It’s more a method than a recipe, but here goes. 1 whole chicken—about 4 pounds, 1/2 cup butter, salt to taste, 4 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp salt, 3/4 cup Crisco, black pepper to taste. Cover the chicken with water—enough to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil and add the butter and salt to taste. Reduce to a simmer and cook about 1 1/2 or 2 hours or till it falls apart. Remove the chicken from the broth being careful to take out all the bones. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the broth. I tear the meat into strips and usually just use the breast meat. Set this aside till the dumplings are made. Just like a pie crust—combine the flour and 2 tsp salt in a bowl. Cut in the shortening till it looks like meal. Add just enough reserved chicken broth to make a stiff dough—it probably won’t take 1 1/2 cups. Put the remaining broth back in the pot. The broth needs to be a rolling boil before adding the dumplings. Using a third of the dough, roll it to 1/8 inch on a floured surface (I’m a big fan of a pastry cloth, well used and covered with flour.) I cut strips about the size of my thumb and drop them into the boiling broth one at a time. Repeat with the remaining dough till you have as many dumplings as you want. Reduce the heat to a simmer, season with black pepper, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add the chicken back in and heat till everything is piping hot. This is the closest I’ve come to the memory of chicken and dumplings of my childhood.
I only first made Chicken and Dumplings recently for a job and curiously it was both delicious but also not to my tastes. However, reading this post I'm reminded of my mother's chicken pie which is again about the whole chicken: I've tried cooking chicken legs and thighs and things to yield meat to make it but it just does not work: it has to be leftovers from a roast bird, the sauce made with stock from the carcass.
I cook the chicken and broth in a similar way. The dumplings I make use part of the broth as liquid instead of milk so they are less like a biscuit. I roll them 1/8 inch thick, cut them into strips and drop them into the broth one at a time. Then they simmer for about 15 minutes before adding the chicken back in. I need to do this soon! Thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. My husband loved the chicken and dumplings that his mother used to make for his family. She did the biscuits in the style that they were rolled real thin and cut into strips. I had it one time and absolutely loved it. However, when I would ask for the recipe, she’s one of those types that would say a little if this and a little of that and never really explained how to do it . As a child, I never cared for the recipe my mom made because she used to make it with the drop dumplings and I thought they were gooey & gross. I have been searching for a recipe that would mimic my mother in law’s so I am so looking forward to trying this recipe.
This is not in my repertoire, but it should be! Great recipe breakdown, esp the part about the extra wings, though that takes some planning ahead if you’re in the practice of buying whole chickens.
My mom always made this dish with a fowl: said it tasted better/richer. And she made her dumplings with Bisquick mix! She dabbed the slightly wet dough onto the surface of the rich stock and then covered and let them steam in the broth. “Don’t lift the lid!” ….I can still hear her saying that when one of us wanted a peek!
I made this recipe for the first time. Added a couple of carrots when oven roasting the whole chicken. After 3 hours, using mostly broth, it was delicious.
We loved the pastry which was light and fluffy added to the soup!
Pure comfort food! In my preteen and teen years (70’s-early 80’s), my mom made the Bisquick drop dumplings with the chicken… I loved it, so that’s how I made it. Up until a couple years ago, I ALWAYS kept a box of Bisquick in my pantry for biscuits!
I did not grow up eating them since my mom made either bott boi or rivels. So, it's always been guessing game for me, reading through a few recipes, and then making something I thought was right. Plus, some people confuse dumplings for flat noodles, so it's hard to find the right recipe.
Cheat is to use a roasted Costco chicken. Home made broth from the chicken carcass last time along with chopped vegetables (I like to add kale& spinach along with the carrots, onion, and celery. ) key is the dumplings/ biscuits... and lots of them.
Every post of yours makes me want to get in the kitchen & cook! My father’s mother made chicken & dumplings and I didn’t care for them as a child, but I’m going to try your 1/2 dumplings & 1/2 baked suggestion & I think I will love it! Thank you. Thank you.
I don’t make chicken & dumplings. Because my mom didn’t like her mom’s chicken & dumplings, which were the midwestern drop biscuit kind, so she never made them. Instead, we had chicken or turkey pot pie but with biscuits on top instead of pie crust.
I have made chicken & dumplings for a friend when she’s had surgery & needed comfort food. I’ve made them using her mom’s short cut recipe, which uses canned biscuits (dusted in flour & stretched out/cut) And I made from scratch with the flat dumplings. But semi-homemade or scratch, it looks like a pot of boiling glue to me. Sorry.
But the next time a friend needs comforting with chicken & dumplings, I’ll try Miss Lewis’s recipe.
It’s more a method than a recipe, but here goes. 1 whole chicken—about 4 pounds, 1/2 cup butter, salt to taste, 4 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp salt, 3/4 cup Crisco, black pepper to taste. Cover the chicken with water—enough to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil and add the butter and salt to taste. Reduce to a simmer and cook about 1 1/2 or 2 hours or till it falls apart. Remove the chicken from the broth being careful to take out all the bones. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the broth. I tear the meat into strips and usually just use the breast meat. Set this aside till the dumplings are made. Just like a pie crust—combine the flour and 2 tsp salt in a bowl. Cut in the shortening till it looks like meal. Add just enough reserved chicken broth to make a stiff dough—it probably won’t take 1 1/2 cups. Put the remaining broth back in the pot. The broth needs to be a rolling boil before adding the dumplings. Using a third of the dough, roll it to 1/8 inch on a floured surface (I’m a big fan of a pastry cloth, well used and covered with flour.) I cut strips about the size of my thumb and drop them into the boiling broth one at a time. Repeat with the remaining dough till you have as many dumplings as you want. Reduce the heat to a simmer, season with black pepper, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add the chicken back in and heat till everything is piping hot. This is the closest I’ve come to the memory of chicken and dumplings of my childhood.
I only first made Chicken and Dumplings recently for a job and curiously it was both delicious but also not to my tastes. However, reading this post I'm reminded of my mother's chicken pie which is again about the whole chicken: I've tried cooking chicken legs and thighs and things to yield meat to make it but it just does not work: it has to be leftovers from a roast bird, the sauce made with stock from the carcass.
I cook the chicken and broth in a similar way. The dumplings I make use part of the broth as liquid instead of milk so they are less like a biscuit. I roll them 1/8 inch thick, cut them into strips and drop them into the broth one at a time. Then they simmer for about 15 minutes before adding the chicken back in. I need to do this soon! Thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. My husband loved the chicken and dumplings that his mother used to make for his family. She did the biscuits in the style that they were rolled real thin and cut into strips. I had it one time and absolutely loved it. However, when I would ask for the recipe, she’s one of those types that would say a little if this and a little of that and never really explained how to do it . As a child, I never cared for the recipe my mom made because she used to make it with the drop dumplings and I thought they were gooey & gross. I have been searching for a recipe that would mimic my mother in law’s so I am so looking forward to trying this recipe.
This is not in my repertoire, but it should be! Great recipe breakdown, esp the part about the extra wings, though that takes some planning ahead if you’re in the practice of buying whole chickens.
My mom always made this dish with a fowl: said it tasted better/richer. And she made her dumplings with Bisquick mix! She dabbed the slightly wet dough onto the surface of the rich stock and then covered and let them steam in the broth. “Don’t lift the lid!” ….I can still hear her saying that when one of us wanted a peek!
I made this recipe for the first time. Added a couple of carrots when oven roasting the whole chicken. After 3 hours, using mostly broth, it was delicious.
We loved the pastry which was light and fluffy added to the soup!
Pure comfort food! In my preteen and teen years (70’s-early 80’s), my mom made the Bisquick drop dumplings with the chicken… I loved it, so that’s how I made it. Up until a couple years ago, I ALWAYS kept a box of Bisquick in my pantry for biscuits!
Is the full recipe for chicken and dumplings in the paid subscription?
I did not grow up eating them since my mom made either bott boi or rivels. So, it's always been guessing game for me, reading through a few recipes, and then making something I thought was right. Plus, some people confuse dumplings for flat noodles, so it's hard to find the right recipe.
Cheat is to use a roasted Costco chicken. Home made broth from the chicken carcass last time along with chopped vegetables (I like to add kale& spinach along with the carrots, onion, and celery. ) key is the dumplings/ biscuits... and lots of them.
I love Ms. Lewis. Thanks for digging this up on a cold day.
This sounds wonderful. I might try the half and half and spread a little pesto on some of the dough and throw that in the oven
I cannot wait to make this! I love dumplings. I too have made the Bisquick ones many years ago.
Every post of yours makes me want to get in the kitchen & cook! My father’s mother made chicken & dumplings and I didn’t care for them as a child, but I’m going to try your 1/2 dumplings & 1/2 baked suggestion & I think I will love it! Thank you. Thank you.
I don’t make chicken & dumplings. Because my mom didn’t like her mom’s chicken & dumplings, which were the midwestern drop biscuit kind, so she never made them. Instead, we had chicken or turkey pot pie but with biscuits on top instead of pie crust.
I have made chicken & dumplings for a friend when she’s had surgery & needed comfort food. I’ve made them using her mom’s short cut recipe, which uses canned biscuits (dusted in flour & stretched out/cut) And I made from scratch with the flat dumplings. But semi-homemade or scratch, it looks like a pot of boiling glue to me. Sorry.
But the next time a friend needs comforting with chicken & dumplings, I’ll try Miss Lewis’s recipe.