Cracker Barrel Chicken And Dumplings

My Cracker Barrel chicken and dumplings is the ideal comforting meal. It is a velvety smooth chicken stew with handmade dumplings.

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Keyword Chicken and Dumpling Recipes, copycat recipes, cracker barrel recipes

Servings servings

Calories 579kcal

Author Kathleen

Ingredients

Soup:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
salt + black pepper
2 tablespoon, plus more as needed vegetable oil
1 tablespoon, more if needed butter
1/2 cup yellow onion, minced
1 cup carrot, chopped into small cubes
1 cup celery, chopped into small cubes
8 cups, plus more for thinning leftovers low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chicken flavor Better Than Bouillon
1 dried bay leaf

Dumplings:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Pat chicken (1 pound) dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper.
In a Dutch oven, heat oil (2 tablespoons) over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until golden, 3-4 minutes. Remove the browned chicken to a plate. When cool enough to handle, place on a cutting board and cut into bite sized pieces; set aside.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of butter to the Dutch oven. Sauté onion (1/2 cup), carrot (1 cup), and celery (1 cup) over medium-low heat, until the onion is translucent and the other vegetables are soft and tender, about 7-9 minutes.
Add the broth (8 cups), Better Than Bouillon (1 tablespoon), and bay leaf (1) to the Dutch oven and bring to a simmer.
While the chicken and veggies are cooking, prepare the dumplings.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour (2 cups), baking powder (1/2 teaspoon), and salt (1 teaspoon). Slowly, add milk (1 cup), just until it mixes into dough and creates a shaggy dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface then roll out to about 1/4 inch or thinner. (Dumplings will thicken significantly as they cook).
Using a long knife or pizza cutter, cut the dumplings into 1/2 X 1-inch pieces.
Add the dough strips to the simmering broth and cook, uncovered, for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, so the dumplings don't stick together. Moderate heat as necessary to maintain a simmer, allowing the dumplings to cook and the broth to thicken.
When the noodles are almost cooked through, return the cut chicken pieces to the Dutch oven.

Notes

Browning The Chicken: This is a really important step. Browning the chicken seals the exterior of the chicken and keeps it nice and juicy when it’s all cooked.
Thin As Needed: Add more chicken broth to the soup if it reduces too much.
Make ‘Em Thin: When making the dumplings, roll them very thin. They will expand when cooked. Don’t worry about making them perfect, they are handmade and will taste deliciously comforting!
Be Gentle: When dropping the dumplings into the soup, release them into the liquid one at a time so they don’t stick together. Then, stir gently to avoid breaking them.

Nutrition