID family still trying to homeschool and work from home. Everyone but the little pitched in in some way. The only thing better would have been a double batch!
. Delicious!
I notice that the ingredients list says chicken broth and the instructions say add stock. I usually use stock in recipes since I find it more flavorful. Do you consider them interchangeable? Gonna make this today since I have all the ingredients on hand :)
Hi Jyll, You can use either one! Enjoy!
My kids’ favorite dinner of all time!
I do add more chicken broth as I’m slow making the dumplings and liquids simmer down too much. Delicious!!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I’ve been looking for a good chicken & dumpling recipe for years and this is THE ONE. Thanks again!
This is fantastic! I am now required to make this once a week from my wife and daughters. The only alteration I use is, perhaps, a different seasoning pattern; amount, type, etc. However, the original recipe is fail proof!
Just made this for the Superbowl and it was a hit! Simple easy direction and the taste was incredible
Thanks so much. It is now in my collection
This, by far, is the best recipe I have ever found for Chicken and dumplings!!!! if you are looking fir the best recipe, you just found it! These dumplings were soooo delicious and the sauce mouthwatering yummy. What a great comfort food! We had leftover chicken, so I decided to make Chicken and dumplings. Lucky for me, I found this recipe. And you are lucky, too!!
Great recipe! My wife & I enjoyed this on a cold snowy day today. I tweaked a little here and there to minimize salt in the recipe and didn’t add peas either. I will make it again, and it’s the first time my dumplings came out absolutely fantastic.
The ultimate comfort food! This had so much flavor and just the right amount of creaminess! Thoroughly enjoyed by my husband and I. I will be making this again!
I have made this a few times but in yiur instuctions you dont tell when to add parsley so I add them just before I put in the dumplings I also add three table spoons of parsley to the dumplings for a much better flavor other then that love this I make it at least once a month my family cant get enuph of tthem
Hi Vincent, I’m so happy you enjoy this recipe! The parsley is added in step #5 :)
So delicious! Perfect for cold weather nights. It’s like a rich comfort food stew. Dumplings were light, fluffy perfection! I used half and half as I did not have heavy cream. It was a fine creamy alternative. I also used frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas,corn, green beans from Costco) for the same reason & that was also fine. Great directions with the dumplings and keeping them covered for 15 minutes. Love love love this recipe!
This was yummy. Easy to make and absolutely delicious. Dinner guests asked for a care package to take home. Definitely will make this again!
This recipe was spot on. The dumplings were light and fluffy and the flavor was perfect. I used chicken breast so I added chicken base in addition to the broth. I also used half and half because I had it on hand and it was just as creamy and rich.
Michelle, I’m curious. Have you ever made the dumplings with buttermilk?
This recipe is a hit with my husband.
Thank you for sharing!
made this last night for my family and it was devoured! lol. very very good. i used chicken thighs instead of breasts and it was delicious. will definitely be making this during winter time since it’s so comforting!
I made this for dinner tonight and my 89 year-old mother raved! She even had seconds, which she never does. My 27 year-old son had a late lunch with a friend so told me he wasn’t really that hungry. But guess who else had seconds?? Needless to say, it was a huge hit. I’m bookmarking the recipe because I think I’ll be getting requests for this dish in the future!! So happy to have found your site…now I’m off to find another fabulous recipe to try! 😊
This is freakin *delicious*. Totally perfect. Only thing I changed was I added the juice from half a lemon to the soup before adding dumplings. Can’t wait to make this again!!
Heads up – the dumplings expand – a lot! My pot was very full before adding the dumplings…. But I crossed my fingers that an inch of room would be enough. It was not. Fully boiled over and made a big mess. The dumplings are fluffy and definitely doubled in size. I’ll use a larger pot next time.
These dumplings are so much fluffier than my old Bisquick version. This was pretty quick and easy with a rotisserie chicken and storebought broth. Husband raved about it. I will make often. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Oh my, Wow!
Great instructions, delicious flavor.
Came out perfect! I used AP flour.
Thank you
Excellent! Will definitely make this again !
Made this and it was great. The one change I did was change the dumplings to whole wheat. Used 1nad a half cups of whole wheat flour and a half cup of all purpose flour and added 1 egg. Turned out great.
Growing up my mom would make chicken and dumplings in the electric skillet. I have yet to have any that tastes as good as that. But this has definite promise. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Can you use a substitute for all purpose flour,such as whole wheat flour or almond flour.
As much as I love to cook and eat, I have never in my life eaten Chicken & Dumplings! After looking at this post, I guess that is going to have to change. Looks incredible!
Hi! My husband cannot have heavy cream, half n half, whole milk etc. I know it wouldn’t be as indulgent or as rich…but would skim still be ok? I could probably go for 1% but even then he may hate me an hour later 🤪
My suggestion would be 2 or 3 room temperature egg yolks, beaten then tempered with the stock. The yolks will give you wonderful richness.
So happy to see that you actually make real dumplings and not those flat noodles. These are the ones that my family makes. Sometimes we use canned biscuits cut into fourths which works well in a pinch or self-rising flour and milk.
Chichen and dumplings dont have anything green in it.😳
Well celery is light green lol😉
The green peas are green!
Green nor Orange. Peas and Carrots don’t belong in Chicken N Dumplins in the south. I know some like it in there, but I was raised on this dish and never had veggies.
Hi Michelle! I can’t wait to make your chicken & dumpling recipe! I just printed it out & will definitely make it next week when everyone is home !!! Also you gave me a lot of amazing ideas for school lunches but I saw the lunch cookbook you recommended & just ordered it from Amazon!!! Thank you so much for all your great recipes & all your wonderful ideas !!! You are such a great help to me !!! I also enjoy seeing all the beautiful photos of the children & the dogs ! Have a great weekend before classes start 😊
Hi Judy, I hope you all enjoy the chicken and dumplings! And I hope the cookbook helps, it has so many good ideas! xo
I’m made this tonight for dinner and it’s lovely! I served it over mashed potatoes at my husbands request. Only change I made was my husband doesn’t like peas so I did Lima beans. Talk about carb overload! I will keep this recipe in my back pocket for winter. So glad I tried it!
I never been able to make perfect dumplings for some reason until i tried this recipe, now im a pro making perfect fluffy dumplings, thank u soooo much❤
Hi. I make my dumplings from my brothers recipe. Mix flour,salt and baking powder on counter. Make a well. Add small amounts of chicken cooking liquid and mix by hand. Once sufficient dough state pat into 1/4 inch . cut with fork into small dough balls (make balls by rolling). Drop into to simmering soup . Cover and check every 15mins till done. I also add campbells cream of chicken soup instead of flour to thicken. I add it after dumplings.
This was my first time making dumplings and I’m so glad I found this recipe. Very nice fluffy dumplings. Perfect comfort dish that is full of flavor.
I didn’t do your recipe exact, but I incorporated it greatly in my amalgamation of chicken & dumplings recipes to try in my new instant pot. ^-^ I do tend to check and see if you’ve got a recipe for something I want to make, and you’ve usually got it all! It really came out great. If anything, I’m so used to homemade/stove-top, it’s a huge learning process. Always eerie of hands-off blind cooking.
Personal note to you, Michelle:
Please keep doing all you do. I read your statement, and I was astonished: your site’s wonderful, and there isn’t anything but beautiful cooking content and glimpses into your life with your kids. Don’t pay any heed and just ignore the negativity. Everyone’s bored, disrupted, and wants a reaction right now. Stay strong and safe. <3
Made this tonight for my husband and kids. It was amazing!!! So much flavor! I cooked it in a 5 qt Dutch Oven. Cooked the chicken In the Dutch oven too so when I added the butter I got all that yummy flavoring. I can’t wait to make it again. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Love these dumplings! This is what I think of when I think chicken and dumplings. Pure comfort food!
This was better than what you would get in a restaurant! Great flavor, dumplings came out great! Thx for another terrific recipe!
I’ve been following this blog since I was in high school (2009!) :). Brown Eyed Baker was the first cooking blog I’ve ever religiously followed and will continue to do so until she decides to retire from all this! This is my first time leaving a review for some reason. All of Michelle’s recipes are amazing but this one seems to take the cake for my family and I. I’ve been using her original recipe for YEARS and was really excited to see she posted an updated version. Hard to believe, but it’s even better than the original! I doubled the recipes and there’s no leftovers! Michelle, thanks for pretty much teaching me how to cook since I was 14 (now 25!). Can’t wait to review more of her amazing dishes.
Made this over the weekend during Day 1 of quarantine/social distancing. SO DELICIOUS! I had never made chicken and dumplings before, mostly because I was intimidated by making the dumplings and thought it would be too much work. So easy and so good! Will def be making again.
This recipe was delicious Michelle!! Can’t wait to make it again.
This was delicious, Michelle! It’s now going to be one of my favorite Sunday dinners. My only regret is that I didn’t find this sooner before my elderly mom passed away. Chicken & dumplings was her favorite meal. She would have loved this! Thanks so much for this recipe.
This looks so good! I’ll be sure to save the recipe for winter. And I’m curious, what did you major in?
Business communications/marketing :)
This looks so yummy! I am going to make two pots today, one for us and one for our neighbors who are busy as first responders with the flu calls. I know they will love it. :)
What a wonderful gesture! I hope you all enjoy it :)
If we fix this in the Crock-Pot, would we just follow the recipe. Or what would we need to change?
Hi Nicole, I would follow through step #3 cooking on the stovetop for maximum flavor, although it would still work doing it in the crock pot as long as you cooked for 2 to 3 hours on low and the veggies were tender.
I’ve done it in a crock pot with good results. The only difference is to wait until the veggies are cooked before you put in the dumplings. Then, make sure your crock pot is on high and cook without lifting the lid for 45 minutes to an hour. The dumplings take much longer to cook using a slow cooker but still turns our great.
When I was a little girl my mom and I went shopping in a larger, neighboring town (where Pete Buttigieg was mayor).. There was a cafeteria there that we always lunched at and I always had their chicken and dumplings. A bowl of chicken stew with one huge dumpling on top. It took me years to replicate the recipe, but I combined recipes from Ina Garten and Martha Stewart for the chicken stew and from a local food writer for the dumplings. Your recipe is very similar and I’ll try it soon.
So glad you made a version, I’ve been making one from simply recipes for years but I always have to modify because it doesn’t seem to have enough liquid. I have always used cake flour (in the recipe it says it makes your dumplings lighter & fluffier). Will definitely give yours a try next time.
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Like you, I’ve been trying versions for years, but haven’t found ‘it’ yet. Thanks!
This looks amazing!! I live on the eastern shore of Maryland and dumplings are “slick” dumplings aka (in my opinion) noodles. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Good morning Michelle,
I want to make your recipe but after reading the reviews and your ingredients, I don’t see using Bisquick mentioned anywhere. If I use Bisquick are the other dumpling ingredients the same minus the flour?
Thanks so much for any advice; I love your recipes!!!
Hi Susan, That was actually a very old version of the recipe; I’ve updated it to make it completely homemade – no Bisquick needed! Just follow the recipe as instructed above.
Many Thanks!!!🙏
Hi Michelle,
We made this delicious recipe tonight!!! It was freakin’ good!! I used a rotisserie chicken and added more veggies and chicken stock and a little more than 4 cups of chicken. We couldn’t get enough of this DELISH recipe!!! I never made chicken and dumplings before but this will definitely be on my go-to recipe and definitely company worthy. I also added about 1 Tbsp. of dill to the dumpling recipe and it gave them an amazing extra flavor. It made 8 big dumplings 👍—plenty of leftovers!!
THANK YOU for this wonderful, delicious recipe!!!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 🙋♀️
This recipe is better than my Grandma’s. My boyfriend made it in the crockpot and left out the flour by accident but it still turned out fantastic.
We had this for dinner tonight and it was excellent!
they look great! we loved them too, even tho i don’t know if mine came out exactly like they were supposed to.
The whole reason I like cooking better than baking is because you don’t “need” a recipe
Came in here to comment on TWD a little late. But this looks amazing so I got stuck here!
oh I love stew and dumplings, your chicken and dumplings look so yummy.
It is interesting to see how you make your dumplings as we do it completely differently, I’d like to try these ones!
it looks great. congrats on creating the recipe; i am the same way you are so i know how you feel! i had never even had chicken n’ dumplings until i met my DH… they are such a comfort food to me now!
Oh my goodness Chelle, I have also been looking for a chicken and dumpling recipe but hadn’t found one I loved yet. Ben will be *so* happy that you made it, because I’m definitely trying yours!
This looks great! I love chicken and dumplings. I’ll have to make some soon!
Looks delicious! I have never had dumplings before, but your recipe looks very tasty. I may have to *venture* out myself : and try this)
It looks wonderful! I have never had dumplings, something about soggy “bread” doesn’t sound appetizing to me. Maybe someday I’ll have to give them a try.
Just a fyi dumplings are absolutely nothing like “soggy bread” in anyway!!! Definitely try i think you’ll be pleasantly surprised :-)
Yesterday I had an obnoxious craving for chicken and dumplings. I ended up making them last night too. Such great comfort food!
And yay for stepping out of your comfort zone and experimenting!
Yum, looks delish. Dh and I love chicken and dumplings, such a great meal!
i freakin love chicken & dumplings. the first time i made them this winter, i ended up making a new batch a week for 3 weeks :-)