Chicken and dumplings reminds me of my mom. Oh how I still remember her in the kitchen making this comfort food. She would often make it on Sundays in the winter and it was always the perfect soup to come home to.
We would fight over the dumplings because it seemed like there was never enough to feed our family of eight. So Mom would always give each person 2 dumplings, because otherwise it would only be chicken and dumpling…. not cool. I also remember us kids complaining that the soup was too hot, so we would each put an ice cube in our soup. Nothing like watery soup! Even with the ice, I’ve always loved this soup and still do.
This old fashioned chicken and dumplings recipe has been handed down through my family. It’s a pretty old recipe and although it has been slightly adapted through the years, it’s still very much a homesteaders recipe. Forget using cans of chicken broth and a rotisserie chicken, No way! Your going to be resourceful and save money just like the good ol’ days, making your own stock and even using the chicken fat that you skim off the top of the broth. LOVE IT!
After making this for my family, I am so grateful for my mother. All the time and energy she put into making meals for us and how she never seemed to get upset when we would ruin her meals by putting ice in the soup, or like my own kids, maybe not even eating some of the meals she had worked so hard on. This chicken and dumplings recipe is a little time consuming as you cook the chicken and make your own chicken stock the night before. But there is something about home-style, old-fashioned recipes; the way mom did it, the hard way, that really makes me happy and appreciate my mother.
This week in celebration of the mother in your life, I encourage you to pull out one of your mom’s old recipes and give it a try. Then, call her and tell her how much you appreciated all the hard work she did for you when you were young. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!
Chicken and Dumplings
Stew:
1 stewing hen
1 onion, chopped into big pieces
5 pieces of celery chopped into big pieces
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 cup chicken fat or butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
Dumplings:
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
4 tbsp melted butter
1-2 tsp. parsley- optional
Method:
On day before serving, rinse chicken in a colander and place it along with the onion, celery, salt, and enough water to just cover it in a large stock pot.
Bring to a boil and simmer, covered over low-medium heat.
Cook for 3-4 hours until meat is tender and falls from the bone. Remove chicken and strain, keeping broth.
Cool chicken and chop. Refrigerate broth over night.
On the day of serving, your chicken broth should look like this. All the fat hardened and on the surface. You will want to remove all that fat off the top of broth. Save this chicken fat for later.
After you remove the fat, your chicken stock should look more like this.
In a large pot melt 1/2 chicken fat (or butter); stir in 1/2 cup flour.
Then add strained chicken broth and stir until thickened. At this point you can add the carrots and celery and simmer until they are tender. Add chicken pieces and heat through.
For Dumplings: Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add milk and melted butter (or any extra chicken fat if you have any left) to make a soft dough. Add parsley if wanted as well.
Drop dough by heaping teaspoons – I like to use a cookie scoop! – into simmering stew.
Cover tightly and steam without lifting lid for 12-15 minutes.
Season to taste. Enjoy!
Mamma's chicken and dumplings
Ingredients
Stew
- 1 stewing hen
- 1 onion chopped into large pieces
- 5 pieces Celery chopped into large pieces
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 cup chicken fat or butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup chopped carrots
Dumplings
- 2 cups flour sifted
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup milk
- 4 tbsp butter melted
- 1-2 tsp parsley- optional
Instructions
- On day before serving, rinse and place hen, onion, celery, salt, and enough water to just cover it in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered over low-medium heat. Cook for 3-4 hours until meat is tender and falls from the bone. Remove chicken and strain, keeping broth. Cool chicken and chop. Refrigerate broth over night.
- On day of serving remove fat off top of broth. In a large pot melt 1/2 chicken fat (or butter); stir in 1/2 cup flour. Then add strained chicken broth and stir until thickened. At this point you can add the carrots and celery and simmer until they are tender. Add chicken pieces and heat through.
- For Dumplings: Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add milk and melted butter (or any extra chicken fat if you have any left) to make a soft dough. Add parsley if wanted as well. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons into simmering stew. Cover tightly and steam without lifting lid for 12-15 minutes. Season to taste. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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I made the dumplings (first time making this dish) andy husband was so happy. He ate more of the dumplings than the rest. He said they were almost as good as his grandmas…and in his family,, that’s huge. I didn’t get yo meet her,, but u know I would have loved her.. she made everything from scratch. I grew up on store bought boxed dinners. So a HUGE thank you…and this was my first time.
This is great! Thanks for sharing!
Per my Mom, drop dumplings in pan of boiling salt water 3 or 4 at a time. When water begin to start boiling again and dumplings look like they are going to rise to the top, use a sloted spoon and transfer to boiling soup to finish cooking.
Every time I try dumplings they always come out doughy and the outer edge floats free and doughs up the soup. What am I doing wrong? Is the soup not hot enough when I drop the dough?
They should float up to the top, and the soup should be boiling or simmering when adding dumplings. 🙂
If I put the vegetables and chicken into a crock pot on the second day instead of on the stove, would it take any longer for the dumplings to cook?
Nope, dumplings will take the same amount of time to cook.
I made this according to your instructions! My son who doesn’t like soup went back for 3rds!!!! This is a keepsake recipe. Thank you for sharing. I really enjoy your website!
My Husband Loved loved the dumplings and flavor.
I think I might have used to much broth was a little thin.
Flavors were amazing!!!
if we aren’t making our own stock, how many cups of store bought stock do you think is needed?
So happy you loved it, and we don’t have to tell Grandma…LOL!
It’s cold & rainy today. I had a leftover chicken that I roasted a couple days ago so I simmered it down, deboned it & made this nice dumpling recipe. YUM!
Wish I was at your house today!
Do you just throw out the onions and celery that you use when boiling the chicken?
Yes, they are boiled down by this point and all the flavor has been extracted.
This looks great! Can this be cooled and added as a freezer meal? How do the dumplings hold up during reheating? Thanks again for sharing.
Hmmm… I am not sure about the dumplings being frozen. I think what I would do for a freezer meal for this one would be to pour all the soup into a freezer safe bag or three…(there’s a whole lotta soup here) and then bag up the dough for the dumplings. That way when I pour the soup into a pot to reheat quickly for dinner I can also just plop in some dumplings so they are fresh.
This is basically the same recipe of my Mom! And probably my grandma! They are both pasted on but brought back some wonderful memory’s! We used to put cinnamon sugar on top of the dumplings. Yummy!
Made this tonight… Very yummy! (And easy to make.)
Mmmmmm! That looks delicious! Now I know just what to do with those roosters in my freezer:) thanks for the recipe!