Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Name: Easy Chicken and Dumplings
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast (cooked & diced); 48 ounces chicken broth; 2 10.5 ounce cans cream of chicken soup; 2 cans biscuits; 2 tablespoons butter; 1/4 cup water; 2 tablespoons flour; salt and pepper (to taste)

This Easy Chicken and Dumplings recipe is pure southern comfort food. Made with chicken, broth, and canned biscuits. You can have dinner cooked and on the table in 30 minutes.

Cooking Chicken and Dumplings tonight brought back sweet memories of my dear mother in law. She always had the best chicken and dumplings! She loved to cook, and she put love in every dish she made. Sunday meals at her home will always be remembered in my heart. She made a huge impression on my children, and today, years later, they still talk about their favorite dishes she made for them. I am very grateful for her love and the love she put into her meals.

Begin With A Big Pot

Tonight I made a big pot of chicken and dumplings and I used her pot. This pot was well loved and used for many meals in her home. She made not only chicken and dumplings but also soups, mashed potatoes, stews, green beans, and too many other dishes to name in this pot. Her memories were sweet tonight as I prepared dinner for my family.

My Mother in Law's Well Loved Pot — My Mother in Law’s Well Loved Pot

My chicken and dumplings recipe is very easy. I cheated a little and used canned biscuits for my dumplings. You can certainly make your dumplings from scratch, ( see my homemade biscuit recipe) but I was in a bit of a rush to get dinner on the table at a decent hour and before my family cleaned out the snack corner! 🙂

What kind of Chicken for Chicken and Dumplings?

For this recipe, I use boneless, skinless chicken breast. But you do have several choices.
Chicken Breast— Boneless, skinless is the easiest to use. If you use skin-on–boil and then remove the skin.
Chicken Thighs–Chicken thighs are my favorite. Why? Because they are full of flavor. But in this recipe, I use boneless chicken breast. Don’t have chicken breast? Thighs will work just fine.
Whole Chicken–If you have a whole chicken, use it. Boil the chicken until done, and pick all of the meat off of the bones. It will be delicious with a mix of white and dark meat.
Chicken Tenders–Easy to use. Boil and shred or chop. No bones and no skin. These don’t take too much time to boil. I usually put these on to cook while pulling all of the other ingredients out of the pantry.
Rotisserie Chicken–Yes, if you are short on time, stop by the store and grab a rotisserie chicken. Pull the meat off of the bone, shred it, and throw it into the pot.

I made this dinner tonight, after work, so it is possible for a weeknight meal, even for busy families. **TIP—The chicken can be cooked in advance to save time. You might throw the chicken in the crockpot in the morning, pick up a rotisserie chicken, or boil it over the weekend, bag it, and have it ready for this meal during the week.

What kind of Dumplings?

There are several types of dumplings you might use for chicken and dumplings. The most popular choices are:

Canned Biscuits: Most nights, this is my go-to for dumplings. When I am running short on time, canned biscuits always come to the rescue. Just pop open a can, cut biscuits into small pieces, and you have your dumplings ready for the pot.
Drop Biscuits: Drop biscuits are easy to make and will work for this recipe. This is just a flour/biscuit mixture made in a bowl and then dropped by the spoonful into the hot soup.
Frozen Dumplings: I have personally not tried frozen dumplings for this recipe, but there are several choices out there. The dumplings are ready and just waiting to be dropped into the pot.
Rolled Dumplings: This was the way my mother in law made her dumplings. She would mix up the dough, roll it out, and cut the dough into pieces. Yum!

Of course, the choice is yours to make depending on your tastes and time. Mostly, I use canned biscuits during the week. This recipe uses canned biscuits and is quite delicious.

What makes this soup Creamy?

Cream of Chicken soup makes this pot of Chicken and Dumplings delicious. The soup adds additional flavor and creaminess. If you don’t have any cream of chicken soup in your pantry, I have used cream of mushroom. It works fine, every time!

Ingredients Needed for Chicken and Dumplings

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped
48 oz. chicken broth
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans biscuits
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper

How to Make Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Cook chicken and dice into small pieces.
Pour broth in a large soup pot. Add chicken. Bring to a boil.
Add soup. Stir until completely mixed.
Cut biscuits into small pieces. They will expand when they cook.
Drop biscuit pieces, one at a time, in boiling broth.
At this point, I usually reduce the heat so my dumplings won’t stick.
Cook about 15 minutes or until dumplings are done.
Drop 2 tablespoons of butter on top and let melt. Stir gently.
Make a slurry of 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons of flour. Mix well and slowly pour in pot and gently stir. This will thicken the broth. Cook 10 minutes longer. Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with crusty bread.

Are you craving more comfort food? Be sure to check out Creamy Chicken Casserole. Creamy shredded chicken baked with a Ritz Cracker topping. A delicious meal that is true comfort food and easy to prepare for any night of the week.

Pan Cooked Sticky Chicken is finger licking good. It is sticky and sweet and so pleasing to your taste buds.

Wanting some soup? Check out my Taco Soup recipe for another weeknight soup idea. It will certainly take the chill out of your bones. Cream Cheese Chicken Chili is another easy meal made in the crock pot.

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