Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

I spent most of my adult life being intimidated by made from scratch chicken and dumplings.  Chicken and Dumplings, people.  I decided a few years back that I wasn’t going to let them intimidate me any longer.  So I read, googled, watched videos, and after some more procrastination, I decided to make my first batch.  It was one of many. That was the turning point for me.  I called my daughter and her family to come over for supper and there wasn’t one single bite left.  They were a hit.  To this day, it’s one of the recipes they request I make when I invite them for meals. Needles to say, I no longer think of chicken and dumplings as something I fear because there’s really nothing to making them.  If you can cook chicken and mix dumplings, the hard part is over.

This is not a hard recipe, however, it is a long recipe so keep that in mind when you decide to make it.  You’ll need to set aside several hours.  You can even divide this up into two days if you want to cook the chicken the day before.

I’m going to show you how I make mine which varies a little from time to time.  Sometimes I add in a can of peas and sometimes I add in a few carrots.  After all, if I’m going to make a one-dish meal, I want to sneak in as many vegetables as I can.  I’m going to take you step-by-step through the entire recipe.  I think by the end of it, you’ll agree that it’s easier than you think to make chicken and dumplings.

I’m sure if you’re an old pro at making made from scratch chicken and dumplings, that you’ll want to skip this recipe and find another one on my site that you’d like to try.  Such as my Made From Scratch Yeast Rolls Beginner Recipe.

For those of you who are beginner cooks and would love to stop being intimidated by chicken and dumplings, keep reading to learn more.

There are what I consider 3 parts to making chicken and dumplings.  The chicken, the stew, and the dumplings.  Below I’m going to take you through each step.

There are several different ways to make dumplings.  You can buy premade frozen dumplings.  Or how about using canned biscuits? You can even use biscuit mixes. But today I want to show how to make dumplings from scratch, the old-fashioned way because I believe that’s what you’re here for.

And again there are different ways to make old-fashioned homemade dumplings.  You can use Bisquick or you can use flour.

We’re going to use flour.

Getting the Chicken Ready

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

What You Need

  1. Chicken
  2. Stock Pot
  3. Chicken Stock & Water or Water & Butter
  4. Salt, Pepper, Parsley (optional)

NOTE:  A  lot of people like celery in their dumplings.  Celery doesn’t agree with me so I don’t cook with it.  If you’re going to add some to yours, add about 4 stalks, cut up, to your chicken while it’s cooking.

Before we start thinking about the dumplings, we first need to cook our chicken.  You can buy dark meat, or white meat, or even a whole chicken.  It’s up to you what you use.  You know best what your family prefers.  As for me, I live alone and over 95% of the time I eat alone as well.  Because I prefer white meat, that’s what I’m cooking today.  A turkey breast works wonderfully too but they’re not always readily available in my small hometown.

To being with I added my well-rinsed chicken breasts (5, skin bones and all but we’ll discard everything except the chicken and broth when it’s done cooking) to a stockpot with chicken stock (3 cartons of double stock) and then I filled up one of the cartons with water to completely cover my chicken.  You can use plain water and a half to a whole stick of butter if you prefer.

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Add in your salt and pepper to flavor and turn your chicken on low to medium. I cook on a 3 for thin stock pots and 5 for thicker ones, on my electric stove.  Adjust accordingly for a gas stove. For 5 chicken breasts, I used 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.  I add parsley to everything because of the health benefits so I added it to my chicken while cooking as well (a couple of tablespoons will do).  I didn’t have any fresh parsley so I used dried.

Like so…

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

While your chicken is cooking it’s time to gather all of your ingredients for the stew and the dumplings.  Don’t mix them up, just gather the ingredients.

Take out a stick of butter to get it to room temperature for the dumplings and the stew. I used sweet cream real butter in my dumplings (unsalted).

After your chicken stock and chicken starts boiling, stir occasionally especially if you’re using a thin stockpot.

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Getting The Dumplings Ready

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

What You Need

  1. Large Bowl
  2. Flour Sifter
  3. Flour
  4. Baking Powder
  5. Milk
  6. Butter (unsalted if adding in salt or salted and omit the salt)
  7. Salt (3/4 teaspoon), Pepper (1/4 teaspoon), Parsley (optional)
  8. Spatula
  9. Wisk

When the chicken is done, it’s time to get busy.  Remove your chicken from your stockpot and put it in the fridge (the chicken).  Keep your chicken stock on for the stew.

Getting The Stew Ready

  1.  Small or medium onion diced
  2.  Can of peas (or 3 to 4 stalks of celery, sliced)
  3.  Can of carrots
  4.  1/2 stick of butter
  5.  1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

Cooking The Stew

  • Brown your onion on medium heat then add the onions.
  • Cook the entire onion in the half a stick of butter until it’s translucent.
  • Add 1/2 cup of flour into the onions.
  • Add 3/4 cup of the chicken broth.

Add the mixture to your chicken stock.  Bring the stock to a boil at high heat, then turn it off and add a lid to it.  Let sit while the chicken cools.

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

 

 Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

When the chicken cools off, remove the bones and skin, shred or dice it, then add it back to the stockpot with the chicken stock or water and butter mixture.  Turn back on, on medium to high heat.

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner Recipe

It’s time to mix the dumplings.   The recipe below is for old-fashioned fluffy drop dumplings. Use the below ingredients and directions to make the mixture.  Stir the dumpling mixture with a spatula.

  • NOTE:  Don’t overcrowd the stockpot with your dumplings.  Make sure it’s plenty wide when you start this process.
  1. 1-1/3 cups of all-purpose flour
  2. 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  3. 3/4 teaspoon of salt
  4. 1 cup of milk
  5. 1 tablespoon of room temperature butter
  • Sift the flour into your bowl.
  • Then add the rest of the dry ingredients below.
  • Use a wish or a fork to stir all of the dry ingredients really well.
  • Then add the wet ingredients and stir until all ingredients are blended.

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

  • Turn the chicken back on and once the liquid starts boiling, drop the dumpling mixture into the boiling liquid, one at a time.
  • Use your spatula to gently stir the dumplings when needed until they are done.
  • They should be floating on top of the liquid as they cook.  It only takes 3 to 5 minutes to cook them.  Don’t overcook or they will taste doughy.  When they’re done, turn off the heat and keep a lid on them.

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

When you’re done, it’s time to call your family to the table.  You can now pat yourself on the back for a job well done.  If you used my directions to make these made from scratch chicken and dumplings, please let me know how they turned out.

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

Made From Scratch Chicken And Dumplings Beginner

 

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