Easiest Best Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings isn’t one of the most beautiful looking or fanciest meals, but it might be one of the tastiest, coziest, most comforting thing to make on a cold evening. I’ve adapted this one over time from a recipe from Real Simple and have made it even more simple and right to our tastes. You can of course make it more complicated by making your own stock, but the one below is quick and easy enough for a weeknight, which makes it our go-to.

EASIEST BEST CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Serves: 6 or so

Time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

—2-3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

—1 onion, diced

—3-4 celery ribs, sliced, including leaves if you want (I do)

—3 large or 4 medium carrots, sliced

—one clove garlic, minced (optional)

—1 T olive oil

—1 T butter (or use more olive oil)

—sprig of thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme (optional)

—4 tsp chicken bullion paste (I use Organic Chicken Better than Bullion), or 8 cups chicken stock**

—2 c AP flour

—6 T butter, melted

—3/4 c minus 2 tsp milk***

—2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar***

—1 T baking powder

—1/2 tsp baking soda

—1 tsp diamond crystal kosher salt, or 1/2 tsp of regular salt

—additional salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

—In a large soup pot with a lid, heat the 2 T oil and butter (or all oil) over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and optional garlic and cook until translucent and soft but not beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and thyme and stir, then add the 4 tsp bullion paste plus 8 cups of water or the broth, stir again to combine and cover. Bring to a low boil and simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

—Meanwhile, mix the lemon juice and milk and let sit (at least 2-3 minutes) to make “butter”milk. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1 tsp kosher salt, and pepper if you’d like. Melt the 6 T butter if you haven’t already.

—Once the chicken is cooked through, remove each piece of chicken and shred with a fork until all the chicken is shredded, keeping the rest of the soup warm over medium low heat while you do this. Return the shredded chicken along with any accumulated juices back to the pot and turn the heat to medium high while you make the dumplings. Once it’s bubbling again, taste the soup and adjust seasonings; add pepper and salt if needed.

—Add the melted butter to the flour mixture, stirring to combine, and then add the milk and lemon mixture. Stir gently just until just combined.

—Drop batter by rounded tablespoons-full into the hot soup, covering the surface of the soup with dumplings. Place the lid back on the pot and let simmer, covered, for 12 minutes. Turn heat off and let the lid stay on for another minute or two, then ladle the dumplings and stew into bowls. Enjoy!

**You can certainly make this with water instead of stock or bullion—if I’m doing this I try to get bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for a bit more flavor, but not strictly necessary. You will need to season the final soup more without the saltiness of the stock.

***If you have buttermilk you can certainly use it here or substitute plain, unsweetened kefir or a runny plain yogurt), but I find that this easy soured milk works great here.