Chicken soup like your mom used to make. Literally, your mom. At my house growing up, chicken soup came from a red and white Campbell’s soup can. I remember the first time I had homemade chicken soup and truly, it was one of the best things I’d ever eaten. It was comfort in a bowl. And it can’t be replicated, no matter how hard Progresso tries.
Now…living in the South, the idea is that chicken and dumplings or chicken noodle soup MUST be made from scratch with the whole chicken and homemade broth. Let me fill you in on a little secret. I’ve been assured time and time again from cookbooks and the Food Network that homemade chicken broth is incomparable to the stuff you can buy in the store. I have tried to make homemade broth a number of times, and, quite honestly, I find it to be a great deal of work and I can’t taste enough of a difference to make it worth my time. The other thing is that if you’re making soup that involves hours and hours of work, you’re not going to make it a lot. And this soup is too good not to make a lot. So don’t listen to those ninnies who would have you believe that you’re less of a person for using bouillon cubes or canned chicken broth and welcome them to the 21st century. And reality.
Ingredients Needed
- Soup
- Carrots
- Celery
- Onion
- Fresh garlic
- Bay leaf
- Chicken broth
- Cooked chicken – rotisserie works great. You can just as easily cook your chicken right in the soup. I take a few chicken breasts and just gently poach them as the soup in simmering to cook the veggies. It all gets done at about the same time and you can just shred the chicken and toss it back in.
- Fresh or dried parsley
- Dried basil
- Evaporated milk
- Dumplings – Use biscuit mix, or make your own with the following ingredients.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Kosher salt
- Milk
- Melted butter
Note: I really, really like dumplings in this soup. A lot. I love the texture and how they thicken up the soup just right. However, if you’re not a dumpling fan, you can use noodles. We have a recipe for homemade noodles, but if you buy them at the store, I strongly recommend that you get Kluski noodles like these ones pictured below. They taste homemade without actually having to make homemade noodles. That way, everybody wins
How to Make Chicken and Dumplings
- Basically we’re making an easy homemade chicken noodle soup. Start with the building blocks of most great soups: a sauté of onions, carrots, and celery.
- Then you’ll add chicken broth and a few seasonings, and let it simmer away.
- Now the secret for this creamy soup is quite brilliant. There’s no adding flour and making a roux or anything like that. It’s an easy-peasy can of evaporated milk, and you can even use low-fat. Add the chicken here as well.
- When it comes to the dumplings, you have a couple options. You can easily mix up some Bisquik dumplings. No shame in that! I’m also providing a quick homemade version that is almost just as fast. Both will be soft, tender, and delicious. It’s just a simple dough, and you drop it right in the simmering soup to cook. The flour from the dumplings thickens the soup just enough and it’s the perfect one-dish dinner.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days.
- For best results, store dumplings separately, or only make as many dumplings as you will eat and store the leftover soup. That way you can heat it up on the stove and cook your dumplings fresh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course! Make your soup ahead of time. Dumplings are best made fresh, which is quick and easy to do once you reheat your soup.
Chicken and Dumplings
Equipment
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 cup carrots sliced
- 2 ribs celery chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 lb. cooked chicken cut into bite-sized pieces (rotisserie is great)
- 1 handful fresh parsley, chopped or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon basil
- 1 14-ounce can evaporated milk fat free is fine
- 1 recipe of Bisquik dumplings recipe is on the box, or use homemade dumpling recipe below
Homemade Dumplings
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
Start Soup
- In a large pot, heat some olive oil over medium heat and add carrots, celery, onions, and garlic. Saute for a few minutes and then add chicken broth, bay leaf, and basil. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until carrots and celery are tender.
Start Dumplings
- If using Bisquick, follow directions as stated on the back of the box.If using the homemade recipe, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the melted butter to the flour mixture and use the fork to mix until just combined, small clumps form, and the mixture begins to resemble wet sand. Do not overmix.Make a well in the center of the mixture. Pour milk into the well. Using the fork, begin to incorporate the milk into the flour mixture until just combined, with no dry bits. Let the mixture rest for 5 to 10 minutes so that the flour can hydrate. The mix will be lumpy.
Finish Soup
- When carrots and celery are almost done, add chicken and chopped parsley. Add evaporated milk and remove bay leaf.
- Increase heat to boiling and add dumpling dough by the small spoonful (they'll puff up). Cook until until dumplings are cooked through (they should appear moist but feel firm; this is after about 4-5 minutes). If you're using raw chicken, simply add it in when the soup originally comes to a simmer and cook until internal temp reaches 165 degrees.
Storing Leftovers
- When storing leftovers, only add dumplings or noodles to what you know you'll eat immediately. The noodles/dumplings will soak up all the liquid in the soup when you store it as leftovers, so you'll have overly-mushy noodles and chicken with no broth if you don't. The other thing you can do is add all of the dumplings or all of the noodles, and then store the dumplings or noodles separately from the rest of the soup. That's easy to do with dumplings, not so much with noodles.
Notes
- Nutritional information was calculated using the homemade dumpling recipe.
- Store cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days.
- For best results, store dumplings separately, or only make as many dumplings as you will eat and store the leftover soup. That way you can heat it up on the stove and cook your dumplings fresh.
Questions & Reviews
My soup was a disaster! 🙁 I guess you weren’t kidding about the noodles absorbing the broth. I made it in the crock pot early in the day but waited to add evap milk and noodles. I put them in about an hr before we ate and the broth was gone! The noodles were mush! So sad! I’ve got a rotten cold and have been looking forward to this all day. Luckily my (your recipe) breadsticks turned out awesome. Better luck next time I hope.
I made this yesterday with noodles instead of dumplings. I wasn’t sure if I would like it because I don’t like celery and carrots, but this was great!! Although I didn’t put quite as much in as the recipe called for lol. Thanks for another great recipe! It was perfect on these cold days!
Made this tonight. So delish, the perfect meal for an autumn evening. Thanks for the recipe!
I found a good recipe for mac and cheese, you should try it! It’s from Katie Brown, and it’s the best I’ve found. And I’ve tried quite a few. I made a few changes to suite my tastes, ie medium cheddar–and about half of what she calls for. I’ve found that her idea of boiling the macaroni in half chicken broth, half water is a brilliant idea. I also really like the addition of cream cheese for a smooth texture. Here’s the link, she calls it Zebra Mac and Cheese. You have to scroll a little..
http://www.katiebrown.com/kbep3.cfm?seasonid=3&episodeid=26&cat=cook
This is one of our family’s favorite recipes!!! LOVE it!!! I pinned it on Pinterest just to share the love! =)
Am just eating this now. Excellent flavor! 5 stars in my book!! I used heavy cream instead of evaporated milk. The dumplings take 10 mins uncovered and 10 mins covered. They’re delish!! One thing you forgot to add to recipe…don’t forget to REMOVE the bay leaf before serving? Thanks for the recipe! I’ll be making again SOON!! <3!
Hi- I was wondering when cooking it in the crock pot when do you add the evaporated milk ? I made it tonight and forgot about it. Whoops. It was still delicious though. I couldn’t find the answer in the cookbook. Thanks
Just add it in around the time you add the noodles. Glad it was still yummy!
Thanks 🙂
This is one of my favorite meals. I make it often in the Fall. Thanks Kate!
Instead of trying to separate the cooked noodles from the soup (to keep them from soaking up all of the liquids when stored in the fridge), you could just separate all of the solids from the broth. I’ve done this with other soups with good results.
Mj–you could just use your favorite biscuit recipe (if you have one). I don't have one that I love, or else I'd share it with you! 🙂