Chicken and Dumplings

Yield

6-8 (or 4 if they've been outside all day)

Active

20 minutes

Total

70 minutes

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs), cut into pieces (or 2 lbs bone-in thighs and breasts)
8 cups (1.9L) cold water
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 large carrots, roughly chopped
2 celery stalks with leaves, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
Salt to taste

For the Dumplings:

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp (45g) cold butter, cubed
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional, for flecks of green)

To Finish:

3 tbsp (45g) butter
⅓ cup (40g) all-purpose flour (for thickening)
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream or half-and-half
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley for garnish

Instructions

Make the Chicken Broth: Place the chicken pieces in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Add the water, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Skim off any foam that rises. Simmer partially covered for 35-40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and nearly falling off the bone.

Pull the Chicken: Remove chicken pieces and set aside to cool slightly. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the vegetables and aromatics. You should have about 6-7 cups of broth. Return the broth to the pot. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred the meat, discarding skin and bones. Set aside.

Thicken the Broth: Melt 3 tbsp butter in the broth pot over medium heat. Whisk in ⅓ cup flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes until the mixture turns golden and smells toasted (this is a roux). Slowly whisk in the strained broth, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer. The broth will thicken as it heats. Stir in the heavy cream. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Make the Dumplings: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Add the milk and parsley (if using) and stir with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms. Do not overmix or your dumplings will be tough. The dough should be sticky and rough.

Cook the Dumplings: Bring the thickened broth to a gentle boil. Drop heaping spoonfuls of dumpling dough onto the surface of the simmering broth, spacing them slightly apart. You should get about 10-12 dumplings. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid. Do not lift the lid. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes. The dumplings will puff and steam.

Add Chicken & Serve: After 15 minutes, gently stir the shredded chicken back into the pot, nestling it around the dumplings. Let it heat through for 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Ladle into deep bowls, making sure everyone gets dumplings. Garnish with parsley if you're feeling fancy.

Tips & Variations

Dumpling Texture: For fluffy, biscuit-like dumplings, follow the recipe exactly and don't overmix. For denser, chewier "sinkers" (the old-school style), use less baking powder (1 tsp instead of 1 tbsp) and knead the dough a bit.
Shortcut Version: Use a rotisserie chicken and store-bought chicken broth. You'll lose some soul, but you'll save an hour.
Vegetable Add-Ins: Frozen peas or corn can be stirred in with the chicken at the end. Some folks add diced potatoes to the broth before thickening.
The Lid Rule: Lifting the lid while the dumplings cook releases the steam and results in sad, dense dumplings. Resist the urge.

🌾 Did You Know?

Chicken and dumplings is one of those dishes that arrived in the Midwest with settlers from the South and Appalachia, where it was a way to stretch a single chicken into a meal for a large family. In Ohio and Indiana, farm wives would simmer a tough old laying hen for hours until it was tender, then drop in dumplings made from pantry staples — flour, baking powder, and milk or buttermilk.

The dish became a Sunday staple and a sick-day cure-all. Church ladies brought it to new mothers. Neighbors delivered it in Mason jars after funerals. It's utilitarian comfort food — not fancy, not Instagrammable, but undeniably effective at making you feel like someone cares.

There are two warring dumpling camps in the Midwest: fluffy (made with baking powder, light and cake-like) and flat (rolled thin and cut into strips, more noodle than cloud). Ohio tends toward fluffy. Southern Indiana leans flat. Both are correct. Both will be defended at potlucks.

📸 Photography note: Farmhouse realism. A deep white ceramic bowl filled with chicken and dumplings, thick broth clinging to torn pieces of chicken and fluffy dumplings. A silver spoon rests in the bowl. Shot on a worn wooden table with a faded floral tablecloth, natural window light from the side, slightly cool tones. A Mason jar of water and a crumpled linen napkin in the background. Steam optional but encouraged.

⭐ Midwest Nice Rating

5/5 🫕🫕🫕🫕🫕
(Will bring this to your house if you're sick, leave it on the porch with reheating instructions, and text you later to make sure you ate it.)

🥂 Pairs Well With

A January blizzard, a dog sleeping by the woodstove, the quiet of a farmhouse kitchen after everyone else has gone to bed, and the knowledge that tomorrow's leftovers will taste even better.

👵 Grandma's Secret: Chicken and Dumplings

"Grandma Agnes swore the secret was using an old hen — a laying chicken past its prime — and simmering it for two full hours until the broth was golden and thick. 'Young chickens don't have enough flavor,' she'd insist, 'and store-bought broth tastes like dishwater.' She also added a fistful of fresh parsley stems (not the leaves) to the broth while it cooked, claiming it made the whole pot taste 'greener.' No one argued."