Slow Cooker Chicken And Dumplings

This Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings is a thick, rich, velvety stew loaded with chicken and veggies all topped with yummy dumplings! All made from scratch in your crock pot!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings just maybe one of the best things you can make in a Crockpot!

I love love, love chicken and dumplings.

A warm bowl of homemade chicken and dumplings is my ultimate comfort food.

It’s one of those dishes that everyone in my family loves and gets them to the dinner table quickly.

Even the pickiest eater in our family, my Dad, loves this recipe! Believe me, that’s saying a lot!!! I swear I can hear my sister Christine saying Amen about how picky he is! LOL 🙂

Over the years, I’ve made many a chicken and dumpling recipe. Some on the stove top and some in the slow cooker.

Then I found this recipe. It was love at first bite! Of course, over the many, many times I’ve made this recipe, I’ve tweaked the ingredients a bit to suit my family’s taste.

Now, for me, it’s my go-to, ultimate, favorite, slow cooker chicken and dumplings recipe! This recipe is the real McCoy. Everything is homemade from scratch!

Scrumptious bites of chicken, lots of tender veggies all bathed in a rich, velvety stew-like sauce then topped with buttery dumpling! It’s truly comforting food at its finest. It’s an old-fashioned, one dish meal that’s not only utterly delicious, it’s also incredibly nostalgic.

Let’s talk about the dumplings for a second. In different cultures and cuisines around the world and, even within our own country, dumplings come in many forms. They can be sweet or savory and can be made from a variety of different ingredients.

The dumplings in this recipe are more of a midwestern style, rather than a southern dumpling.

If you like to try a recipe for Southern Style Chicken and Dumplings, check out my recipe HERE. Southern dumplings, like the ones served at Cracker Barrel, are tender, rolled, thick noodle-like strips.

The midwestern style of dumpling has a tender, almost heavy cake-like texture. The important thing to keep in mind when making these dumplings is that they have to be cooked all the way through, or they end up having a gummy, gloppy texture.

I truly love both styles and make them often. Which kind is your favorite?

Recipe Notes for Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings:

Chicken: Instead of the whole bird used in traditional Chicken and Dumplings, this recipe uses boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I was initially skeptical, but after the first time I made it, I understood the brilliance of this switch-a-roo.

Using the thigh meat keeps the chicken moist and tender during the extended cooking time, typically used to cook it, in the slow cooker. The white meat on a whole bird can be overcooked and dry out in this longer cooking time.

Using a “skinless” thigh, as opposed to one with the skin left on, keeps the sauce from becoming greasy. If the skin is left on, the fat it contains will melt during the cooking process, and the texture of the stew can go from being creamy and velvety to an oily mess. Both types are readily available at most grocery stores so your choice is easy.

So, browning the chicken is a really important step. I know you’re tempted to skip it, but here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t.

It seals the exterior of the chicken and keeps it nice and juicy when it’s all cooked.

It leaves little brown bits, which the French call fond, in the bottom of the pan that adds crazy amounts of flavor to the stew. Some of the veggies are browned in the same pan after the chicken, then flour, sherry and some of the chicken broth are whisked in, to deglaze the pan. That’s when all the little brown bits are swooped up and added to the crockpot to create another layer of delicious flavor to the sauce.

The chicken is then added to the slow cooker, cooked until it’s tender, on low for 4-6 hours. Then it’s removed from the slow cooker and, when it’s cool enough to handle, shredded or cut into bite-size pieces.

Sauce: The foundation of the sauce is chicken broth.

I typically use store-bought. It works out great. If you have homemade on hand it would be amazing in this recipe.

The chicken broth is then enriched with a little bit of tomato paste, sherry and Better than Bouillon~Chicken Flavor. The tomato paste gives the sauce its orange hue. While it may not be as traditional as the plain white hue, generally seen in Chicken and Dumplings, trust me this sauce is crazy delicious so you won’t mind the different color!

The sauce is really thick and rich with just the right amount of creaminess. Don’t worry, it’s not in any way too heavy. The recipe calls for just a half a cup of heavy cream. The cream adds a nice level of richness and creaminess to the broth that wouldn’t otherwise have. Believe me, you’ll miss it if you don’t add it.

Veggies: Pretty much the usual suspect here. Onion, celery, garlic, carrots, and peas. All in just the right quantities to round out the stew.

The onions, celery, garlic, are browned on cooktop then added to the crockpot. The carrots aren’t browned, they’re added directly to the crockpot at step 3 in the instructions.  The peas are added to the stew last when the chicken has been cut and is added back.

Dumplings:

The buttery dumplings are mixed from scratch, not Bisquick or canned biscuits, and are flavored with fresh thyme. They’re so yummy and quick to put together, you’ll wonder why you ever bothered with the ones made with convenience ingredients.

If you’d rather use Bisquick or canned biscuits, no worries, I’d never judge, I promise!

Make sure the dumplings are cooked all the way through. The amount of time this takes can vary significantly from one crockpot to another. Please remember that the cooking time given in the recipe is an estimation. The bottoms of the dumplings will obviously still be wet because they cook directly in the liquid of the stew. The centers of the dumplings, however, should no longer have any “rawness” to them.

Slow cooker chicken and dumplings recipe Bisquick version:

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Original Bisquick mix
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 2 Teaspoons Fresh Thyme

Directions:

• Follow the instructions below and make the stew.
• Then, use these directions at the place in the recipe that says make the biscuit.
• Turn the slow cooker on high.
• Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Drop dough by rounded Tablespoonfuls onto the hot stew.
• Place the cover back on the slow cooker and cook 45-60 minutes or until the dumplings are dry in the center.  

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings with Biscuits:

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2–10 Ounces Can of Biscuits

Directions:

• Follow the instructions below and make the stew.
• Then, use these directions at the place in the recipe that says make the biscuit.
• Turn the slow cooker on high.
• Tear the biscuits into 3-4 pieces and drop them onto hot stew and cook 50-60 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through.

Is there any other dish that is as comforting as Chicken and Dumplings?

What’s your favorite Comfort dish? I’d love to hear from you 🙂

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Slow Cooker Chicken And Dumplings

This Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings is a thick, rich, velvety stew loaded with chicken and veggies all topped with yummy dumplings! All made from scratch in your crockpot!

Prep Time40 mins

Cook Time4 mins

Total Time44 mins

Servings: 6 -8

Author: Kathleen

Ingredients

STEW:

• 3 Pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs-Trimmed
• 3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil~Divided
• 1 Large Onion Chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Garlic Minced
• 2 Celery Ribs Sliced 1/4 Inch Thick
• 1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
• 1/2 Teaspoons Dried Thyme Leaves
• 1/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 Cup Dry Sherry
• 4 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth Divided
• 2 Teaspoons Better than Bouillon~Chicken Flavor
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 4 Carrots Peeled and Sliced 1/4 Inch Thick
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 Cup Frozen Peas Thawed and Drained
• 3 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley Chopped
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

DUMPLINGS;

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 2 Teaspoons Fresh Thyme Leaves Chopped

Instructions

Make The Stew:

• Heat up 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 12-inch skillet until it's almost smoking. Add the chicken in batches, making sure not to overcrowd it, and brown on both sides. Remove to a plate and set aside.
• Add another 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat until it begins to shimmer, then add the onions, celery, garlic, tomato paste, and thyme cooking over medium heat until the veggies are soft.  Whisk in flour and continue to cook for 1 minute. Slowly add sherry and stir, loosening any brown bits on the bottom of the skillet. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and whisk until mixture is smooth. Carefully pour into slow cooker.
• Add the remaining chicken broth, Better Than Bouillon, black pepper, carrots, and bay leaves to the crock pot. Add the browned chicken, with any accumulated juice, and nestle the pieces in. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours, or high for 2-3 hours, or until chicken is tender.
• Remove the chicken and transfer to a cutting board. Cool until it can be handled then cut or shred it into bite-size pieces. Remove any fat that's floating on the top of the stew. Remove bay leaves.
• Stir in cut chicken, peas, parsley, and heavy whipping cream. Replace cover and turn on High, bringing back to a simmer, while you make the dumplings.

Make the Dumplings:

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper.
• Microwave butter and milk together until warm, about 1 minute. (Don't overheat). Stir to finish melting butter.
• Mix milk mixture and fresh thyme into flour mixture until just incorporated.
• Drop dough, about the size of a golf ball, onto the surface of simmering stew, leaving about 1/4 inch between the dumplings. Cover and cook on High until the dumplings have about doubled and are cooked all the way through, 45-60 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 751kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 60g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 189mg | Sodium: 1242mg | Potassium: 1607mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 156.2% | Vitamin C: 37.8% | Calcium: 21.2% | Iron: 26.8%

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Source: Adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution

 

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