Growing up, my favorite thing in the world was my mom’s chicken and dumplings. Notice I didn’t say my favorite food was chicken and dumplings, I said that my favorite thing in the whole wide world was chicken and dumplings.
I can still remember my anticipation for dinner on the nights when it was on the stove. And, to this day, a big pot of it awaits me every time I go home for a visit. It’s just simply that good.
Due to my well-documented fear of preparing dough and basically anything that involves cutting things into flour, I had never made the dish myself. It was almost like a mental block — how could I create something so delicious when I wasn’t my mom?
Once, a few years back, I attempted one of those short-cut recipes for chicken and dumplings that I found online — one of those cheater dishes that uses canned biscuit dough and condensed soup. The result was such a horrible travesty that I didn’t eat more than a bite. I learned my lesson well: you don’t cut corners with this dish unless you want to cut the quality as well.
Over this past Christmas, my mom walked me through the recipe, and it was surprisingly simple and straightforward. It was as if I assumed it was difficult because it tasted so good and perhaps because when I was little it seemed to take about five hours to be ready to eat.
I made it solo today, in time to eat for the Patriots game kickoff. It tasted just as it should — exactly like mom’s.
Mom’s Chicken and Dumplings
For broth:
- Use 4 or 5 boneless chicken breasts, or whole breasts with skin and bones (skin adds more fat and flavor – but I use skinless and it works fine)
- 2 t. salt
- 1/2 t. pepper
- 2 or 3 carrots, sliced
- 1 bay leaf
- Several stalks of celery, cut into pieces (I put mine in a food processor)
- 1 medium white onion, chopped
- Enough water to cover chicken
- 3 cups of milk
1. Add all ingredients except milk to a heavy-bottomed large pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover pot and cook for at least one hour.
2. Remove chicken; cool. Remove bones and skin, if necessary, and cut into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
3. Add 3 cups of milk. Bring to boil and add dumplings (see below) one at a time, keeping the broth at a boil.
4. Cover pot and simmer for10 or 15 minutes or until dumplings are done. Do not lift cover so that the steaming of dumplings occurs.
5. Add chicken pieces, continuing to boil gently.
6. Blend 4 T. flour and 1/2 cold water. Add to broth, gently blending in.
7. Cook and stir until slightly thickened. Simmer (very faint boil) for about 1 hour.
Turn off heat and let stand for another hour.
Dumplings:
2 1/4 c. flour
3 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
5 T. shortening (I use non-transfat Crisco)
1 egg + enough water to equal 3/4 cup
1. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in large mixing bowl.
2. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or fork.
3. Beat egg and water with fork until blended (about 30 seconds).
4. Add egg mixture gradually into flour mixture while blending with a fork.
5. Use hands to form into a ball.
6. Roll dough out on well-floured surface until 1/8-inch thick using a rolling pin.
7. Cut into rectangles about 2×4 inches in size using a pizza cutter or sharp knife.
8. Let dry at least 30 minutes, uncovered.
Note: You can add additional milk to this dish if the broth is totally absorbed or to achieve the consistency you like.
9 comments
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January 21, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Accountable
I am so printing this out. I loved Chicken nd dumplings too and I haven’t quite found a good dumpling recipe either (I had tried Bisquick) but only once. 😀 (Oops, a smily).
January 21, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Liana
Oh man. I’m SO hungry and this would be PERFECT. I will DEFINITELY be trying this (though sadly I don’t have time to make it during lunch). Yummmmm.
January 21, 2008 at 8:28 pm
rebecca
Anyone reading sarah’s blog should definitely try this meal– its her number one favorite. She’d trade me, her baby sister, to the gyprsies for a pot of mom’s Chicken and Dumplings.
January 21, 2008 at 9:20 pm
AmandaRenee
Yay! I need to make this recipe sometime. I’m tempted to try all of your recipes, but this is the first one I think a picky two-year-old will eat, which is sadly a prerequisite for all the food I make…
January 21, 2008 at 11:38 pm
jvalways
i am totally going to cook this.
the only things my mother ever cooked involved heavy cream and/or lard. trans-fat-free crisco sounds down right “diet” in comparison. every thing really should be trans-fat-free . . . heavy cream and lard are though, very suspicious.
January 24, 2008 at 8:03 pm
The mother hen
I made this for dinner last night. Everyone loved it. I even made a back up meal because my kids are picky eaters, but they all loved this. Thanks!
July 26, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Anonymous
i love chicken and dumpling. i cooked last night my hubby and the little boy loved it! I’ll serve a chicken and dumpling with rice very wow yummy!
September 20, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Ima Lookin
What do you serve with chicken and dumplings to make a good meal?
November 10, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Darrell
Love hearing of your favorite. My granny made dumplings to die for.
She would add regular flour and sift in selfrising also for fluffy dumplings and thick gravy, but I learned her trick was to add the chickn broth to the flour instead of milk or water. Much more flavor in the dumplings also used buttermilk. I will have to make yours, I can smell it from 30 years ago still.