Semi Homemade ~ Chicken & Dumpling's

Pretty soon the weather will start cooling down again and we can break out and cook all those wonderful wintry dishes that warm you from the inside out. One of my favorite chicken meals besides Old Fashioned Chicken Spaghetti, is Chicken and Dumplings. All that creamy dreamy goodness and those tasty dumplings. Yummo!!!!!!! We like our dumplings more chewy than fluffy so this is more like the good old fashioned chicken and dumpling recipe. Some recipes call for just placing the biscuits on top of the mixture and leaving them alone, yielding in a fluffy biscuit not dumpling. This recipe is not that version. I call this one my Semi Homemade Chicken & Dumpling's.

The reason I call it that is because its not totally made from scratch. This recipe uses canned biscuits instead of rolling and cutting out homemade dumpling dough. Homemade is best there is no question about that, but who has the time to make them sometimes it just gets to crazy around my house for that. This is just as good I promise and it is not hard at all so really anyone can make this you just have to give it a try. A lot of folks have steered away from cooking all those great home cooked meals your mother or grandmother used to make. Chicken and Dumplings being one of those dishes. Not us we love the old meals like mama used to make, there is no meal better than good old southern food. It hits the spot and sticks to your ribs. So here is my version of almost scratch chicken and dumplings.

These are the ingredients you will need. I have some chicken breasts and thighs pictured. I have already boiled the meat. Don't used canned chicken that's just gross us the real deal. This is pretty much an inexpensive meal to make. It utilizes ingredients you usually have on hand. To make this meal even cheaper you can use a whole chicken instead of breasts. Just cook the chicken and debone the meat.


add chicken broth to a large pot


then add cream of chicken soup.


bring mixture to a boil. While mixture comes to a boil.

break cooked chicken into small bite size pieces or shred.

separate biscuits we use two cans because we love the dumplings and it never seems like there is enough with just one can.

using scissors cut each biscuit in four's

add about 1 cup flour to a separate bowl add salt and pepper

dip each biscuit piece into the flour mixture,

shake off excess flour

Turn heat down and drop biscuits into hot broth. ( I learned the flour trick from Christy at southern plate. Not only does it help the dumplings stay together, but it thickens the broth as well)

When all biscuit pieces are added it will look like this.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula push dumplings down into the broth

try not to stir them to much but every once in a while push the dumplings down into the broth again.

Cook dumplings about 10 -15 minutes then add the 3 tablespoons of margarine.

add chicken and cook another 10 minutes

this is what it will look like at the end. One big pot of home cooked goodness. Get your bowls out and serve it up.




Chicken & Dumplings

3 - 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cooled and broken into pieces) or
1 - Whole Fryer Chicken
1 - 10.5 oz can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
2 - 14 oz Cans Chicken Broth
3 - Tablespoons Margarine
2 - Can Pillsbury Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits (small blue cans)
Flour
salt and pepper to taste

Cook chicken in about 3-4 cups water for about 30 - 45 minutes. Remove, cool and break into bite size pieces. Place both cans of chicken broth in a medium to large size pot. Add cream of chicken soup and bring to a boil. While mixture comes to a boil open biscuits and cut into pieces, and break your chicken into bite size pieces or shred. Add about 1 cup of flour to a small bowl and dip each biscuit piece into flour. Shake off excess, drop into hot broth one at a time. Continue with remaining biscuit pieces until you have dropped all of the biscuits into the broth. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula push the biscuit pieces down gently under the broth. try not to stir the mixture to much just every once and a while push the dumplings down into the broth. Cook for about 10-15 minutes and then add the 3 tablespoons of margarine and the chicken stir to mix and cook an additional 10 minutes. Keep warm and serve.



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