Chicken and Dumpling Soup is a comforting dish that I love to cozy up to in the fall and winter months. My version is easy to prepare and may be your next family favorite. Scroll down for a quick video tutorial!

Chicken and Dumpling Soup in a white bowl with a gold spoon, another soup bowl in the background and a white surface.

A comforting soup can be easier to put together than you think!

Chicken and Dumpling Soup is a southern classic that’s perfect for the colder months. I used to think that recipes like this were so difficult and time consuming, but this comes together faster than you might think.

It’s just a matter of browning your chicken pieces, sweating out your vegetables, and simmering everything together until the chicken is tender and juicy.

You can shred up this chicken in 5 to 10 minutes, and mix up the dumpling batter even quicker.

I usually would make something like this on the weekend, but if you get home early enough from work, it’s totally reasonable to make this on a week night as well.

Step by step photos of making Chicken and Dumpling Soup: brown chicken, cook mirepoix and garlic, boil chicken and vegetables, shred chicken, steam dumplings on top of soup.

Optional Steps and Ingredients

I always think of recipes as more of a guide than a rule book. Admittedly, I made a mistake when filming this video!

So I was supposed to add flour to the cooked carrots, onions, celery and garlic before adding the stock. In that case, I would slowly stream in the stock while whisking to prevent lumps from forming.

To recover from this misstep, I ended up making a roux on the side of my soup. Then, I slowly ladled in hot stock to thin it out until it was thin enough to incorporate into the soup.

There’s usually always a strategy to recover from a skipped ingredient, but part of the reason I may have omitted this ingredient, is that I do find the flour to be optional.

I like the thickness of the soup from the flour, but I also enjoy it just as much without it. I only add a small amount of flour, so it doesn’t make a huge impact on the overall thickness.

The heavy cream is also optional in my opinion. I’ve enjoyed the soup just as much without it. So if you’re watching your fat intake or just don’t love cream, feel free to cut the amount in half or completely omit it.

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Chicken and Dumpling Soup

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Author: Sabrina Russo
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings 1x

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Description

Chicken and Dumpling Soup is a comforting dish that’s great to cozy up to in the fall and winter months.

Ingredients

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2 tablespoons olive oil or neutral oil
2 whole, bone-in chicken breasts*
2 whole, bone-in chicken legs
1 large onion, chopped into ½ inch pieces
3 medium carrots, chopped into ½ inch pieces
2 stalks celery, chopped into ½ inch pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup all purpose flour (optional)*
6 cups chicken stock (warmed or room temperature)
2 dried or fresh bay leaves
1–2 sprigs thyme
5–10 whole black peppercorns
3 whole cloves
½ cup heavy cream (optional)
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
Parsley, finely chopped, for garnish (optional)

Dumplings:

1 ¹/₃ cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp kosher salt (½ tsp fine salt)
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
²/₃to ¾ cup whole milk

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Instructions

Season chicken: Pat chicken dry and season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides.
Brown chicken: Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Add oil, followed by chicken pieces. Cook about 4-7 minutes per side or until well-browned. Cook in batches, as needed. Do not overcrowd pan. Remove chicken and set aside, reserving oil in pan.
Cook vegetables: Reduce heat to medium and add onion, carrots, and celery to pan. Season with salt. Cook about 5-8 minutes or until vegetables soften slightly and onions are translucent. Do not brown. Add garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds, making sure not to brown.
Add flour and stock: Add flour to pan and stir to combine with vegetables. Slowly pour in stock while whisking to prevent lumps from forming.
Make herb bundle: Wrap bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, and cloves in cheesecloth. Tie with kitchen twine.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer: Add herb bundle and chicken to sauce pot. Partially cover and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Juices will run clear when it’s cooked.
Shred chicken: Remove and discard herb bundle. Remove chicken from soup. Shred chicken. Discard skin and bones. Return shredded chicken to pot.
Make dumplings: Bring soup back to a simmer. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and melted butter. Stir in ⅔ of a cup milk, and add an additional tablespoon at a time until the dough is just thick enough to hold its shape, but wet enough to be spoonable. Scoop tablespoon sized portions of dumpling batter on top of soup. Cover and simmer for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Serve: Scoop soup into serving bowls and top with parsley. Enjoy.

Notes

You can buy a whole chicken and break it down yourself instead of buying individual pieces. In that case, I recommend saving the backbone and wings to make homemade stock.

The flour is optional in my opinion. Use it if you prefer a slightly thicker soup.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Category: Soup
Method: Boil, simmer
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: ⅙ of soup and 2 dumplings
Calories: 460
Sugar: 8g
Sodium: 770mg
Fat: 18g
Saturated Fat: 6g
Unsaturated Fat: 12g
Trans Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 31g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 42g
Cholesterol: 150mg