This quick-and-easy recipe for chicken & dumplings is the ideal comfort food, complete with the perfect homemade dumplings.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 How's it going everyone?
00:01 It's Justin here in the Delish Kitchen studios.
00:03 Chicken and dumplings is one of those dishes
00:05 that is like kind of just a hug from the inside.
00:08 It's these dumplings that are essentially
00:10 like pillowy flavor sponges that sit and sop up
00:14 all that rich broth and creamy goodness.
00:18 I'm really excited.
00:18 It's actually such a simple recipe.
00:20 You're gonna feel like an incredible grandma, grandpa
00:22 making it in your kitchen.
00:24 Let's do this.
00:25 Being a sweet little boy from New Jersey
00:27 and not a tough man from the South,
00:30 I typically think of this dish as sort of like
00:32 the country version of matzo ball soup.
00:34 It's essentially just a really hearty chicken soup
00:37 with big, gluten-full, like sponges of flavor
00:41 that sit in there.
00:42 But at the end of the day, all we're doing
00:43 is creating as flavorful a chicken soup as possible.
00:46 So as we would for matzo ball soup,
00:48 and the same for this, we're gonna start with four
00:50 crucial ingredients.
00:51 We're gonna have some onion, celery, carrot, and garlic,
00:54 and we're gonna mince all those up.
00:56 So first I'm gonna mince the onion,
00:57 then we're gonna chop up a single stalk of celery.
00:59 If you wanna make it super fine,
01:00 you can split it in half.
01:01 Then I'm gonna slice up the carrots
01:03 into little beautiful, cute half moons,
01:05 and then mince up all the garlic.
01:07 We are going to start our soup base
01:09 in a nice, heavy bottom pot, a good glug of olive oil.
01:13 Then we're gonna cook off all of our aromatics.
01:15 Go in with our onion, carrots, celery.
01:19 Cook that down until it's just getting golden
01:21 on the outside, nice and translucent, about seven minutes.
01:24 Then we're gonna go in with the garlic.
01:25 Just cook that off until it's aromatic,
01:27 like 30 seconds a minute.
01:28 Also, before I forget, we're gonna add in a bit of oregano,
01:31 add some herbaceousness to the party.
01:34 Now we're gonna get this soup really started,
01:36 and we're gonna add in some chicken broth,
01:38 low sodium, always better,
01:39 so you can adjust the seasoning yourself.
01:41 Then we're gonna go in with a couple sprigs of thyme,
01:44 add a little more dimension of flavor.
01:46 And then we're gonna add some chicken.
01:47 We're gonna be adding both breasts and thighs,
01:49 which I really love.
01:50 People typically, if they're just using chicken parts
01:52 for soup, will opt for just breasts.
01:54 I think that lacks flavor.
01:55 I think it kind of becomes like one note texturally.
01:59 So I love that this has both,
02:00 and especially 'cause I'm a thigh guy,
02:01 I want that in my soup.
02:03 We're gonna place that in
02:04 while the broth is still relatively cold.
02:06 Then we're gonna bring that whole thing up to a boil,
02:09 reduce that heat to a simmer,
02:11 and go for about 10 minutes
02:12 until the chicken is fully cooked,
02:14 and you can check that with a probe thermometer,
02:17 making sure it hits 165.
02:18 While the chicken simmers away,
02:19 we're going to make our dumpling batter,
02:21 and it should be made up of things you already have
02:24 in your pantry or fridge right now.
02:26 Into a large bowl, we're gonna go in with some flour,
02:29 baking powder, and some salt.
02:31 Whisk that up until it's all combined.
02:33 Then we're gonna make a little well
02:34 in the center of our dry ingredients,
02:36 just so the wet ingredients have some place to congregate.
02:39 And we're gonna go in with an egg,
02:41 a little bit of melted butter, buttermilk.
02:43 Now, there are a couple things in there
02:44 you might not know the reason that they are indeed
02:46 in this batter, and you might wanna learn why.
02:48 Let's talk about it.
02:49 First off, there is baking powder,
02:51 and a decent amount of it.
02:52 The iconic thing of chicken and dumplings
02:55 is just how light and airy they are,
02:57 and that needs to come from some sort of leavening agent.
02:59 So we're gonna be using baking powder.
03:02 And typically, we need something
03:03 to activate that baking powder.
03:05 It will work kind of generally
03:06 if you just put it in something and start cooking it,
03:09 but having an acid to activate it really, really helps.
03:11 So by using buttermilk,
03:13 we're gonna be super activating that baking powder.
03:16 It's gonna cause everything to get like rise,
03:19 but in this case, kind of expand
03:20 and get fluffy and beautiful.
03:22 You can kind of think of this
03:23 sort of like a savory pancake batter.
03:25 Think of the difference between regular pancakes
03:27 and buttermilk pancakes,
03:28 that buttermilk are just a little bit fluffier
03:30 and a little bit tastier.
03:32 That's essentially what we're doing here.
03:33 Do not overmix this.
03:34 Once your dough kind of comes together,
03:36 it should sort of feel like a little bit tighter
03:39 of a cookie dough.
03:40 Stop, put it away.
03:42 It's gonna feel already like light, fluffy,
03:44 nearly effervescent.
03:46 It's gonna be delicious.
03:46 So put this here, get finished with our soup
03:49 so we can cook them off.
03:50 Be aware that the thighs are gonna cook
03:52 a little bit more quickly than the breast.
03:54 So go ahead and pull those out earlier.
03:56 Once everything's cooked and up to 165,
03:58 transfer to a cutting board, let it cool,
04:00 and then go ahead and shred to your heart's content.
04:03 I think chicken and dumplings is typically made with shreds,
04:05 but if you must do cubes, fine, go ahead and do it.
04:08 I won't tell your Southern grandma or me mom, probably.
04:11 Now that it's all shredded,
04:12 we're gonna add the chicken into our pot.
04:14 I love like kind of bigger shreds, nice bite in the soup.
04:18 Then we're gonna add some heavy cream.
04:20 And by some, I mean a decent amount.
04:22 The cream is what sets this dish apart
04:24 from being just like a normal chicken soup
04:26 with floaters in it into something
04:27 that is like more comforting, rich, delicious.
04:30 It's just gonna add another layer of creamy richness
04:33 to this dish that I think is totally necessary
04:36 'cause who doesn't want more fat, more deliciousness?
04:38 Then we're gonna bring that to a simmer,
04:40 and once it's bubbling away,
04:41 we're gonna add our dumpling dough.
04:43 We're gonna do this scoop by scoop
04:45 using a cookie disher or cookie scoop
04:48 or ice cream scoop, whatever you wanna call it.
04:49 That just makes it even for me.
04:51 You want something smaller than you think
04:52 because these are gonna puff up a good deal.
04:55 But if you wanna be more rustic
04:56 and have different sized dumplings,
04:58 use two spoons, use one spoon.
05:00 Get them into your pot, bring it all back up to a simmer.
05:03 Then we're gonna cover it and cook for five minutes
05:05 until those dumplings are cooked through.
05:07 Then we're gonna get into some bowls.
05:09 We're gonna top this with salt and pepper,
05:12 and of course, just a little bit of parsley.
05:13 And in this case, parsley's not just for color.
05:15 This is adding a fresh herbaceousness
05:18 that does add depth that we need.
05:20 Otherwise, you can kind of feel one note.
05:22 I don't remember the last time
05:24 I had chicken and dumplings.
05:26 Cheers.
05:26 I kind of think of chicken and dumplings
05:29 as being like chicken pot pie, but in soup form.
05:32 And some people might complain
05:34 that we don't have the buttery, flaky crust,
05:35 but there is something about that pillowy,
05:38 soft, flavorful dumpling that cooked in the soup itself
05:42 that actually, like, chicken pot pie
05:44 doesn't hold a candle to, in my opinion.
05:46 Also, you saw how easy it was.
05:47 I don't have to wait for crust to cool or whatever.
05:50 This came together in like 30 minutes.
05:52 It's the sort of thing that you can whip up
05:53 whenever you're feeling not super well
05:55 or when you have a family member that just needs a hug,
05:57 but from the inside, as I said before.
05:59 I'm gonna go inhale this and another bowl,
06:02 but if you want more comfort food recipes,
06:05 stick around here on delish.com.
06:06 (upbeat music)
06:09 (upbeat music)