Our Chicken & Dumplings Recipe Perfects The Classic Comfort Food

Delish

This quick-and-easy recipe for chicken & dumplings is the ideal comfort food, complete with the perfect homemade dumplings.

Transcript

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)

Category

Transcript

Recommended