How To Make Southern Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and Dumplings, like most southern food, evolved out of necessity and practicality. Back in the day, chicken was a treat and not something offered or even available on a regular basis. Whenever it was, the chicken was more often than not on the scrawny side.
So you have this woman who has a house full of kids to feed and likely a few guests after word has gotten out that chicken is on the menu, and one scrawny little chicken. This is where flour comes to the rescue yet again! Back in the old days, flour was an affordable staple and bought in twenty five pound sacks. Flour could easily be used to stretch a meager meal so that an entire family would leave the table feeling full and satisfied by making biscuits, dumplings, hoe cake, or an assortment of other improvisational breads and meal stretchers.
This recipe is dedicated to my sister in law’s trainer, Debbie (you owe me Stacey, I just made you sound so hip in that sentence). Debbie’s failed attempts to make dumplings have led her family to formally request that she stop attempting them altogether. Now I’m here to tell you that if Debbie can remain skinny and fit in the land of fried chicken, she can certainly make chicken and dumplings! Stacey has assured her that our family recipe is foolproof and I plan on proving it with this tutorial. I am also going to explain the two instances where Stacey and I managed to screw up this foolproof recipe in our earlier days of cooking so that you can avoid our mistakes and have your perfect pot of dumplings!
Gina, this is for you, too! Gina is a reader who has her hands full with summer heat and two toddlers. When I posted a teaser sentence “Anyone up for chicken and dumplings this week?” at the top of my site, Gina emailed within minutes telling me that she certainly was! Gina, I promise this will be quick and easy enough that you can manage to make it in between calls for “Mama”! After making it once, you won’t even need a recipe!
*I usually stew a whole chicken but today I had boneless skinless breasts and no chicken so this is what we got. Feel free to drop a few chicken bouillon cubes into your water in place of the broth.
Until it looks like this.Be sure you don’t skip this step! If you do, your dumplings will completely dissolve in the broth. That is exactly what I did the very first time I ever made chicken and dumplings after I had gotten married. Of course it didn’t help that I had bragged all day about how good my mama’s dumplings were! I ended up with a delicious dumpling flavored soup!
Lower your heat so that your broth is just barely barely barely boiling and drop these pieces in one at a time. It is important that you DO NOT STIR. We are not going to stir these as we don’t want our dumplings cooking up. If you do stir, you will basically cause your dumplings to dissolve. Stay tuned, I’m going to show you what we will do instead…
You want to keep it on a low boil.
See? Dumplings! Continue simmering it, pushing them down from time to time, while you shred your chicken.
Like this.
Drop your chicken into the dumplings and very gently stir that up. I really just push it down a bit like I did with the dumplings but you are past the point of them being able to cook up by this time anyway. Just be gentle.
Oh I wish you could smell these, I wish you could taste these, I wish you had dumplings on your stove right this very minute!
Remember the eighties Coca Cola commercials …”I’d like to buy the world a coke…”. Forget that! I’d like to feed the world chicken and dumplings! How about we start with you?
Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
- 3 or 4 chicken breasts
- 32 oz Chicken Broth (feel free to use water with bouillon cubes added)
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1-10 count can Pilsbury layers biscuits
- salt and pepper to taste
- flour
Instructions
- Cook chicken breasts in approx. 4 c. of water until fork tender, about 45 minutes. Place broth in medium to large sized pot. Stir cream of chicken soup into gently boiling broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pull biscuits apart into three layers. Dip each layer into flour and then tear each layer into three pieces and drop into gently boiling broth mixture. Do not stir biscuits a lot, or they will cook up, only gently push dumplings down into broth as they float to the top. Cook about ten minutes after last dumplings are added. Add shredded chicken and turn on low until ready to serve. added, Tear up chicken, add to broth mixture.Turn to low until ready to serve.
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Ingredients
- 3 or 4 chicken breasts
- 32 oz Chicken Broth (feel free to use water with bouillon cubes added)
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1-10 count can Pilsbury layers biscuits
- salt and pepper to taste
- flour
Instructions
- Cook chicken breasts in approx. 4 c. of water until fork tender, about 45 minutes. Place broth in medium to large sized pot. Stir cream of chicken soup into gently boiling broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pull biscuits apart into three layers. Dip each layer into flour and then tear each layer into three pieces and drop into gently boiling broth mixture. Do not stir biscuits a lot, or they will cook up, only gently push dumplings down into broth as they float to the top. Cook about ten minutes after last dumplings are added. Add shredded chicken and turn on low until ready to serve. added, Tear up chicken, add to broth mixture.Turn to low until ready to serve.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Jul 29 2008. Filed under Chicken, FEATURED Southern Favorites!, Main Course, Southern Classics.
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tomorrow is my three year anniversary, im going to make this for my husband and myself, it looks fabulous thanks for the recipe
OMG this is sooo funny. I am an expert cook. I make EVERYTHING from scratch. Including my chicken and dumplings. But, this is exactly how my southern Mama made hers. I was appalled, even more so when she opened her own restaurant and lo and behold the people here in Delaware would LINE UP when she ran her ” Chicken and Dumplings special” I gave up and admitted that while I THOUGHT it was too easy and there had to be a better way a more SOPHISTICATED way . I have found that out that there isn’t. This is one of the best recipes my mother had. So, if anyone wants REALLY GOOD chicken and dumplings, try this recipe , you will never want to make it any other way.
Hello,
I found this site while searching for chicken and dumpling recipes. I Had a huge package of 5 boned chicken breasts and I wanted to get rid of ‘em before they went bad. So, I started boiling them in my huge pot. I poured out a lot of the natural broth but when I put in the condensed soup, I noticed it was still horribly thin. So, I then googled up a way to make the soup thicker. I found out that adding mashed potatoes flakes helped. So basically I had a huge pot of mashed potatoes. I also just stopped and cut my losses. I continued on with the biscuit part and followed the rest of the directions. I can now report that I had a huge pot of what you have in the pictures, and I’m sure when it cools down, it’ll taste great.
Thank you.
Oh my gosh! This is heavenly! I wondered about using canned biscuits, because I have always made my own biscuit dough, but NO MORE! This is the ONLY way to make chicken and dumplings from now on. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes!!!
Thank You! Wish me luck!
My husband is a Chef but he is at work so I cant ask him, but he has a ton of cookbooks and I couldnt find the recipe in any of them so THANK YOU! Christy
I’m just starting to learn how to cook & I’m not sure I understand how to cook the chicken for this recipe…can anybody help? I really want to try this recipe out! Thanks!
Lauren, just put the raw chicken into a pot and pour the broth over it, then boil it until it’s finished cooking. Don’t put a lid on the pot though or it will boil over! I speak from experience
I love chicken dumplings and have never been able to get them quite rite, tonight i made this following your video and they tasted great, thanks, love your site
This was dinner tonight, and it was GOOD. I have a long history with chicken and dumplings. My dad ordered some for me from the Cracker Barrel when we were down visiting his family in Kentucky when I was about 6 years old. I’ve never tried anything else on the menu because they’re incredible! They’re what I always judge chicken and dumplings against. When I started to learn to cook as a teen, I tried many chicken and dumpling recipes. They ranged from not so great to okay to pretty good but not perfect. None were fantastic. Then I made up my own recipe for the stew part and finally happened upon a good recipe for rolled dumplings! All was good. I make chicken and dumplings 2-3 times a year because my recipe is really involved and takes 2 days. Then I found your recipe. I haven’t had good luck with dumplings made from canned biscuits in the past, but because the recipe is yours, I had to make it and decided to spur of the moment tonight. I ended up not putting in a can of cream soup (I was going to add my homemade cream soup mix after the dumplings cooked because I was afraid it would burn if I did it before) because the flour from the biscuits thickened it up so well! All I had to do was add some salt, poultry seasoning, marjoram and onion powder. There was no way you could tell the dumplings were from a can. They were just wonderful, soft, and tender like Cracker Barrel dumplings. I’m going to continue to make my from scratch recipe, but will make your recipe the rest of the time
I’d say that keeping frozen cooked chicken in the freezer is worth it just for this recipe!
I tried this recipe and OOOOOOH – WEEEEEEEEE it is GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!
I really can’t believe how good and EASY this recipe was. Thank you for your posting. My wife and I thought it was very very close to what we remember eating as kids. I am glad that the UNA alumni letter said something about your site or I would have never found it. Keep up the good work!
hello
I would like to give your receipt a thumbs up. I searched a few receipts but your stood out from all the rest. Very easy and fast self explain. Thanks again keep up the good cooking.
MiMi
Christy,
your chicken and dumplings look fabulous. I will try them soon, maybe this week end. I hate the rolling out of the dumplings, made like my mom made them. Have you ever tried making them with flour tortillas? Just cut the tortilla in strips with a pizza cutter, and drop into the boiling broth and cook until tender. They are good and so easy.
I’ve never tried that but I will soon!!!! Thank you!
Gratefully,
Christy
Debbie I use flour tortillas in my chicken and dumplings.
I’m still not 100% on how to cook the chicken. Do you completely submerge it and water and boil it? And I saw where someone said you pour broth over it and boil? Do you mix broth into the water and boil? Just water, just broth, or both? Ahh! I’m easily confused! Haha
Sounds amazing! How large of a pot do you use?
Thank you so much!!! My incredibly picky husband and even pickier sons LOVED this, and it was so easy!!! I added a bag of frozen mixed vegetables to make it a one-dish meal, and they’ve all three requested that I make it again soon! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
so disappointing – I was looking forward to learning how to make homemade dumplings, not some close imitation using canned biscuits and chicken soup!
Well honey pie, ain’t you just a lil ray of sunshine! I jes wanna pinch yer wittle cheeks and cook ya supper!
Have a great day!
LOL Just one more reason why I love you Miss Christy!
By the way ~ This recipe has also gone in to our “keeper” file even with a super-picky husband who told me he wouldn’t miss chicken if I didn’t cook it for an entire year! (I make a lot of chicken recipes apparently! hehe)
Thanks for your blog, your hard work and your generosity in sharing!
~Cathy
Christy….I just found this recipe-was GONNA do from scratch dumplins’ but these look great and so much easier!! THANKS!! (ur reply to anita really cracked me up!)
OH! I am going to sun a whole chicken since that is what I have. It is cooking with a bay leaf, chicken seasoning and celery. When it is tender-I am going to shread it. I can’t wait to try the biscuit dumplins-I will use some of the chicken broth I made and a can of crm of mush. Tiffany-I have had w/ boiled eggs too….yummmm…
Christy, I found your blog just last Friday, 10/1/10 in the Oct. issue of Southern Living Magazine. I have already tried three of your recipes, and they are great!
I am considered a gourmet cook, but I am not a food snob and love short-cut recipes. We have lived in Mississippi all of our lives, and southern food is dear to us! I have a long list of your recipes that I can’t wait to try! Thanks!
Can’t wait to purchase your cookbook Tuesday!
My great grandmother always made the BEST chicken and dumplings I’ve ever tasted. Since her passing, many of us have attempted, but all have failed. For many years, she would cover her dining room table with rolled out dough until she discovered frozen dumplings. I picture some sweet old Granny standing in a factory making these to save the rest of us time! But my Granny had two secrets that she swore (though she didn’t swear) by: Accent seasoning and boiled eggs. She’d place each layer of dumplings in the stock and sprinkle with a bit of Accent seasoning. At the end, she’d add chopped boiled egg. It just doesn’t seem the same without it.
I love your recipes Christy, but this is not the way to make southern chicken ‘n’ dumplings. My southern family has always made them from scratch and rolled the dough, cut the dough in strips and cut the strips into squares; which were dropped into the boiling chicken broth.
We do not add cream of chicken soup, but add chicken bouillon to the water while the chicken is cooking, to get more chicken flavor. Ours don’t need the cream of chicken soup because they cook down some and thicken the broth.
Thank you, Pamela! I love you to, no buts about it!
It’s like I always say, how you’re Mama made it is the right way.
Glad we both had good Mamas who loved us enough to make us up our very own “right” Southern chicken and dumplings. I’d say we’re two lucky gals.
Gratefully,
Christy
You are absolutely right. This is NOT the way to make real chicken and dumplings. The richness of the chicken broth flavors the dumplings and canned soup is never added. The way you describe is exactly the way my mom made chicken and dumplings. No canned soup and no canned biscuits.
Gwen, honey, you’re precious and I’m grateful to have you in my kitchen.
I always tell people that how your Mama made it is the right way and I’ll swear up and down with my dying breath that your Mama was right for you – because that is how I was raised. I love that about the South (and many other folks who just came from good stock), we’re always loving, accepting, and complimentary towards everyone. Rather than complain or condemn someone or, heaven forbid, someone’s Mama’s recipe, folks understand that the way you were raised is the right way that works for you.
I thank you for your kindness and consideration here in my kitchen when I share my Mama’s recipes and my heart.
I wish I could give you a big old hug right now! Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. I bet you have an awful lot to be grateful for!
Gratefully,
Christy
just wanna drop a line, to say thanks for your wonderful receipt and a genious way to make really good tasting,as well as a short-cut to making dumplings.
I don’t care if this is a short cut, this recipe tastes GREAT!
Thank you SO MUCH Tracey!!!!
I love cooking but mostly I love sitting down with my kids and enjoying the meal. I think we need all the shortcuts we can get so we can have more of that!
Gratefully,
Christy
I for one, do NOT like the rolled dumplings. That is NOT a dumpling. That is a noodle AKA pasta! Dumplings, are light and fluffy and they simply melt in your mouth. I’ve yet to try your recipe, Christy, but it looks divine.
Shortcuts…sometimes, in todays hustle bustle are sincerely appreciated! This is lm’d and I will be back for more recipes!
The best chicken and dumplings I ever ate were made with boiled chicken, Mushroom soup, salt, pepper and dumplings made from Pioneer Bicuit Mix. The dumplings were not rolled out but were formed into small balls and dropped in the chicken and mushroom soup as it boiled. Since I am not a big fan of boiled chicken or chicken and dumplings, my son urged me to try them, all the while telling me I would like them. He was right! I did.
I am so sad!! I bought regular biscuits instead of the layers! Do you think if I rolled them out thin and cut into about 6 pieces before I flour them it would work as well?? I would hate to waste all those ingredients if someone has already tried it and failed. Thanks!!
Hey Amy! I’ve done that before too. It’s fine,just tear then horizontal like you would the flaky ones, takes a teeny bit more time but works fine, then tear layers into pieces. It’ll work!:).
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Dinner tonight is saved!! This is the one night of the week my son doesn’t have football, so guess what we are having!?!?! =)
(and glad you like the “Big ole sweet iced tea” video!! )
Christy,
I am a fellow Bama girl (Hello, Gadsden!) who currently lives in Mississippi. I attempted Chicken and Dumplings for the first time tonight and I used your recipe. It was so easy and SOOOOOOO good! It took me back to my grandmother making these for me. I also made the Butter Dill potatoes and they were amazing also. Hubby didn’t get any, b/c he’s on Nutrisystem. That means more for me
Thank you so much for your blog and I can’t wait to get your cookbook!
Very Nice, Thanks
Wow! This was great and very easy to make. My partner, a fan of a chicken and dumplings made by a favorite aunt, said this was just as good. And the fav aunt made her own biscuits. Will use this again on another chilly early fall night in Wisconsin.
This is easy and quite tasty. Will be real good this winter.
Hi there! I was wondering if you’ve ever used the frozen dumplings you can buy in the frozen section, instead of having to go through this biscuit thing? Just looking for an even easier way. lol
Can’t wait to try this recipe though, with the fall weather upon us! So glad I found you and your recipes! Thank you!
Tomma-
I always use the frozen dumplings. I personally love them…my husband, on the other hand, doesn’t like them at all. He’s a “biscuit dumpling” eater.
I think there are two types of people…people who eat biscuit dumplings, and people who eat the other kind. I guess it just depends on which ones you grew up eating as to which ones are “real” dumplings. My husband, like a previous poster, says my dumplings aren’t dumplings, they’re chicken and noodles.
i was wondering if you used the water or stock that uboilsed the chicken breasts in or just threw it away. thanks
i alway love the taste of chicken soup as well as oyster soup`;.
This is a great way to kick off the up comming fall season. Seriously, what better time for hot dumplings rolling down your throat than now. I am sure my husband will be drooling as soon as he walks through the door. Besides that, your recipe may be easy or simple but I’m not complaining!!! Really what is there to groan about when it is delicious? Easy is wonderful, especially when pregnant dealing with morning sickness all day:/ So i would like to say thank you for the recipe and hec with the rest. :]
I made it tonight and it was SCRUMP-DIDDLY-UMPTIOUS!!! Thank you!
This sounds really good. Have fond memories of chicken and dumplings but now living in Australia and no such thing as biscuits in a can.I will have to find a recipe on how to make dumplings from scratch.
“Scratch” chicken and dumplings are NOT made with biscuits. Nice try though….but this still tastes like someone put a can of biscuits in chicken broth.
Hey Michelle! I just love you to bits for taking the time to comment. One of my readers sent me the coolest quote today and it goes perfectly here!
If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch,
you must first invent the universe.
~Carl Sagan
hehe. Don’t ya just love it?
You keep on making your dumplings however you see fit and I’ll make mine the way my Mama does. I always respect and compliment others cooking styles and recipes. Thats just how I was raised! Have a great day and give Layla a hug for me, too!
I have made these like this for years and love them,, the only difference was I did not flour the biscuits and had a heck of a time with them,,, thank you for sharing the secret of the flour with me,,, lol,, I made some for my hubby tonite and he fell in love with them all over again,,,, I had stopped making them for a few years. but, now I will make them all the time,,,, love ya,,, thanks
Thanks once again for helping me make a great dinner! I loved chicken and dumplings as a child, but havent been able to make it without the dumplings falling ot pieces in mush. I didnt have any cream of chicken on hand but it came out great with some vegetarian chicken bouillion and evaporated milk with water. yum yum yum! my girls are picky and they ate it up! cant wait till husband gets home to try it. im a notorious cook of burning everything or it just never coming out right. But every recipe of yours i have tried, with a special thanks to the picture stages, has been successful every time!!
Thanks once again for helping me make a great dinner! I loved chicken and dumplings as a child, but havent been able to make it without the dumplings falling ot pieces in mush. I didnt have any cream of chicken on hand but it came out great with some vegetarian chicken bouillion and evaporated milk with water. yum yum yum! my girls are picky and they ate it up! cant wait till husband gets home to try it. im a notorious cook of burning everything or it just never coming out right. But every recipe of yours i have tried, with a special thanks to the picture stages, has been successful every time!!
Thanks once again for helping me make a great dinner! I loved chicken and dumplings as a child, but havent been able to make it without the dumplings falling ot pieces in mush. I didnt have any cream of chicken on hand but it came out great with some vegetarian chicken bouillion and evaporated milk with water. yum yum yum! my girls are picky and they ate it up! cant wait till husband gets home to try it. im a notorious cook of burning everything or it just never coming out right. But every recipe of yours i have tried, with a special thanks to the picture stages, has been successful every time!!
Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I am hooked! I always made my dumplins from Bisquick, they were pretty good and worked. My Aunt Edith makes some of the best all the way from scratch. I had seen people put a biscuit in boiling chicken broth and they were gross. But Christy, my little love morsel…you have aced it! The are just plum yummy! I love chicken and dumplins, one of my favorite comfort foods. I am looking forward to make a pot of these for Mommy and Daddy when I go back home to West Virginia to visit, Mommy ain’t gonna believe it! Thanks a bunch Christy!
I looove this recipe! I’ve made it countless times and it is always amazing.
Thank you!
chicken soup and beef soup is always the best tasting soup in my honest opinion. i love the taste of both*-*
yes real men can cook thank you christy
I’m wondering..my mom used to make chicken and dumplings with bisquits sometimes and I HATED THEM, THEY TASTED FUNNY. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE chicken and dumplings but when she made them like this I never ate them, so Im wondering does this brand of bisquits make a difference that makes them taste like normal ones. I am now 28 and REFUSED to make them with bisquits and always have to roll the dough BUT if I could find a bisquit dough that made them taste like I rolled them out, well Im all about cutting corners.
I’m planning on making these tomorrow and I’m going to guess that rolling them in the flour dough might make a difference on the taste if you didn’t like the canned biscuit taste just on it’s own. My Grandma made the absolute best chicken and dumplings and it seems like she had done the strip dumpling version for years, but it also seems like I remember her switching over to the drop dumplings using the canned biscuits. I’m going to use a whole chicken and use the broth off of that so we’ll see how it turns out.
I was just wondering about how many servings will this make?
I would love to be able to make this but I’m from Australia and we don’t have Pillsbury here….does anyone know of an alternative?
After following your directions, I finally had chicken and dumplings instead of chicken in thickened gravy. My family loved the dish, and now I know not to dissolve my dumplings by stirring the pot while they are cooking. I had given up trying to make dumplings until I found your recipe. Thank you!
First time ever attempting to make chicken and dumplings. This was delicious!!! I didn’t change a thing. Yummmmmmy!
I have NEVER been able to make this dish…I’ve tried many variations and the dumplings ALWAYS dissolve. But tonight, we got a coldfront in Texas and immediately I thought to google a recipe for chicken and dumplings…I see the word southern and instantly I knew after seeing your blog that this would be epic! AND IT WAS! Thanks so much for sharing the secret of “not stirring, just push down on the dumplings”. And I enjoy the pillsbury biscuit dumplings…they are the perfect consistency. CHEERS!
The buttermilk biscuit recipe you have listed also makes delicious dumplins…it’s how my grannies and my Mama taught me how to do ‘em…you just roll it slightly thinner and cut the dough in 1 inch squares and then flour ‘em like you did the “bang biscuits”. Ya banged ‘em on the counter to get ‘em open didn’ ya? Drop ‘em in the broth and don’t stir ‘em just push down like ya said…
@Lisa from “down under”…if you have a preferred canned biscuit try it…not sure what they sell there…
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