Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and Dumplings is comfort food in a bowl with flavorful homemade chicken soup and large, plump dumplings.
Servings: 10
Calories: 393kcal
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 whole chicken, 3 ½-4 pounds
- 10 cups water
- 2-3 large carrots, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)
- 1-2 stalks celery, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 yellow onion, (medium in size) chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
Stock
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more for spice
- 1 cube chicken bouillon, crushed (about 1 teaspoon)
Dumplings
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped, plus extra sprigs for garnish (optional)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Chicken
- Place the chicken in an 8-quart Dutch oven, or a large, heavy-duty pot with a cover.
- Add the water, carrot, celery, onion, thyme, and bay leaf to the chicken. Bring to a boil (uncovered).
- After the mixture has come to a boil, cover the Dutch oven, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 1 hour.
- Remove the chicken from the Dutch oven and transfer to a large bowl. Set the chicken aside to cool.
Stock
- Increase the heat and bring the stock to a simmer.
- Skim off, and reserve in a bowl, as much chicken fat as you can that is at the top of the stock.
- In a small bowl, mix the 2 tablespoons flour with 2-3 tablespoons of the reserved chicken fat to make a paste. (Add more flour if needed.)
- Add the fat and flour paste to the stock. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- After the 15 minutes, remove the skin from the chicken and shred it with forks. Add the shredded chicken to the stock.
- Add salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and chicken bouillon. Remove the bay leaf, and continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes as you prepare the dumplings.
Dumplings
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, thyme leaves, and eggs. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the sour cream mixture. Stir until just incorporated; do not overmix.
- Using a ¼-cup scoop, scoop large dollops of the dumpling mixture on top of the simmering chicken stock.
- Increase to medium-high heat, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or the dumplings are light and fluffy. (To check for doneness, an inserted toothpick should come out clean.)
- Serve immediately, garnished with extra thyme sprigs (optional).
Nutrition
Calories: 393kcal