Mom’s Chicken & Dumplings

My favorite homemade Chicken & Dumplings!

Ever been working on your computer, and you walk out of the room and then the computer starts randomly playing some music or an ad from a website? Yeah, that just happened to me. It can be either creepy or annoying, depending on the situation. I had to stop and think, “What is that noise? Who is that person talking/singing? I didn’t start any music.”

Jump to Recipe!

This reminds me of a funny story. When Casey and I were first married, we were sound asleep in our little house one night when I woke up at midnight to hear two distinct voices carrying on a conversation quietly in the next room. Casey was sound asleep and I thought maybe I was just hearing things, so I got up and tiptoed down the hallway toward the room. As I got closer the voices got louder; I’m not sure why I didn’t go back and get Casey. Maybe it’s because I suspected what the source of the voices was going to be, and didn’t think I was actually in any real danger.

The door was slightly ajar, so I pushed it the rest of the way open and peeked into the room. The sound was coming from the computer. Casey and I had been watching a show on Netflix before we went to bed. Unbeknownst to us, if you pause Netflix without closing it, whatever show is up will sometimes start playing again after it’s been paused for awhile. I closed the show and went back to bed, but the experience freaked me out enough that I insisted Casey close Netflix completely every time we used it in the evenings after that.

Lesson learned.

Today’s recipe is one of my very favorite fall/winter dishes (though I could eat this all year round too). It’s my mom’s recipe for Chicken & Dumplings! A bowl of Chicken & Dumplings is about as tasty as you can get on a chilly fall day (well, that or a big bowl of homemade chili). 🙂

I like to make my dumplings with whole wheat flour, but you can use all purpose instead if you like. The amount of flour you need may vary slightly depending on whether you use all purpose or whole wheat. If you’ve never made your own dumplings before, don’t be intimidated. It really isn’t that difficult once you get the hang of it. 🙂

Mom's Chicken & Dumplings

Servings: about 8
Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Print

Ingredients

6 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped roughly into chunks
3 quarts chicken broth, low sodium (one cup set aside for dumplings)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Dumplings:

4 to 4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

In a skillet over medium heat, cook chopped chicken until done, about 8-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Take one cup of the chicken broth and set aside. In a large pot, combine remaining broth, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to keep broth at a simmer.

Meanwhile, stir together 4 cups flour, baking powder, and 1 3/4 teaspoons salt in a medium sized bowl. Whisk together eggs and the reserved 1 cup broth and add to flour mixture. Stir, adding more flour if necessary, until mixture forms soft dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky. Roll out to less than 1/4th inch thickness. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into strips and then crosswise into squares. Carefully drop squares into boiling broth and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add chicken and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Remove from heat; let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

http://www.kinthekitchen.com

~K in the Kitchen