Chicken and Dumplings

When cooler weather settles in here in New England, I turn to our favorite comfort food recipes to warm us up from the inside out.  I return to bread baking and pull out the long list of family favorites that can be counted on to end our day on a warm and comforting note.

One of the first recipes I crave when the weather turns cool is homemade chicken and dumplings.  I love everything about this dish.  The creamy soup base made using our homemade bone broth is full of flavor and I know that it is also packed with nutrition thanks to the bone broth and fresh vegetables.  As we head into cold and flu season, I’m happy to combine delicious flavor with a healthy boost to our immune system.

On top of that velvety chicken soup are the soft dumplings I love so much. While dumplings come in many different forms and varieties, I prefer the soft, fluffy type.  I grew up eating chicken and dumplings that my grandmother made which formed my preference for those soft dumplings.

I try to make dumplings that are fluffy little clouds. I also like to add herbs to my dumplings before adding them to the soup.  I find that the herbs infuse those soft dumplings with just a hint of flavor without overpowering them.  If you prefer, you can omit the herbs and make a more traditional dumpling. 

Every time I sit down to our table with a bowl of this soup in front of me, I am reminded of my childhood and the evenings I sat down to a bowl of my grandmother’s homemade chicken and dumplings.  I’m not sure which provides more comfort to me:  my bowl full of this soup or the warm memories of my grandmother’s soup that I enjoyed as a child.  No matter the source, this soup never fails to warm me up and satisfy my family.  I hope that your family will enjoy it as much as we do.

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Chicken and Dumplings

Jennifer from 1840 Farm

This is the chicken soup base I use for most of my chicken broth based soup recipes. I add egg noodles and omit the dumplings for chicken noodle soup. You can vary the vegetables and their quantity in this soup with equally delicious results. Use the vegetables you like best and vary the amounts based on your preference and what you have on hand. With good broth and a fluffy dumpling, everyone at your table will be happy.

Servings: 4 people

Author: Jennifer from 1840 Farm

Ingredients

For the Creamy Chicken Soup:

• 4-6 carrots , peeled and sliced ¼” to ½” thick
• 2-3 parsnips , peeled and sliced ¼” to ½” thick
• 4 stalks celery , sliced ½” thick
• 1 medium onion , minced
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme) , minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary) , minced
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 Tbs butter
• 3 Tbs All-purpose flour
• 6 cups bone broth/stock
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 6 ounces about 2 cups cooked chicken , shredded or diced into bite sized pieces
• ¼ cup heavy cream

For the Dumplings:

• 2 cups All-purpose flour
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme) , minced
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 Tbs butter melted
• 2 Tbs lard melted
• ½ cup buttermilk

Instructions

• If your carrots, parsnips, and celery are quite large, you can split them lengthwise before slicing. The pieces should be large enough to retain a bit of texture in the soup without being too large to comfortably rest on your soup spoon when eating the soup.
• Place a large, wide pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the warm pot, swirling to cover the entire bottom surface. Add the carrots and parsnips. Sauté for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. The slices should begin to soften and brown slightly. Adjust the heat as necessary to prevent them from overbrowning.
• Add the celery and onion to the pot, stirring to combine. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook for another 4-5 minutes until the celery and onion are beginning to soften and the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic, thyme, and rosemary. Stir to combine and cook for 1-2 minutes until the garlic and herbs are fragrant. Take care not to burn the garlic as it will impart a bitter flavor.
• Clear a spot in the middle of the pot by pushing the vegetables to the sides. Add the butter and allow it to melt before adding the flour. Stir to create a roux to thicken the soup. When the butter and flour have combined, stir the roux into the vegetables. It will coat the vegetables and leave a bit of a film on the bottom of the pan. Add the frozen peas and stir them into the vegetables.
• Add the bone broth to the pot, scraping the surface of the bottom of the pot and stirring to distribute the roux evenly into the broth. Bring the broth to a simmer. Add the chicken and cream. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Reduce the heat to keep the broth at a gentle simmer while you prepare the dumplings.
• Mixing the dumplings is quick and easy. The dough should be wet quite loose when you form the dumplings. Take care not to overmix as that would encourage the gluten strands in the flour to strengthen and create a tough dumpling. Less is more when mixing dumplings. Only mix enough to bring the ingredients together. You’ll be rewarded with fluffy, light as air dumplings to enjoy.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, thyme, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Add the melted butter and lard, stirring with your hands or a large fork until the flour forms tiny pea sized pieces. This might remind you of making pie crust. Add the buttermilk and stir briefly just to combine and ensure that there are no pockets of dry flour remaining.
• The dough will be quite wet and sticky. Using your hands, remove a piece of the dough from the bowl and gently form it into a round dumpling. I usually make 8-10 dumplings about 2 inches in diameter. The dumplings will plump up quite a bit as they cook, growing much larger.
• Gently add the dumplings to the soup, spacing them evenly around the pot. Reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and cook for 12-15 minutes until the dumplings are cooked through. The dumplings will look glossy and wet on top after cooking in the soup. Don’t let that fool you. The center of the dumplings will be tender and cooked to perfection by the end of their time simmering in the pot.
• If you are unsure if your dumplings are cooked through, use a toothpick to test for doneness. Insert the toothpick into the center of a dumpling. Just like other baked goods, the toothpick should be clean or only have crumbs attached when removed. If raw dough is attached to the toothpick, simply cover the pot and simmer for another two minutes or so.
• Ladle the hot soup into bowls, adding a fluffy dumpling to each bowl. Serve hot and enjoy!

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