Homemade Chicken and Dumplings!

Cool. Fall. Evenings. Chicken & Dumplings. 

Chicken and Dumplings sounds decadent, difficult, and time consuming. This recipe is none of those things, See exhibits 1-3 below. 

1. This is adapted from a Weight Watcher recipe which states that it is 7 points per serving. Since I've never done Weight Watchers, I am just going to assume that is pretty good.
2. There are a few steps to this, but it is made in one pot with 7 ingredients (plus salt, pepper and oil)
3. It takes a total of about 1 hour, 15 minutes to make this dish - easy on a Sunday, harder on a weeknight after work, but still doable. 

"Dumpling" can mean many different things.  These are essentially biscuits dropped into the soup. Other dumplings are more noodle-like, using pasta made from potatoes or flour. 

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 split chicken breast (about 1.5 - 2 lbs of meat), skin removed

4 cups chicken broth

1 2/3 cups all-purpose baking mix

2/3 cups skim milk

1 onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

Salt & Pepper

Heat oil in dutch oven (large pot). Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Saute chicken until browned on both sides, 8-10 minutes. While chicken cooks, chop vegetables. 

Remove browned chicken to a plate. Add vegetables to pot and saute until softened and beginning to brown, about 7 minutes.

Add broth and chicken back to pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer covered for 35 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. 

With about 10 minutes remaining on the timer, combine the baking mix and milk until a soft dough forms.  Remove chicken from stew and de-bone, shredding large pieces, and discarding bones.  Return chicken to the soup and stir. 

Drop the dough  into the simmering stew using a medium or large cookie scoop. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.  Cover and cook dumplings for another 10 minutes, or until the dumplings have doubled in size and are cooked through. Makes 6 servings. Tastes even better as leftovers.

Everyone will fight over the dumplings. Make sure you put the same amount in each person's bowl.:)

You could make this a vegan recipe by eliminating the chicken, substituting 4 cups chicken broth for 3 cups veggie broth, increasing the carrots and celery, reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes just to soften the veggies, and adding some peas and white beans before you drop the dumplings.  Use almond or rice milk for your dumplings.

The Vegan version

Vegan-ized with extra veggies, peas, white beans, and veggie broth!