This creamy Chicken and Dumplings recipe is the ultimate comfort food! Fluffy, homemade dumplings in the most flavorful chicken soup. Made from scratch in minutes!
Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
If you are looking for an easy chicken and dumplings recipe, you found it! Today I’m sharing all my tips and tricks on how to make your chicken and dumplings from scratch with minimal effort.
Don’t get nervous when I say this recipe is made from scratch. If you’ve ever wanted to make dumplings from scratch you’ll be glad to know they’re surprisingly easy and simple to make!
Chicken and Dumplings is one of the top recipes on my site for a reason and I can’t wait for you to try it! I promise, you will love it like the thousands of others who have given this recipe 5 stars over the years!
What Kinds of Dumplings Are There?
There are 3 popular kinds of dumplings:
- Drop dumplings are dumplings made in a bowl that you scoop out and drop into the soup to be cooked. They are light and fluffy.
- Rolled dumplings are the kind of dumplings you get when you order Cracker Barrel’s Chicken and Dumplings. They are a flat dense dumpling.
- Biscuit dumplings are made with canned biscuits and are cut into quarters and dropped into the soup.
This recipe uses drop dumplings. Why? Well, when I started trying out different methods of making my own dumplings these drop dumplings were the clear winner. They are very easy to make, fast to cook and extra delicious! This recipe makes fluffy homemade dumplings that float on top of your chicken soup.
Years and years ago, I used to make my chicken and dumplings recipe with canned refrigerated biscuits. If you are a big fan of chicken and dumplings with biscuits, I still have that recipe on my site as well!
How to Make Soup Dumplings from Scratch
The first step in making chicken and dumplings soup is to make the dumplings. This homemade dumpling recipe is so easy. They take 5 minutes and a handful of ingredients, you probably already have on hand!
Your family will think you were working for hours making homemade dumplings — so don’t tell them our little secret.
Follow these simple steps to make drop dumplings for soup:
- Mix dry ingredients: Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, pepper, salt and thyme) into a medium sized bowl and whisk together.
- Add wet ingredients: Add in the butter and milk, mix it together using a wooden spoon, until dough ball forms.
- Cook dumplings: Drop the dumplings into the simmering soup with a cookie scoop and let cook! That’s it!
If you have been wanting to learn how to make dumplings from scratch, this is definitely a great recipe to try since it’s so easy!
Soup Ingredients
Once you’ve made your dumplings, the rest of the ingredients needed for this soup are simple classics:
- Butter
- Onion, carrots, celery and garlic
- All purpose flour
- Evaporated milk <- The secret to creamy soup!
- Chicken stock
- Shredded cooked chicken
- Spices: Thyme, Salt & pepper
Some things are best when they are kept simple to let the flavor shine and I absolutely think Chicken and Dumplings is one of those things.
However, I do have one secret ingredient that is KEY to making your chicken and dumplings creamy. Can you guess what it is from the ingredients list above? Evaporated milk!
Evaporated milk is creamier when compared to whole milk, but not as thick as heavy whipping cream (and a lot less fattening as well).
P.S. If you can’t have dairy, I suggest trying this dairy free Matzo Ball Soup. You still get dumplings without the dairy!
How to Make Chicken and Dumplings Soup
Now that we’ve covered how to make dumplings and what ingredients go into this soup, here’s how to make it all come together:
- Sauté your veggies: In a large pot melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until the veggies begin to wilt. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer.
- Add flour: Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and cook for a minute, stirring constantly.
- Pour in the milk and broth: Add the evaporated milk and broth. Stir quickly to combine.
- Simmer & make the dumplings: Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and make your drop dumplings as described above.
- Drop the dumplings into the soup: Using a large cookie scoop, scoop the dumpling dough into balls and drop them directly into the simmering soup. Place them around the edges of the pot, not all in the center. Gently press the dumplings down so the soup runs over them.
- Cover and simmer: Place a lid on your pot, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
- Test the dumplings: Gently stir the soup. Remove one dumpling and cut it in half to make sure it is cooked through.
- Serve: Once the dumplings are cooked, your soup is ready to eat. Time to dig in!
What Makes this Soup So Creamy?
There are a few tricks to keeping Chicken and Dumplings creamy without adding any cans of condensed soups.
First is the use of evaporated milk as mentioned above.
Second, and just as important, is the gravy base of the soup made with all purpose flour and butter. You use the butter to sauté the vegetables in and then add in the flour and cook for a minute or two. The two combine to make a great soup gravy base – similar to making white country gravy.
The evaporated milk + gravy make an amazingly creamy soup when combined with the chicken stock!
This Recipe is Pure Comfort Food!
This homemade chicken and dumplings recipe has been a winner with my family and circle of friends for years, but I have never shared it on the blog.
It’s not because I didn’t want to share my family recipe with all of you, it’s just that I usually make it when I am craving comfort food on a cold night. And then as soon as it’s done, I don’t want to worry about working and taking photos…I just want to dive in face first!
But after the response to the videos I shared of me making this Chicken and Dumplings recipe on Instagram stories a few weeks ago, I knew I HAD to share the recipe asap.
So many of you made this soup within days of me posting the recipe and immediately started sending me pictures and reviews. No joke, over 25 people sent me messages proclaiming this to be the BEST Chicken and Dumplings recipe, ever! Yahoo!!
It’s now one of the most popular recipes on my site and you can read lots of reviews below. I am so excited for all of you to try this recipe. Please share how this Chicken and Dumplings recipe turns out for you, I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
This easy recipe for my family’s favorite creamy Homemade Chicken and Dumplings is loaded with big fluffy dumplings that are made from scratch in just minutes!
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 cup matchstick carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 12 oz (1 can) evaporated milk
- 32 oz (1 quart) chicken stock
- 4 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper (or to taste)
- salt, to taste
Homemade Dumplings:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon, baking powder
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 3/4 cup (6 oz) whole milk
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottomed pot (like a dutch oven), melt butter over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook for 5 minutes, until vegetables being to wilt. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
- Add flour and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add evaporated milk and chicken stock and quickly stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil and add chicken, thyme, black pepper and salt. Let soup simmer, uncovered, while you make dumplings.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, pepper, salt and thyme. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the milk and butter into the center of it.
- Using a wooden spoon (or rubber spatula), stir together until dough ball forms. If your dough seems too dry, you can add an extra tablespoon of milk.
- Using a large** sized cookie scoop, scoop dough and drop directly into the simmering soup. Place them around the pot, not all in the same place.
- Once all dumplings have been added, gently press them down so the soup runs over just the tops of them.
- Place the lid on your pot and lower the heat a little to a low simmer (you don’t want the bottom of the soup to burn but also want the soup to still be simmering to cook the dumplings).
- Cook for 15 minutes, gently stir the soup/dumplings and then cut one dumpling in half to make sure they are cooked through.
- If the dumplings are cooked through, serve hot! If not, cook an additional 2-3 minutes and check again.
Notes
*You can use a medium sized cookie scoop in place of a large cookie scoop to get more dumplings. Start checking if they are done around the 10 minute mark.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 731Total Fat: 39gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 162mgSodium: 1096mgCarbohydrates: 57gFiber: 3gSugar: 14gProtein: 37g
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My husband is still singing my praises for making this! Told me to make sure I keep the recipe.
Thank you! I’m now The Queen of the Kitchen! ( Haha!)
Ohhh my, I don’t like chicken and dumplings. NO idea why I decided to make it. Haven’t had it in years, 30 plus years!! This is freakin awesome!!!
I will be making this recipe again!
Did I say Awesome!
Thank you very much,
Charles
The best I ever had period, thank you for sharing, Paul
hi ! I had 2 Big chicken breast in my freezer for over a month and wanted to use them before freezer burning so I took them out and defrosted them in fridge over weekend and told my aide to cut them up in small chunks today and she asked me what I was going to make this time. told her chick and dumplings I make a lot of chick dinners for me and share with next door neighbor (90 years), I am 77 yrs and handicapped so I go the easiest way cooking. I forgot the dumpling recip. my mom and hers too used, so came online and yours was only one I pulled up. when I saw your pictures I knew I found right one I said this is my moms. so I am cooking all night while I sleep in my slow cooker and finishing up in morn with the dumplings so will be ready for our lunch. I am using the broth soup etc. instead of creamy soup. I can’t wait. thank you for your recipe, keep up good recipes will be watching for more.
I’ve never made chicken and dumplings before, but it turned out amazing and my sister-in-law thought they were great and she’s from Florida and are them often growing up. I will double the soup the portion next time but the dumplings were perfect! Thank you for a wonderful recipe
This chicken and dumplings recipe is delicious. I never liked chicken and dumplings when I was a kid so I was a little hesitant to try this, but it turned out amazing! It’s now one of my favorite dinners. The first time I made it I followed the recipe exactly but it turned out as more of a casserole than I soup. Every time I’ve made it since then I just double the broth and the evaporated milk and it turns out great.
I made this a few nights ago using shredded Instant pot chicken and went a little more heavy on the pepper/thyme seasoning for both the soup and the dumplings. I’ve got 3 young kids and even my pickiest was happy. He asked what this was called and told me, “You make a mean chicken dumplings, mommy!” Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. It was easy AND tasty. Being a crowd-pleaser means it’s going on the regular rotation!
Absolutely amazing thanks for sharing
I love to make my own broth. We buy a couple chickens from Costco every other week and I boil the bones with some salt, thyme and bay leaves. After 3 or 4 hours, I throw my veggies in, and your recipe for dumplings. After I’m done, I add some of the shredded meat to a bowl and ladle the soup and dumplings over the top.
Thank you for the dumplings recipe;
Oh ..I made this …So SO SO GOODDD ..thank you much . I followed recipe to T ..the dumplings tripled in size …I was like WOW …I forgot celery …but I used bell pepper instead , still was great . ill get celery for round 2 for sure .I didn’t use Ice cream scooper , used a Big spoon and they fit all on top then I immersed them , lidded .the pot . after 10 min I re-immersed …and simmered for 10 more …oh I have huge Dumplings ..so good thank you so Robert..
Absolutely the best chicken and dumplings. I did not have fresh celery so I used celery seed and still amazing.
I wanted to add for the people who were searching for ages how to comment. Click on the number of reviews and it will bring you to the comment box.
I made chicken soup last week and it was delicious but I was tired of having it with noodles. I don’t add noodles directly to my soup, so I came in search of a dumpling recipe instead of making more noodles. This is definitely my new go-to dumplings recipe. They were perfect! I had added evaporated milk to the leftover soup I was eating that day so I used that with a little water instead of milk. I eyeballed the fresh thyme, made half a batch of dumplings and they were DELICIOUS. I will be trying your chicken soup recipe next.
Made this dish for the first and my husband and I loved it!! I will say if I make it again I might use a little less pepper. But this was delish!I Also I followed the link for the shredded chicken ,and loved using the mixer to shred the chicken, best thing ever!!!!
Making the dumplings for my church spring fellowship. Will let you know the results.
This is fabulous! Made exactly as recipe, except I don’t have a cookie scoop so I eyeballed it and made them with my hands to about the size of a golf ball. And you are spot on about the evaporated milk. The only think I might do differently next time is either double the soup recipe or half the dumpling recipe. I ended up with a higher dumpling to soup ratio. Even though the dumplings are dense, they are perfect to hold up to the soup they’re sitting in without getting soggy. A very filling bowl of this for the hubby and myself on a snowy day for lunch. Thank you for this recipe. It’s a keeper!
Made today, yum! Used warm water instead of whole milk, didn’t use the 6 tablespoons of butter to sauté (non stick pan and a little water), cooked/shredded chicken separately, boiled dumplings separately and only used half of the pepper and thyme, and used low sodium chicken stock. Turned out great Thanks for sharing!!
Hi there! As someone who grew up in the south eating chicken n’ dumplings, I’ve never had carrots and celery in them until I came across your recipe.
I LOVE it! This is now my go to recipe when making chicken n’dumplings for dinner and a dinner staple for the hubby and I. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
Thanks for commenting Bethanie!! Usually I get comments from readers mad that this recipe isn’t like what they grew up with and they are just angry. Thank you for actually trying it before you made up your mind!! <3
Thanks to everyone who posted a review. I made this tonight, snowy New England day which seemed fitting. Absolutely delicious!! The flavor, the thyme and let’s not forget the secret ingredient – Evaporated Milk made this dish a winner. Very pleased with this recipe, the dumplings came out perfect just the way we like them. I will definitely be making this again, saved with my favorite recipes! Thank you Novice Chef you did not disappoint and I will be checking out your other recipes 🙂