Made with a few shortcuts, this easy Chicken and Dumplings recipe is a comforting and hearty meal that’s ready in just 30 minutes! With tender biscuit dumplings, flavorful rotisserie chicken, and a rich, creamy broth, it delivers all the cozy flavors of the classic in half the time.
Loaded with chicken, fluffy dumplings, and a few hidden vegetables, Chicken and Dumplings is a complete meal all on its own. This quick and easy version uses canned biscuits for the dumplings, canned cream of chicken as the gravy base, and a rotisserie chicken. Made all in one pot, cleanup couldn’t be any easier. And while it requires minimal effort on your part, this cozy soup will still taste like it spent hours simmering away on the stove!
“This easy chicken and dumplings is my husband’s new *favorite* meal, we have seriously made it once a week for the last few months! I add a little cajun seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes to ours because we like a little spice in just about everything, but I followed the recipe exactly otherwise!” — Brittany, home cook, homesteader, and recipe tester.
Key Ingredient Notes
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Chicken: You need 3 cups of cooked, chopped or shredded chicken. To keep it extra easy, grab a rotisserie chicken!
- Evaporated Milk: Canned evaporated milk is my secret weapon to creating a rich and creamy broth. It’s lower in fat and less expensive than heavy cream and can be stored in your pantry for anytime you need it. However, you can use half and half or heavy cream if you prefer.
- Cream of Chicken Soup: You can use any flavor of canned condensed “cream of” style soup. I like the flavor best from cream of chicken soup, but cream of onion or celery are good substitutes.
- Canned Biscuits: Buy plain, large (16.3 ounces) southern buttermilk style biscuits. “Homestyle” biscuits also work well, but do not buy the flaky biscuits. If you can only find the smaller sized biscuits, cut them in half, not fourths, so they don’t disappear.
- Vegetables: I like to use celery, onion, garlic, and carrots to add flavor. However, if you are a plain jain kind of chicken and dumplings person, skip the celery and carrots. I still highly recommend including the onion and garlic for savory flavor.
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How To Make Chicken and Dumplings with Biscuits
Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full instructions!
Sauté the vegetables until they start to brown before adding the broth. This takes the flavor up a notch and gives the whole soup a richer, homemade flavor.
Once you add the broth, bring the mixture to a simmer – not a boil. A gentle simmer is key because it warms everything without reducing the liquid too much.
Don’t skip tossing the raw biscuits in flour. This helps thicken the soup and also prevents the biscuits from sticking together too much as they cook.
Drop biscuits in an even layer and cook with the lid on! Press the dumplings below the broth and break them apart as needed, as they cook. Leaving the lid on the pot traps the steam and helps the dumplings to cook quickly. You can test one by splitting it open, it should be soft and fluffy, not doughy.
Don’t over cook this chicken and dumplings. If you cook the biscuit dumplings for too long, they can essentially fall apart and disappear (or become overly dense).
Once the dumplings are cooked, turn off the heat and let the pot sit for a couple of minutes uncovered. This helps the broth thicken a bit and gives the dumplings a chance to soak in all that flavor without getting mushy.
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Recipe Variations
- Make Ahead: If interrupted, wait to add the biscuits. Prep the gravy base and turn down the heat to a very low simmer. 10 minutes before serving, turn up the heat until gravy is bubbly. Add broth to loosen if needed and add cut biscuits at the end of cook time.
- Drop Dumplings: Follow the dumpling directions from my homemade chicken and dumplings.
- Add Herbs: Try adding a large pinch of dried poultry seasoning to the soup base. You can also throw in a bay leaf or thyme.
- Crockpot: Follow my dumpling directions for this slow cooker chicken and dumplings. You also may enjoy my instant pot chicken and dumplings!
Easy Chicken and Dumplings with Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 stalks celery, sliced
- ½ cup matchstick carrots
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups cooked and shredded chicken, use a rotisserie chicken for ease
- 8 oz evaporated milk, or half and half
- 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
- 40 oz chicken broth
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1 (16.3 oz) can buttermilk biscuits, if you like a lot of biscuits, add an extra 5 oz can of biscuits
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
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Instructions
- In a large heavy bottomed pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add vegetables – onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Cook, stirring often until tender, about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add the shredded cooked chicken, chicken broth, evaporated milk, and can of cream of chicken and bring to a simmer. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cut the biscuits into quarters (each biscuit will be sliced into 4 equal pieces) and lightly toss them in flour.
- Add the floured biscuits to the soup and lightly press them under the broth with a spoon or spatula. Place the lid on the pot and cook the dumplings for about 8 to 10 minutes. I like to break apart the dumplings, and press them back under the broth, if they get stuck together.
- Test one of the biscuits to ensure they have cooked through and are not raw in the middle. Once the biscuits are cooked through, serve immediately!
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More Cozy Chicken Dinner Recipes
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- This crockpot chicken and rice is the ultimate easy comfort food.
- If you love cheesy chicken casseroles, try my chicken spaghetti casserole!
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You have a winner here! I am pretty old now, and have never been able to make a decent chicken and dumplings. I was never able to get the dumplings right, or at least not like my Momma’s. So I saw this and told myself “Don’t be such a dumpling snob, and use the biscuits!” So glad I did. The family raved and I didn’t feel like a failure. It was delicious, thanks so much.
I made this for the first time in November when my dad was visiting. I always loved his version but wanted to “show off” and try something different. It was all absolute WIN for me, for everyone that ate it actually. He could not stop talking about it the next day so I sent him home with what little left overs there were. I’ve made it twice since then and even my 3 year old grandson eats a small adult size bowl. AMAZING recipe
I made this recipe on Sunday and it was absolutely delicious along with the fact that I was quick and easy to make
Delicious
I was very excited about this recipe. Great flavor but I don’t know what I did, all my chicken went to mush. Helpful for next time. Thank you
I only have flaky biscuits. Can i roll them out & use them?
Hi Tudie! Yes, you can use the flaky ones, but just know that they may kind of break apart as they cook – resulting in smaller pieces of dumplings.
This was the best semi quick recipe I’ve ever made! Very good!
Hello, I made this for the first time! It was delicious my husband enjoyed this very much. Thanks for the easy recipe
Sounds great ! How many servings are in this recipe ? Going to serve a big bunch !
6 servings!
I have made this a couple times. It’s very good! I do add a little onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, and a 10 oz. pack of frozen peas to mine.
My husband loved his grandmothers’ chicken and dumplings but he loved this recipe. I was thinking I couldn’t please him but this did the job. Easy to make too!
BEST CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
I was never a fan of Chicken and Dumps but made them because they are my boyfriend’s favorite. I found this recipe and it has become a recipe I cook several times a month. This is one the best recipes I’ve ever come across and I even switched it up a bit to make chicken noodle soup. Soooooooo delicious. 10/10!
Made this recipe for my HS girls golf team and they were thrilled. Combined with masked potatoes and corn and there wasn’t much left when it was time to board the bus. Will make this in the spring for my boys golf team and certainly a time or two for wife and I.
So yummy! I made a double batch. I substituted seasoned salt for the salt in the recipe. I also substituted cream of herbed chicken. Added a teaspoon of thyme.
Hello Jessica!
I made your chicken & dumplins again this evening. They turned out pretty good. They were probably better last time. But still didn’t have any condensed milk. Did I mention, last time I didn’t have that either. Well, I tried to boil it down & then let it simmer a while, like 25 minutes, like it said when I looked it up, to make it condensed milk. Well, I did that but it didn’t boil down enough but I went ahead & just added it into the pot with the rest of ingredients. So, then I added the dumplins & the rice, but I added some water prior to the dumplins. And I didn’t have the carrots this time but it was still pretty good.
Hi Carol! I’ve never added rice, so that’s a new one to me! FYI for the milk, you want to use evaporated milk (not condensed milk) but you can also use half and half or even whole milk instead. Glad it still turned out good and you enjoyed it!
Hi Jessica! I just made your Chicken & Dumplings & they were delicious. I’ve med them before but not like this. Mine are usually plain & I put rice in it. I put rice in this one & I used regular milk cause I didn’t have the other. I also used some frozen onion, celery & bell pepper I had. (all chopped already). And I had to cut the carrots up in sticks. That’s what took me the longest. I searched for a way to do it & the garlic too. I usually don’t use the whole garlic. I’ll send a picture of what’s left of it now.
Hi Carol! I’m glad you enjoyed it! To save time, I buy the matchstick carrots already pre-cut at the store. You can always just dice them or leave them in coins, they may just need a little longer cook time to soften. As for the garlic, I highly recommend a garlic press for fresh garlic! It saves a lot of effort, just squeeze the clove in the press and it’s perfectly minced in seconds!
Thank you for the information, Jessica! I’ll have to get me a garlic press. I usually use garlic powder tho. And I’ll have to keep in mind to get the bag of carrot sticks at the store for this recipe.
Why does this recipe vary so much from your other chicken and dumpling recipe, “The BEST Chicken and Dumplings Recipe” when the ONLY difference is adding homemade dumplings versus canned biscuits? I don’t understand why the amount of chicken, butter and vegetables have any bearing on what dough you put in, AFTER the main part of the dish is prepared.
Hi Cydnee, because it’s a different recipe – people like different types of recipes… I don’t want to share the same recipe multiple times with just slight changes. I try to offer different types of recipes to meet everyone’s needs.
You can absolutely use the directions for these canned dumplings (in this recipe) in my “best chicken and dumplings recipe” in place of the homemade drop dumplings.
My husband dearly loves chicken and dumplings, especially from a nearby restaurant. Tonight he said I was surpassing the restaurant version! I left out carrots, only because I was out, used almond milk and used Better Than Bouillon and added poultry seasoning. We both had seconds. Will use this recipe many times.
This was a hit with the whole family! Funny thing is I’ve never had it outside of a can before as a child and never thought about making it because I assumed it would be too complicated lol but this was one of the easiest recipes to follow! The only thing I did differently was use all but three of the biscuits and cut them up into tinier pieces. This recipe gave me no issues. Thank you for sharing! This will be a staple for my family for years to come
Great recipe added some smoke paprika, poultry seasoning and hot sauce. Would cut the biscuits into 1/8ths. But good overall.
My husband said it was great and would be a good base for chicken and gnocchi
C & D are one of my favorite dishes. This is a delicious and easy recipe. Rotisserie chicken and canned biscuits are the way to go. I did flattened the biscuits to 1/4″ then cut into 1″ squares was the only thing I changed. Cooked fast and tasted great. Will absolutely use this again. Thanks for putting this recipe out there.