Chef notes
If you’re looking to level up chicken soup, chicken and dumplings is the way to go. It’s got all the trappings of what makes chicken soup so great — it’s cozy, comforting and made in one pot — with the addition of pillowy dumplings that add great texture to every bite.
And luckily, it’s just as easy to make as chicken soup. To start, add the chicken, vegetables and broth to a pot and simmer for an hour. This recipe calls for chicken thighs over breasts, which are more affordable and flavorful to boot. After an hour, remove the chicken and shred it on a cutting board. Pro tip: use two forks to easily shred the chicken. Add the chicken and potatoes back to the soup and cook until the potatoes are tender.
Finally, it’s time for the star of the show: the dumplings. These are drop dumplings, which come together quickly with a few pantry staples. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, then drizzle in the milk and butter until the dough comes together. Drop lumps of the batter on top of the soup and simmer until they’re just cooked through. Make sure every serving of soup gets at least a few dumplings.
Get Ingredients: If you don’t have everything you need on hand, you can easily purchase all of the ingredients (just click the orange button below that says ‘Get Ingredients’). You can pick and choose exactly what ingredients you need based on what’s in your pantry and they’ll be on your doorstep before you know it.
Technique Tip: To make this ahead of time, follow the instructions all the way up to when you would add the dumplings and pause. Store the soup in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use. Heat it up and proceed with the dumplings, which will ensure they’re light and tender, without getting soggy.
Swap Option: If you prefer light meat, use chicken breasts instead of thighs.
Ingredients
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 1½ pounds boneless chicken thighs
- 1 leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned and minced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 pound potatoes, peeled cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Preparation
1.Bring the chicken broth to a simmer over medium-low heat and add the chicken thighs, leeks, carrots, onion, and celery.
2.Continue to simmer for an hour, then remove the chicken thighs and roughly shred the meat. Return the chicken to the soup, then add the potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes more.
3.While the chicken soup simmers, sift the flour, baking powder, and kosher salt together with a fork, then stir in the milk and butter until fully incorporated.
4.After the potatoes are cooked, drop golf ball-sized lumps of the dumpling batter into the broth and simmer for 10 minutes or until the dumplings are fully cooked.
