Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings

Posted by on Wednesday, January 14th, 2015

ChickenNDumplins

I can think of few main dishes with more Southern flair than Chicken and Dumplings.  I do not recall either of my parents making this dish in our home.  Chicken and Dumplings were given the respect they deserved.  Only my Grandmothers were worthy enough to make them.  There was no special family recipe written down. And both my Grandmothers instinctively knew how to prepare this family favorite.  By the way – the Blue WIllow plate in this photo belonged to my great grandmother Hancock.

I think the secret to perfect Chicken and Dumplings is having rich chicken broth.  Although boneless, skinless chicken breast could be cooked and diced, a whole hen with the skin on will produce a richer broth with more fat. Short on time?  Pickup a deli chicken and boil it for a few minutes skin and all before shredding the chicken meat.  Save the broth to make the dumplins.

Remove any bagged chicken pieces or parts from the cavity of the hen.  Rinse her well. Fill a large deep pot halfway with water. Add the chicken and bring water to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium or a low boil.  Cook chicken until tender.  Remove chicken from broth.  SAVE BROTH in pan to cook dumplings.  When chicken is cool, pull meat from bones, removing skin if desired.

Dumplings:

  • 2 ½ cups plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • milk

Mix together and add enough milk to make a stiff batter. Knead dough using plenty of flour.  Roll out to the thickness of pie crust.  I use a pizza cutter to cut dough into 1 inch by 2 inch pieces.

Bring chicken broth to a rolling boil.  Drop dough pieces into boiling broth and cook slowly until done.  You may need to cover pot with a lid and allow the excess liquid to cook down.  Add chicken and let stand to blend the flavors.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve hot!

Printable Recipe

Chicken-N-Dumplings

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Filed in Chicken | 3 responses so far

3 Responses to “Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings”

  1. Memoriaon 01 May 2009 at 7:25 pm 1

    Ahh, your dumplings are similar to those of Cracker Barrel. I like those and the fluffy ball-like ones. In fact, I made this dish with the dumpling balls last week. It was yummy!! Yours looks very scrumptious, too!

  2. Taraon 02 May 2009 at 9:25 pm 2

    Thanks for visiting Memoria. These are pretty close to Cracker Barrel’s but I don’t salt them as much. Come back and see us!

  3. Bernadette Martinon 26 Aug 2012 at 8:18 pm 3

    Although I don’t make chicken and dumplings quite like this, I do simmer a whole chicken to make stock, when most people only use the bones or seperated chicken pieces. This sounds yummy!