The Simplest Chicken & Dumplings
You only make homemade chicken and dumplings for someone you really love. It’s one of those homey meals that spells comfort and care for whoever is lucky enough to eat it. Sometimes multi-part meals like this make you feel like you need a nap by the time you actually get it in the oven! While you can still make my simplified version for your loved ones, it won’t take you an entire day to get it done. The dumplings come together in minutes and store bought rotisserie chicken and broth are the magical ingredients that save hours of cooking time. But don’t worry, it still tastes like love.
Ingredients:
Makes 6-8 servings
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
fresh black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 store bought rotisserie chicken, meat pulled from the bone and roughly chopped
2 cups of whatever veggies you’d like, diced (frozen peas, carrots, or whatever you fancy!)
Dumpling topping:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup full fat greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk
a bit of butter for topping
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. In an oven safe large saucepan, heat the butter over medium low heat on the stovetop. Add the onion and garlic with the salt, pepper, and thyme and stir while it cooks to golden. Add the flour and stir while the flour cooks. It will only take a minute or two to get golden brown. Add the chicken broth and stir to combine. Make sure to scrape the bottom. Let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes while stirring. It will seem very thin at first, but the flour will go to work thickening it before you know it! While that is simmering let’s mix up the dumplings. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix the yogurt and milk in. It will form a rough dough. That’s it! See, I told you it was easy! Set that aside and check on your simmering filling. It should be perfectly gravy like. Turn the heat off so it doesn’t thicken any more. Go ahead and toss the chicken and veggies in the mixture and stir to coat. Use a large spoon to scoop about 1/4 cup of the dumpling mixture and form it into a round dumpling. Place it on top of the chicken and gravy mixture and repeat until it’s all gone. If you’d like to gild the lily, you can put a little pat of butter atop each dumpling so it gets nice and golden brown. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked to perfection. Enjoy!
