Your great-grandma’s version might have started with a live chicken, but this easy chicken and dumplings recipe requires much less fuss. In fact, it’s so quick and easy that you can have it on the table in about 30 minutes from a standing start.
A lot of our favorite comfort food recipes absolutely require a long cooking time. This one is the opposite—you can make it on the spur of the moment.
Ingredients for Easy Chicken and Dumplings
- Frozen biscuits: Biscuits are a close kin to dumplings, so using frozen biscuits as your dumplings is a great convenience.
- Onion: The chopped onion adds a base of savory flavor to the dish, and a subtle sweetness as well.
- Green pepper: Green peppers don’t have an assertive flavor, but the pepper adds a fresh green vegetal note and a pop of vivid color to the gravy.
- Rotisserie chicken: Using a rotisserie chicken as the star ingredient goes a long way toward making this recipe quick and easy.
- Chicken broth: The chicken broth provides a base for the gravy and also provides a solid base of chicken flavor.
- Canned mushrooms: The mushrooms bring a pleasant textural contrast and complementary flavor to the gravy.
- Chicken bouillon: The granules of bouillon double down on the chicken flavor of the broth and the bird itself.
- Parsley: Minced parsley gives the finished dish a touch of eye-pleasing color.
- Dried sage and rosemary: The dried herbs both add flavors that complement the chicken but don’t completely replicate the standard-issue “poultry seasoning” in a jar.
Directions
Step 1: Make the chicken and gravy
Cut the biscuits into quarters, and set them aside. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and green pepper in the olive oil until they’re tender. Stir in the chicken, broth, mushrooms, bouillon granules, parsley, sage, rosemary and pepper.
Step 2: Add the dumplings
Bring the saucepan to a boil. Reduce the heat, and add the biscuit quarters to become your dumplings. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, without lifting the lid, for at least 10 minutes before testing your dumplings. The dish is ready to serve when a toothpick inserted into the center of a dumpling comes out clean.
Easy Chicken and Dumpling Variations
- Switch up your biscuits: If you don’t have frozen biscuits on hand, refrigerated canned “whomp” biscuits are an equally convenient substitute. Pop the can open against the edge of your counter, cut the biscuits into quarters, and proceed as directed in the recipe. You can bake the others to go along with the meal, if you wish, or use them in another recipe. Using frozen or store-bought bread dough is an alternative as well; the “dumplings” will have a different texture, but they’re also good.
- Use up leftovers: The rotisserie chicken is a convenience ingredient here, but if you have enough leftover chicken you can save yourself a trip to the store. Roasted, poached or stewed chicken can be used as is, but you should remove the breading from fried chicken.
- Make turkey and dumplings: Obviously this isn’t quite the same thing, but it’s still tasty and a good way to use up that leftover holiday bird. You may also see roasted turkey thighs, breasts or crowns available in the takeaway foods section of your supermarket. That’s conveniently situated near the rotisserie chickens, which makes it an easy substitution.
How to Store Easy Chicken and Dumplings
Like most leftovers, chicken and dumplings should be refrigerated as soon as the meal is over. They’re best kept in a food-storage container with a tight-fitting lid, though if you plan to eat them the next day you can simply put the lid back on your saucepan and put it straight into the fridge.
How long will easy chicken and dumplings keep?
Your leftovers will be good for four or five days after you put them into the refrigerator. That’s based on the assumption that you’ve cooled them immediately after the meal, which helps ensure food safety. If your leftovers have been out for as much as two hours, or even one hour at 90°F or higher, they should just be discarded.
Can this easy chicken and dumpling recipe be frozen?
The chicken and gravy portion of the recipe freezes and thaws well. The dumplings are your weak point, because they’ll get soggy after they’re frozen and thawed. Your best bet is to eat all the dumplings and freeze the chicken and gravy without them. When you thaw and serve the chicken, you can either make new dumplings or simply serve it over a biscuit, grits or mashed potatoes.
Easy Chicken and Dumpling Tips
Should the chicken and dumplings gravy be thicker?
This recipe makes a relatively thin and soupy gravy, with all the thickening power coming from the starches that cook out of the dumplings as they simmer. If you like a thicker gravy, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the onions and green pepper as you finish sauteing them, and stir until it’s absorbed into the oil. Pour in the chicken broth gradually, whisking as you go. As the pot simmers, this extra flour will help thicken it to a more traditional thick gravy.
How can I get more vegetables into this easy chicken and dumplings recipe?
A few colorful veggies will certainly increase this dish’s visual appeal. The only issue is that this recipe is so quick and easy, it doesn’t leave any time for them to cook. One option is to incorporate your vegetables when the pot first comes to a boil, and before you add the dumplings. Once they’re almost tender, the dumplings can go in. A second option is to stick with quick-cooking vegetables like spinach or fresh shell peas. A third is to use any leftover cooked veggies you have, or stick with convenience and pull out some frozen vegetables. Make sure the broth has time to come all the way back to a boil before putting the dumplings in and closing the lid.
Do you have an easy chicken and dumplings recipe for the slow cooker?
Of course we do. Low-and-slow cooking is convenient in different ways, but it definitely works for a lot of people. If you’re one of them, here’s our slow-cooker chicken and dumplings recipe (just use the frozen biscuit trick if you don’t want to make the dumplings from scratch).
