The Best ~ Classic Chicken and Dumplings

This is an all-time favorite meal here at our house!  

And for good reason ~ 

it’s a delicious comfort dish for chilly snowy weather!

Chicken always gets top billing, but it’s the dumplings that sway people so easily.  There are a plethora of ways to make this dish, and this time I followed Paula Deen’s most of the way...

Here’s sort of how it goes:  Cook the chicken with celery, onion, bouillon and seasoning in water for 45 minutes or so, until the meat is starting to fall off the bones and remove from broth.  

 





Remove skin and bones and keep warm. Stir in cream soup, make dumplings and drop in the stock.  Cook until the dumplings are done and enjoy.

It’s the most basic, simple, comforting bites of food you’ll ever put in your mouth...

Nothing says Lovin’ like Chicken and Dumplings!


Classic Chicken and Dumplings
Printable recipe
Slightly Adapted

Ingredients:
4 quarts water
1 (2½ pounds) roasting chicken
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 (10¾ ounces) can condensed cream of chicken (or celery) soup
1 teaspoon each salt and seasoned pepper, garlic powder

For the dumplings (My way):
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon butter
½ cup milk

Method:
To prepare the chicken:  
In a large pot, combine chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon cubes, seasoning and 16 cups water.
Bring to a simmer over medium heat, cook until chicken is tender and the thigh juices run clear when pierced with a knife, about 40 minutes.
Remove chicken from pot and discard the leaves. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pick the meat off the bones, discarding bones and skin.
Add the canned soup to the pot and stir well.
Return the chicken meat to the pot and bring to a boil just before adding dumplings to cook.
To make the dumplings:
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-size bowl.
Cut in butter until crumbly, stir in milk to make a soft dough.
Drop by spoonfuls into boiling stew.
Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes and then cover the pan tightly and cook for 10 minutes longer.
Stir a few times to keep the stew from scorching.
This recipe makes about a dozen dumplings, depending on size.
Return the chicken meat to the pot and bring to a boil.
To serve, ladle the chicken, gravy and dumplings into warm bowls.

Enjoy!