Chicken and Dumplings
Quick answer
- Total time
- 55 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 9
About this dish
Chicken and dumplings is a Southern American comfort dish built on simplicity and patience.
Read more
Bone-in or boneless chicken thighs simmer with carrot, onion, and celery in chicken stock for about fifteen minutes, after which the meat is lifted out, shredded along the grain, and returned to the pot. Shredding rather than cubing matters because the torn fibers absorb broth more deeply, carrying more flavor into every bite. The vegetables release natural sugars as they cook, and those sugars combine with the chicken stock to create a layered, savory-sweet base. Once a simple batter of flour, baking powder, butter, and milk is spooned in spoonfuls onto the simmering surface, the lid goes on and must stay closed for a full twelve minutes. Steam trapped inside puffs the dumplings into light, pillow-like rounds, and lifting the lid even briefly lets the steam escape, resulting in flat, doughy discs instead. The finished dumplings are soft on the outside and tender and bread-like inside, and eating them together with the rich broth in a single spoonful is the point of the whole dish.
Ingredients
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Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Control
Cut 120 g onion, 120 g carrot, and 80 g celery into even pieces so they soften at the same pace.
Melt 20 g butter in a heavy pot over medium heat until it foams but does not brown.
- 2Control
Add the vegetables and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Move on when the onion looks translucent and the carrot edges have softened slightly, before any vegetables start to scorch.
- 3Control
Add 500 g chicken thighs and turn them until the outside turns opaque.
Pour in 900 ml chicken stock, bring it to a gentle simmer, then lower the heat and cook covered for 15 minutes.
- 4Control
Lift out the chicken and shred it along the grain into bite-size pieces.
Return the meat to the broth and keep the pot at a gentle simmer so the torn fibers absorb the stock.
- 5Prep
Mix 1 cup all-purpose flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder, then stir in 120 ml milk.
Stop as soon as the batter is thick enough to scoop with a spoon, because overmixing makes dense dumplings.
- 6Finish
Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the simmering broth, spacing them slightly, then close the lid tightly for 12 minutes.
Do not lift the lid; serve when the dumplings are puffed and cooked through in the center.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Shredded chicken thighs and drop dumplings finish in the same stock, the dough rising steam-light as it cooks.
- Finish cue
- Do not lift the lid; serve when the dumplings are puffed and cooked through in the center.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official cooking and food safety guidance.
This recipe
55min, 9 ingredients
Category median
45min, 8 ingredients
Based on 310 recipes
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