on Oct 10, 2010, Updated Sep 16, 2023 58 Comments Looking for more cozy dinner recipes? I think you’ll love my Grandmother’s Potato Soup, Alfredo Sauce, and Pot Roast Recipe. Chicken and Dumplings make the perfect, comforting meal any time of the year. Whenever my Grandmother Verdie said she was making her Chicken and Dumplings recipe, we begged to be able to eat dinner with her that night. Thick and creamy, full of moist, tender chicken and dumplings that were light as a feather – her recipe is a prize. No fiddling is needed with this recipe! It’s rich, delicious, and hearty and has always been one of my family’s favorite dishes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Grandmother’s Chicken and Dumplings recipe is rich, creamy, comforting, and delicious! Made with minimal ingredients and cooked from scratch, it is a recipe I turn to time and again for my family. I’ve also included updated variations for Grandmother’s original recipe to make this a quick and easy recipe ready in 30 minutes and for cooking in the Instant Pot! You may also love my Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings Recipe. So easy!
How to Make Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
To make this recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Whole chicken – about 3.5 to 5 pound chicken Cold Water Salt Self-rising flour Butter Buttermilk Milk
Step-by-Step Instructions
Cook the chicken. Add the chicken to a Dutch oven. Cover chicken completely with water, plus about 3 inches. Bring the chicken to a boil over low heat until the chicken is very tender, approximately 2 hours. Shred the chicken. Then remove the chicken from the broth and shred it, returning the shredded chicken to broth, discarding all but the meat. Only the chicken meat goes back into the broth. Bring to a boil. Add salt to the broth and increase it to medium heat to bring the broth to a boil. Make the dumplings. Add the flour and butter to a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or two forks. Pour in the buttermilk and stir together until a soft, shaggy dough forms. Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop the dough and drop it into the broth, as shown in the photo above. If you prefer a rolled dumpling, pour the dough onto lightly floured paper towels and roll to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough into 1-inch strips and pinch off 1 1/2-inch pieces. Drop the dough pieces into boiling broth. Gently stir after every few additions of the dough pieces to make sure they are submerged in the broth and able to cook. Simmer. Add the milk, stirring to combine while cooking. Simmer for 3-5 more minutes or until the dumplings are completely cooked. Remove a dumpling and cut it in half to test for doneness, if needed. Then remove from heat, serve, and enjoy!
Quick and Easy Chicken Dumplings (30-Minute Recipe)
To make this recipe even easier, you can use the following variation of the recipe. The chicken and dumpling soup will be ready in 30 minutes and still taste delicious!
Ingredient Substitutions
Shredded chicken – use about 4 cups of cooked shredded chicken Chicken stock or broth – use 1 quart (32 ounces) of chicken stock or broth Milk Salt Self-rising flour Butter Buttermilk
Step by Step Instructions
Add the chicken stock or broth, milk, and salt to a Dutch oven set over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir in the cooked shredded chicken. Meanwhile, make the dumplings. Once the soup reaches a boil and you have stirred in the chicken, carefully drop the dumplings into the boiling soup. Stir the dumplings into the soup, reduce the heat to medium-low heat, cover the Dutch oven with a lid, and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid, stir, and remove one dumpling to check for doneness. Cut the dumpling in half to see if it is cooked throughout. If it is, the soup is done and ready to serve. If it is not, return it to the soup and continue to cook.
Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
So many of you have been requesting how to make Grandmother’s Chicken and Dumplings Recipe using your Instant Pot. I’ve tested and retested to make sure that the Instant Pot method was just as delicious as Grandmother’s stovetop, slowly simmered method, and boy, is it! But you’ll see that you do not cook the dumplings in the pressure cooker at the same time as the rest of the recipe. You may ask why not cook the dumplings under pressure, but as I tested the recipe, I found that cooking the dumplings under pressure resulted in tough, dense dumplings that Grandmother wouldn’t have approved of at all! These dumplings are meant to be delicate and light. I’ve given the instructions in the Instant Pot instructions part of the recipe to make these dumplings taste the absolute best!
Storage Tips
So, here’s our family Chicken and Dumplings recipe. I’m sharing a family treasure. And please, be sure not to overwork your dough. Add the flour and butter to a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or fork. Stir in the buttermilk until a soft, shaggy dough forms. Drop the dumplings into the soup. Stir after every few additions of the dough pieces to make sure they are submerged in the broth and able to cook.
Rolled Dumplings
(uses a rolling pin to flatten the dough and cut it into strips) Mix flour, butter, and buttermilk to form a dough. Pour the dough onto lightly floured paper towels and roll to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough into 1-inch strips and pinch off 1 1/2-inch piece. Drop the dough pieces into boiling broth. Stir after every few additions of the dough pieces to make sure they are submerged in the broth and able to cook.
Biscuit Dumplings
(uses frozen and thawed or canned biscuits for dumplings) Cut canned biscuits into four pieces and drop them into the soup. To serve, reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop until heated throughout. Enjoy!Robyn xo
