Easier Chicken and Dumplings

I started making Cook's Country's easier chicken and dumplings back in grad school for Caleb. I had fallen head over heels for America's Test Kitchen and all their associated cookbooks pretty hard after being gifted the Best New Recipes for Christmas years ago. Logically, Cook's Country cookbook was my next acquisition from ATK, as it promised lots of Americana comfort food, perfect for cold winters in Ann Arbor. Chicken and dumplings wasn't something I grew up with, but it's one of Caleb's favorites, so it was the very first recipe I tested from the Cook's Country cookbook.

Cook's Country calls this stew easier chicken and dumplings because, they explain, it makes use of poached chicken breasts rather than a cut-up roasted chicken and dropped biscuit-style dumplings rather than rolled noodle-style dumplings. Poaching chicken breasts rather than home-roasting and carving a whole chicken is definitely a time-saver, however I'm not sure what chicken and dumplings recipes they were looking at because almost all of the ones online seem to have these same biscuit-style dumplings. Chicken and noodle soup is one dish, chicken and dumplings is a different dish.. right? In the end, it doesn't really matter why. This stew is warm and comforting when the weather is lousy, full of great chicken flavor even though you didn't have to roast a chicken, and on the table in roughly one to one and a quarter hours from beginning.

Since it's been so many years since then, I've had plenty of opportunity to tweak these easier chicken and dumplings to suit our preferences. I'm not a fan of cooked carrots, especially in stew, so we use mushrooms instead. In an effort to use less cream in my cooking, I usually make this with whatever milk I have on hand: non-fat, 2%, whole, cream, lactose-free, or even almond milk. It turns out all varieties will result in a rich and flavorful final soup.

There are just two steps to this recipe where you'll want to be careful. Don't overcook the chicken when you poach it and don't overhandle the dumpling dough. As long as you follow those two guidelines, this easier chicken and dumplings stew will be the perfect recreation of American heartland country cooking.

Original source: Cook's Country cookbook

Easier Chicken and Dumplings

Slightly adapted from the original recipe, by swapping in mushrooms for carrots and milk for heavy cream. To make ahead, poach the chicken and make the stew up through step 5, refrigerate up to 24 hours, then proceed with the remaining steps.

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Course: Main

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 -6

Ingredients

Stew

• 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts trimmed of fat
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large onion chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms sliced ¼ inch thick
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup dry sherry
• ⅓ cup milk any fat percentage is fine or cream
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 ½ cups frozen peas
• 4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

Dumplings

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 ⅓ cups buttermilk

Instructions

Stew

• Heat the broth in a large wide-mouthed (critical for all the dumplings) pot or dutch oven over high heat until it comes to a simmer. Add the chicken to the simmering broth and let it return to a simmer.
• Cover the pot, reduce the heat to medium low, and continue simmering another 8-10 minutes until the chicken is just cooked.
• Transfer the chicken to a plate, tent it with aluminum foil, and let it rest while you prepare the rest of the stew. Strain the chicken broth into a large bowl and wipe out the pot.
• Melt the butter in the empty pot over medium heat. Add the onion and salt, saute for 5-7 minutes, until soft. Add the mushrooms, continue sauteing 10-15 minutes until browned. Stir the minced garlic into the onions and mushrooms, cook another 30 seconds until garlic becomes fragrant.
• Add in the flour and cook 1 minute, stirring frequently, until toasted but not burnt. Quickly add the sherry, scraping up any browned pieces in the pan. Add the reserved broth, milk, cream, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper. Turn the heat up to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and gently simmer about 20 minutes until the stew thickens.

Dumplings

• Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and stir in the buttermilk to form a shaggy, thick dough.

Assembly

• Shred the poached chicken into bite-sized pieces. Remove the bay leaves from the soup and turn up heat slightly to obtain a rapid simmer. Add the shredded chicken, any accumulated juices, the frozen peas, and 3 tablespoons of the minced parsley into the stew and stir.
• Use two large soup spoons or an ice cream scoop with a lever to place golf-ball sized rounds of the dumpling dough onto the stew, about ¼ inch apart. You should end up with 16-18 dumplings dotted over the surface (this is why you need a wide-mouthed pot).
• Drop the heat back down to low, cover, and continue cooking another 15-18 minutes until dumplings have doubled in size.
• Garnish the stew with the remaining tablespoon of parsley and serve.

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