Chicken and Dumplings

I’ve only been out of the house for groceries twice in the past 3 weeks now that COVID-19 has taken over the world. Before the pandemic, I’d shop frequently, and was always able to find the items on my list. Now many of the items on my list are nowhere to be found so I’ve been challenging myself to make meals from things I have stashed away in the freezer and pantry. This DELICIOUS comfort food is popular for a reason.

Let’s start by heating a little butter and oil in a 5-quart or larger braised or stockpot. If you use a pot that’s too small, you’ll have a messy stove-top to clean.

Saute carrots, onions, and celery for several minutes, stirring frequently, until a brown film (called fond) forms on the bottom of the pot.

Add chicken stock (got mine in the freezer). I’m using my rich, flavorful chicken stock (here’s my instant pot version and my stove-top version). Homemade chicken stock is infinitely better than the stuff you can purchase at the store, and it’s super easy to make. I promise, once you try it, you’ll never want to be without it.

Alrighty, once you add the chicken stock, use a wooden spoon to dislodge all that yummy brown flavor from the bottom of the pot. Taste the stock at this point and adjust with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper if needed.

Normally, I’d add fresh chopped parsley at the end, but fresh parsley isn’t available at the moment so I’m tossing in a palmful of dried now. I always keep dried parsley in my pantry. I sprinkle it in everything.

Next in, shredded chicken. Normally I would use fresh roasted chicken, but here I’m using canned because that’s all I have (not quite as good as fresh, but better than nothing!).

Partially cover the pot and bring to a gentle boil.

In the meantime, make the dumpling dough by stirring together all the dumpling ingredients. All the dry ingredients should get moistened, but don’t be worried that the dough is a bit on the dry side. I find wet dumpling doughs tend to disintegrate too easily during the simmering process.

Okay, take that dry-ish dough and roll a bunch of walnut-sized balls. Keep in mind, they’ll expand as they cook so don’t make them much larger than a walnut in its shell. Also, I like to roll all the dumpling first, then drop them all in the soup so they can cook at the same time.

Before dropping the dumplings in the soup, lower the heat to a gentle simmer (a slow bubble is fine).

Now cover the pot and let the dumplings simmer away for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size.

Look how the dumplings have puffed up after 15 minutes.

To test if they’re done, insert a toothpick into the center - if it comes out clean, they’re done. You’ll want to support a dumpling when you do this or it’ll bob up and down in the broth like you’re bobbing for apples.

Now toss in about a cupful of frozen peas - they’ll heat through in no time (don’t do this more than a few minutes before serving or the peas will lose their lovely bright green color.

Lastly, stir in some heavy cream. Mmmm.

I like to serve with freshly cracked black pepper and chopped chives or scallions. Enjoy!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• 5-quart brasier https://amzn.to/39Q6hq2

• nakiri knife https://amzn.to/2JMH5Gq

• my favorite soup ladle https://amzn.to/3JnSskN

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Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings

makes 12 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Soup:

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 2 large carrots, finely chopped

• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped

• 2 quarts delicious chicken stock (check out my homemade tutorials here and here)

• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken (light and/or dark meat)

• 1 heaping tablespoon chopped parsley (fresh or dried)

• 1 cup frozen peas

• 1 cup heavy cream

• freshly chopped chives or scallions for garnish (optional)

• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Dumplings:

• 1 teaspoon fine salt

• 1 cup milk

• 1 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Directions

1. In a 5-quart or larger stockpot or dutch oven, heat butter and b\oil together over medium-high heat.

2. Add onions, carrots, and celery and sautéed until the onions are translucent and a brown film (or “fond”) develops on the bottom of the pot.

3. Add chicken stock and scrape brown bits from bottom of pot; taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed.

4. Partially cover pot and bring to a gently rolling boil.

5. Make dumplings by stirring the dough ingredients together; roll walnut-size dumplings in the palm of your hand and place on a plate until needed.

6. Uncover pot and reduce heat to low, maintaining a gentle simmer (a few bubbles are fine).

7. Add all the dumplings at the same time and cover the pot; simmer for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8. Turn off the heat and gently stir in the peas and cream.

9. Serve with freshly cracked black pepper and fresh chopped chives or scallions.

Notes

• If using store-bought chicken stock, add 1 clove minced garlic when sautéing the carrots, onion, and celery. Also, add 1 bay leaf when adding chicken stock to the pot (remove the bay leaf before serving).

• For a little extra kick, add freshly ground black pepper to the dumpling mixture. You may also add chopped fresh chives or parsley.

Instant Pot Chicken Stock

I’ve long touted the benefits of keeping homemade chicken stock in the freezer and now, more than ever, having a good supply on hand seems like a really good idea. My original recipe (from away back in 2009) was a stove-top version that would simmer away for up to 12 hours. I’ve updated that recipe and now make it in as little as 2 hours.

Just look at the rich, gorgeous color!! You can practically taste it, can’t you?

I like to start with a Rotisserie chicken - the ones from Costco are my favorite, but any will do. You can even use a chicken that you roast yourself (need a recipe for that? here’s one I shared way back).

Remove all the white and dark meat from the chicken (don’t forget to flip that bird over and get the meat from the bottom - there’s a lot). Save the meat for another use (like my homemade chicken noodle soup, or this version featuring flavors of the Southwest).

When making chicken stock, I like to use all the bones and skin (if you can manage to keep your family from eating it all). The skin adds wonderful color and flavor. No skin, no problem - you can still make this recipe.

In addition to the skin and bones, you’ll need onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay, black peppercorns, and I forgot to put parsley in the photo - you can use dried parsley or fresh (leaves or the stems that typically get tossed).

Place everything in the inner pot of your Instant Pot and cover with water, being careful not to go above the max fill line (I can add about 16 cups of water on top of the chicken and veggies in my 8-quart instant pot).

Notice I’m using a mesh basket that fits in my IP. When the stock is done cooking, all I’ll have to do is grab the basket handle and pull it out of the stock, straining away all the solids in the process. Discard the solids and you’re left with the most wonderful chicken stock ever!

Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the knob is in the “sealing” position. Cook on “manual” or “pressure cook” for 90 minutes and disable the keep warm feature (for my model, I do that by pressing the “manual” button twice). When the timer is done, you can release the pressure manually by switching the knob to “venting”, then open the lid and strain away all the solids. OR you can leave the lid on for 7, 8, 9 hours until you’re ready to deal with it. As long as you leave the lid on, the IP will stay sealed and the stock will cool on its own. I often will start the stock making process right before I go to bed and wake up the next morning to a pot of cooled chicken stock ready to go. I just pull out the solids and transfer to containers for storage.

Just in case you were wondering what all those solids look like after the stock is finished cooking, here they are. They’ve cooked down to a fraction of their original size and all their wonderful flavor and nutrients have transferred over to the stock so you can go ahead and get rid of them. LOVE that mesh basket!!

Important - I like to store my stock unsalted. You will definitely need to add salt when you use it or it won’t taste very good at all. I find 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (or half as much table salt) for each quart of stock (4 cups) works out to be just about perfect. The amount of salt can change depending on how you plan to use the stock, but 1 teaspoon per quart is a pretty good place to start.

The stock freezes well in airtight containers, and since my original post way back in 2009, I’ve been reducing my homemade stock down to 1/4 of it’s original volume to conserve freezer space. The reduced stock can be added to pan sauces, or diluted to its original strength by adding 3 cups of water to each cup of reduced stock (remember, don’t salt it until you use it).

Alighty - there you go. Enjoy!!

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Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• 8-quart Instant Pot https://amzn.to/2R978vn

• mesh strainer basket https://amzn.to/2XbV93Q

• 32-ounce freezer-safe containers https://amzn.to/3dS9Zmj

• 8-ounce freezer-safe containers https://amzn.to/2x1Gwp8

• reduction spatula https://amzn.to/2UH3ZoV

• my favorite soup ladle https://amzn.to/3uK8KjP

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Instant Pot Chicken Stock

makes 8 cups

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 rotisserie chicken carcass (skin, bones, and juices that may have collected in the container)

• 1 medium onion, cut into wedges (you can leave the skin on)

• 1 medium carrot, cut into large pieces (peel if you wish)

• 1 stalk of celery, cut into large pieces (inner light green leaves are also good to add)

• 1 palmful of dried parsley

• 1 large clove garlic, whole (2 if small)

• 1 medium bay leaf

• 8-10 black peppercorns

• water (approximately 8-10 cups)

• salt to taste (after cooking - see notes below)

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in inner pot of instant pot (optional, you can also use a mesh strainer basket for easy removal).

2. Cover with cold water and seal instant pot.

3. Disable the “keep warm” feature and cook on “manual” or “pressure cook” for 90 minutes.

4. Strain solids and discard.

5. If using right away, add salt to taste (see notes below for storage).

Notes

• Once you’ve strained all the solids out of the finished chicken stock, you can store the stock (unsalted) in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freezer for longer storage. To save space in the freezer, I like to reduce the stock down from 1 cup to 1/4 cup. To use, just add 3 parts water to 1 part reduced stock (or see notes below to use for a beef stock substitution).

• When using for soup, I like to add about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt to each quart (4 cups) of chicken stock (if using table salt, use 1/2 teaspoon per quart).

• To save room in my freezer, I like to reduce the stock down by simmering it util it’s 1/4 of its original volume. This concentrated stock can be used in its reduced form to make pan sauces, or to use in place of beef stock (1 cup of reduced chicken stock can replace 1 cup beef stock). The reduction can be restored to its original strength by adding 3 cups water to 1 cup reduced stock.

• Do not salt stock that you plan to reduce down to a concentrate - it will be way too salty.