Easy Chicken and Dumplings With Biscuits
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When considering traditional Southern cuisine, chicken and dumplings are surely among the top choices. This straightforward recipe is delightful, delectable, and bursting with an abundance of taste.
Easy chicken and dumplings, a beloved dish in the South, consists of a rich and velvety chicken stew accompanied by soft and fluffy dumplings. Similar to many comfort foods from the South, this dish originated from a need for practicality. In the past, chicken was considered a luxury and not readily accessible. When it was available, it was usually of meager proportions.
Fortunately, nowadays chicken is a fundamental element in the culinary habits of numerous individuals. Therefore, for your upcoming poultry feast, why not experiment with this homemade formula for chicken dumplings accompanied by biscuits? A beloved choice among families, this recipe may be uncomplicated, yet it is also delectable and serves as an excellent creamy dish for a warm and comforting winter meal (or as comforting as it can be in this vicinity).
If you’re in a dumpling mood, make sure you check out these other delectable dumplings from scratch recipes too: sweet potato dumplings and apple dumplings.
What You Need To Make Chicken and Dumplings
- Chicken
- One can of Pillsbury flaky layers biscuits
- Flour (self-rising or plain, doesn’t matter)
- Chicken broth
- Cream of chicken soup – here is a homemade recipe for cream of chicken soup if you prefer.
- salt and pepper
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Chicken and Dumplings
Normally, I cook a whole chicken, but today I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts since that’s what I had. You can add some chicken bouillon cubes to your water instead of broth if you want.
I like to prepare chicken in different ways. Sometimes I use a slow cooker, other times I cook it in broth, and occasionally I use chicken thighs. There are even times when I just buy a cooked rotisserie chicken. It’s up to you and what you feel like doing! The important thing is to make sure your chicken is cooked, and then set it aside.
Pour your broth into a pot.
Add cream of chicken soup.
Stir and let it come to a very gentle boil while you prepare the dumplings.
To prepare the dumplings, put a little bit of flour (about a cup) in a large bowl. Add some salt and pepper – about 1/2 a teaspoon each or whatever you prefer. Stir that up a bit.
Take all of your biscuits out of the can and set them on a plate.
Now, we’re going to take each canned biscuit and tear it into three layers like this.
This is what they should look like when they are all separated into 3 layers.
Dip each layer into your flour mixture, and make sure you coat both sides until they look like this.
Pay close attention to this step. If you skip it, your dumplings might disappear in the broth. That’s exactly what happened to me the first time I tried making chicken and dumplings. I wound up with a tasty soup that had a dumpling flavor!
Now, take each layer and tear it into three pieces.
Reduce heat so that your chicken stock is just barely barely barely boiling and drop dumpling pieces in one at a time.
It is important that you DO NOT STIR. We are not going to stir these as we don’t want our dumplings cooking up. If you do stir, you will basically cause your dumplings to dissolve.
Instead of stirring, we’re going to gently press the dumplings down into the chicken stock as they cook. This will take about ten minutes. You’ll notice the dumplings starting to take shape and they’ll stop looking doughy as they firm up a bit.
Put your shredded chicken into the dumplings and give it a very gentle mix. I mostly just press it down a bit like I did with the dumplings. Just remember to be gentle.
And there you go y’all! You just make an old-fashioned chicken and dumpling recipe your family will LOVE!
How Do You Store Chicken and Dumplings?
- Store your chicken and dumplings in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days. They’re even better the next day as the dumplings continue to soak up the broth. You can reheat the dish either on the stove or in the microwave.
- You can also freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to five months.
Can I Add Vegetables To Chicken and Dumplings?
If you want to add some vegetables to this recipe, you can add a can of carrot and peas to the broth when you add the chicken. Another option is to add some sauteed onion.
Can I Make Homemade Dough?
If you prefer to make homemade dumplings with homemade biscuit dough, check out my recipes here and here.
Can I Add More Seasoning?
If you’d like to add some seasoning, cook the in , , or .
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with chicken and dumplings?
Pair this Southern main dish with other great Southern side dishes, like cornbread, fresh green beans, and fried okra. You could also just serve it with a simple side salad or some roasted brussels sprouts.
What type of chicken can you use for this recipe?
You can use either a whole chicken, boneless skinless chicken breasts, chicken thighs, or even a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken.
Why is it important not to skip the step of pressing the dumplings into the broth?
Pressing the dumplings ensures that they cook properly and hold their shape. If you skip this step, the dumplings might dissolve in the broth.
How long does it take for the dumplings to cook?
It takes about ten minutes for the dumplings to cook. During this time, they will firm up and take on a proper dumpling texture.
What happens if you don’t handle the chicken and dumplings mixture gently when combining them?
If you’re too rough, the dumplings and chicken can break apart. It’s important to be gentle to keep the dish in good shape.
Can you use chicken bouillon cubes instead of broth?
Yes, you can use chicken bouillon cubes in place of broth if you prefer.
What can happen if you use doughy dumplings?
Doughy dumplings may not cook through properly and can result in an unpleasant texture in the final dish.
Can you make this recipe ahead of time?
Yes, you can prepare the chicken and dumplings ahead of time. Just be sure to reheat it gently when you’re ready to serve.
You might also enjoy these other chicken recipes:
Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
- 3 or 4 chicken breasts
- 32 oz chicken broth feel free to use water with bouillon cubes added
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 can Pilsbury layers biscuits 10 individual
- salt and pepper to taste
- flour
Instructions
- Cook chicken breasts in approx. 4 c. of water until fork-tender, about 45 minutes.3 or 4 chicken breasts
- Place broth in a medium to large-sized pot. Stir cream of chicken soup into gently boiling broth. Add salt and pepper to taste.32 oz chicken broth, 1 can cream of chicken soup, salt and pepper to taste
- Pull biscuits apart into three layers. Dip each layer into the flour and then tear each layer into three pieces and drop into gently boiling broth mixture.1 can Pilsbury layers biscuits, flour
- Do not stir biscuits a lot or they will cook up. Only gently push dumplings down into broth as they float to the top. Cook for about ten minutes after the last dumplings are added.
- Tear up the chicken and add it to the broth mixture. Turn to low until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Thank you – I have spent days and hours viewing recipes for the perfect chicken and dumpling.
I love your step by step instruction.
Can’t wait to get started.
Thanks for taking time to do this.
Kimberly
🙂 I hope you and your family enjoy them as much as mine does!!
Hi Christy 🙂 I look forward to trying your recipe soon. My family loves chicken and dumplings. I’ve always used Bisquick for my dumplings like my Grandma and Mom, but I am anxious to try your recipe with the biscuits. Thank you!
I hope you enjoy them Jenny!!
Hi Christy! Thank you for the step by step instructions; they are the best I’ve seen! For the first time, my dumplings didn’t dissolve. However, because I didn’t stir, they burned on the bottom – badly! I had my heat on medium. Was the heat too high? If so, what setting do you recommend? The biscuits we used were the giant-sized ones, but I separated them into 3-4 layers, and pressed them really thin. Do you think this had an effect? I am determined to make good dumplings! Thanks for any advice!
Laura, I love this simple recipe but mine have burned every time I’ve tried this, with the chicken even sticking to the bottom. I’m not new to chicken and dumplings and control the temperature, but everything still sticks, and I don’t like to use nonstick pans for boiling things. Maybe it’s my electric stove? Anyway, I’ve taken to boiling the dumplings (I make them different ways) separately and transferring them directly from the water into the very lightly boiling broth, and add the chicken last. Because the dumplings are hot and directly out of the water and into the broth, they still soak up some of the chicken broth and taste great!
I know I’m way late commenting on this, but I just had to share a little tip my E-ma gave me when I was first learning how to make chicken and dumplings: It’s the steam that cooks the dumplings. What I do is boil my chicken breast in with the broth and some sliced carrots- for the extra flavor- and when my chicken is done and the carrots are tender, I pinch each Grand biscuit into 5 equal sized pieces, and drop it into the broth as a ball. I make sure the broth is covering each dumpling by giving it a poke like Christy suggests, then recover my pot. I bring it back up to a simmer, then knock the heat down to low. As long as you’ve returned it to a slow boil before turning the heat down, it can sit on low for the 8 or 9 minutes needed to steam the dumplings. I make a roux base using some broth and flour, no liquid added, then scrape that into the pot when my dumplings are done, stirring it until the broth thickens. I use cream of chicken to thicken the broth if I have it, or sometimes a packet of chicken gravy with just enough cold water to dissolve the mix. This method has proven fool proof for me over the past twenty years. I wish I could make dumplings from scratch as so many of the ladies I’ve known can do, but alas, the skill of making biscuit dough has always eluded me!
Thanks so much Christy for telling me why I always end up with dumplin stew LOL. I thought it was something to do with using canned biscuits, because when I made my dumplins from biscuit dough they didn’t disappear. As it has already been stated many times, thank you so much for your post.
people give you trouble about this recipe?!?!?, funny, it is how my mother taught me how to make chicken and dumplings, she said it was the way her mama made it too. must be a Alabama thing.
Would really like a recipe for old-fashioned chicken and dumplings were you actually make the drop dumplings from scratch do you have one of those recipes? I’ve been trying to do this often on for a long time and have not been that successful do you think you could help me I don’t know where else to turn help!!
I forgot to add I want the dumplings are big and fluffy when u drop them in there they just puff up . Thank
Please help
I have used this as a basic C&D recipe for years, but I like to use the “butter tasting” or “butter flavored” pillsbury biscuits because I also like the round puffed up dumplings as opposed to the flat ones. I just cut the canned butter biscuits into 1/4 ‘s, dip each piece into flour and gently drop into my broth. The butter in the biscuit dough does make it a bit more greasy, but the flavor is fantastic enough to ignore the extra grease. (My kids always called this dish “Chicken & Grease”, but devoured it anyway. Of course you can always avoid the extra butter and just use plain biscuits, but the flavor is not the same. Enjoy!
Hi, my mother wasn’t the dumpling expert that was my auntie Georgia, for chicken and dumplings from scratch, take a whole cut up chicken, I just buy a fryer place in large pot with water some onion salt and pepper bring to a boil, simmer for a good long time, when the chicken is falling off the bones, turn it off. You can let it cool or burn your fingers if you don’t have enough time til supper. Pull the chicken from the pot, separating it from the bones and skin, once all the chicken is separated throw the bones and skin out, strain the broth and put into the pot, it needs a nice tight lid, so the dumplings cook right. Put the chicken and broth into the pot, you can add onions, carrots and celery bits if you want, we mostly made it without . Bring to a simmer, get your dumplings ready to stir up, this consists of 1 cup of flour, 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder, a bit of salt and pepper and dried herbs to your taste, my aunt used parsley, when its ready and simmering well, stir the dumplings up with a bit of water until its a soft dough, but not runny. Drop the dough by tablespoons into the simmering broth, making sure it keeps simmering, once all the dough is in the broth, put the lid on and cook for 20 minutes without taking thelid off. This is the important part, you need a pot that will take the broth and dumplings with out the dumplings touching the top the dumplings while cooking melt a bit on the bottom, adding flour to the broth, they will rise and puff up making an almost solid top, its a bit of trial and error to get the right pot, the right amount of dumpling etc. You can add or divide the dumpling recipe depending on pot size. This is one of those slow cooking meals, that would have been started after breakfast for supper.
No… Canned biscuits instead of scratch?
Christy: I did make this today, on a cold, rainy day in California, (finally!) so it was especially nice for that reason. I did have a bit of trouble separating the biscuits, and thought that part was a bit tedious, however, I plugged on and followed your instructions to the letter, and I am now on my second bowl and I think the dumplings were worth every bit of the effort. This is going into my regular rotation! Thanks!
This may actually be your best recipe. I’d certainly vote for it, much as I love the Dishpan Cookies. I think the cookies have been knocked out of first. 8)
I love this recipe for Southern chicken and dumplings! My hubby and kids cleaned their plates and all wanted seconds. That says it all for me!