Easy Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings.
Sooooo. Does it still count as an anniversary meal if you eat it two weeks before?
Because we did. I’m not sure. I think yes. You probably think no. But if there is one thing I’ve learned in four years of marriage, it’s that um… you should probably pick and choose your battles.
Almost four years ago today, err, okay – maybe four years plus one week ago today, I remember exactly where I was first thing in the morning. My husband walked into the room wrapped in two of these insanely fluffy towels that we had been gifted at our wedding shower, and well, for lack of a better word… I went apeshit.
I know. Towels, you ask? Yes… towels. I was already less than thrilled about moving into his serious bachelor pad that yesI’mnotkidding had framed pictures of WWF wrestlers hanging on the walls along with a whole slew of other collectibles that were way before my time, and the towels… well, the towels just made me lose my mind.
I knew that in a few weeks or months we would probably be moving to a new place, and I figured that we could save these gorgeous post-shower puffy clouds until then. So, you know… we’d use our NEW towels in our NEW place. It would just be fun! I mean, I had never bought nice towels before and I definitely was wary about using them in one of the scariest showers I’d ever seen along with some lovely mushed pea green carpet. They were just… so fluffy and soft. I figured they’d be perfect in a nice, bright, clean and female-dominant bathroom.
Welp. I guess I didn’t properly communicate my… ideas? Because when he walked into the room wrapped in those towels, I sort of hit the roof. In an OMG-I-can’t-believe-you-used-our-new-towels-you-seriously-don’t-even-love-me-and-how-can-I-realistically-cohabit-with-another-person-for-the-rest-of-my-life kind of way.
Yeah. Not crazy or anything. I can only imagine how thrilled he was that morning that he’d got himself into a mostly permanent situation. Lovely.
ANYWAY. Within 24 hours or less I came to my senses. It was a momentary lapse of sanity most likely brought on by the fact that I had just woken up a few minutes prior to a dresser covered in die cast cars to my left and a large and dusty stuffed turkey in front of me. Wouldn’t that make YOU crazy? Unless you’re like 14 years old and probably… a boy.
The thing is… he never used the nice towels again! I think I scarred the guy for life. And seriously, my flip out wasn’t THAT bad. It was more like ridiculous whiney tears. And to this day… he still won’t use the towels. He insists on using these super old towels that he bought years and years and years ago, and while I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with my medusa moment and everything to do with his longtime grief of leaving his sweet man cave and having to live amongst flowered bedspreads and feminine products… it still drives me batty. So now, I constantly nag him for NOT using the towels.
Riddle me that.
In four years, that only scrapes the bottom of what has REALLY gone on is this relationship. While some are justified, most are just plain insane. A little over two years ago I could not for the LIFE of me figure out why he wasn’t talking to me one morning. And as I was shouting to him while he was in the shower, badgering the crap out of him as to WHY he could possibly be mad at me, he opened the door and screamed “can’t you just EVER turn the lights out in the garage? Like ever? I come home, they’re on. I wake up, they’re on. Why can’t you just TURN OUT THE LIGHTS?”
To which I immediately burst in to tears and wailed because I’m scared of the dark and there are bugs and most likely monsters in the basement!
That… is real life. In four years… even two years… heck, even ONE year, I can’t tell you how much we’ve grown and have learn to pick our battles and respect what makes each other tick. And now, when he asks for chicken for dinner, I don’t make chicken stuffed with peaches and bacon and goat cheese, covered in arugula and drizzled with garlic oil. Because clearly people, that isn’t “chicken.”
Instead I make chicken like this. Bowls of comfort, bowls that taste like home. This crockpot version is super easy with a few extra minutes taken to ensure everything is homemade. If you’re short on time, you can most likely use canned biscuits for the dumplings too. And then you can serve it as soup, or as I prefer… a big bowl of chicken and dumplings with just a little broth to float in. This… always wins a battle.
Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon flour
- 56 ounces low-sodium chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup half and half
dumplings
- 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup milk, whole, 2% or 1%
Instructions
- In the bottom of your crockpot, layer onions, carrots and garlic. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper then lay them on top.
- Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and add butter. Once sizzling, whisk in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes to create a roux, until it’s golden in color. Add in 2 cups of chicken stock and mix well, bringing to a boil. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring, then remove from heat and pour over the chicken and vegetables. Add remaining chicken stock, put the lid on and cook on low for 6 hours.
- After 6 hours, turn the crockpot heat onto high. Using forks or kitchen tongs, lightly shred the chicken breasts. (This should be easy since they have cooked so long.) Stir half and half into the crockpot, then recover while you make the dumplings. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper. Crumble in butter with your fingers and rub into the flour until evenly dispersed and coarse crumbs form. Add in milk, stirring well just until a sticky dough forms. Use a tablespoon measure and add small scoops of the dough into the crockpot, starting by placing them around the outside first, then the inside. Cover and cook for another 1-1.5 hours, until dumplings are cooked but soft and not longer raw in the middle. Taste and season additionally if desired.
- Serve immediately!
Did you make this recipe?
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139 Comments on “Easy Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings.”
Chicken and dumplings remind me of my Grandmother. Visiting her big old (and yes sometimes creepy) house, snow storms, power outages and comforting stories, hugs and big bowls of chicken and dumplings! Hurray for chicken and dumplings!
I’ve been looking for a good dumpling recipe! One of my friends wants to have a girl’s night where we cook, watch Dawson’s Creek, and make dumplings. My blog post for this will be called “Dawson’s Dumps.” Thought you might appreciate that :)
I loved reading your first morning of being married story :). I had a similar freakout on the first day of being married, because my husband decided to take a bath. We have sunk in tubs in our apartment, and apparently he wanted to try one out. I had a little breakdown, which might have included something like, “I can’t believe I married a girl — guys do not take baths!” And he has not taken a bath since. In my defense, I was running on about 4 hours of sleep, and our flight to Maui had been cancelled, so I was not in the best of moods. Considering we’ve only been married for three months, I know I still have a lot to learn :).
Really sad to know that people could get upset with the person they love over the way he/she chooses to relax and/or bathe himself.
How sad – he hasn’t taken a bath since. I don’t see much longevity in this marriage. He’ll get tired of the petty judgments and find someone that appreciates him for who he is.
I’m learning to cohabit with my gentleman (and I’m the messy one in the relationship) so this was a hiliariawesometerrifying post for me. You mean there’s going to me more after this year???
My freak out was within our first month of marriage and it was over changing the sheets on the bed. His method was that who cares if they are lined up or tucked in. Major meltdown on my part. How could I have married someone who doesn’t make nice tight corners and fold the top sheet down at the top! Fast forward 23 years later and he still walks out of the room when I’m changing sheets! I’m pretty sure he did this on purpose :)
Love chicken and dumplings. I made my version in the crock pot quite often. They are so delicious and comforting, especially as the weather is getting cooler!
Sweet baby Jesus. Chicken and dumplings is one of my favorite things my Gramma makes, but I can never replicate her recipe just right. This looks and sounds easy and delicious. And it’s just in time for the cold weather!
Hi Jessica,
I found your blog from Rebecca Minkoff’s Instagram – and I don’t really cook, but I love your writing. I totally understand about your freakin’ out at your husband about the new towels, but this dish (and all the others) looks so delicious I’m certain you’ve made it up to him!
Anyway, great site!
Betty
Thanks Betty! So glad you found me.
Naawww I love this post! And the weird thing is, I TOTALLY get you on the towels thing. I would’ve thrown a whiney fit too – it’s scary.
I leave the lights on in the apartment all the time. The worst part is that our apartment is one big circle. I walk around the circle leaving all the lights on in my wake!
Anyways… this looks like the perfect fall dinner. Its been so rainy here recently!
Love this. One of my biggest freakouts actually occurred shortly before the wedding day, and it was over M&Ms, and chips and salsa. They were a gag gift at my shower, and it’s kind of a long story, but my then-fiancee enjoyed every last bite without me. We had this huge fight, but now we’ve been married for just over three years, and I’m learning when to let things go. =) I’m sure delicious chicken and dumplings always help!!
I have been silently blog stalking you for a few months, pinning your amazing recipes which I can’t usually make for my gluten free dairy free meat free crohns husband but I still sure as heck try. I just finally have to say it: you are adorable! You are hilarious! You are brilliant and relatable and I love the way you write and I never post comments on blogs EVER but I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I think I have a girl crush on you. Keep up the awesome work. You rock my socks.
for this chicken and dumplings recipe you can try using cornstarch instead of flour (use half as much cornstarch) in the chicken part…cornstarch is a good and cheap gluten free thickener….for dairy try using the dairy free milks like soy, rice or coconut….I personally recommend coconut milk….I’m not dairy intolerant or allergic but I had coconut milk ice cream once and it was heaven (So delicious brand coconut is available in half gallons for a pretty reasonable price and it’s surprisingly low in fat too, about the same fat content as 2 % milk….used this in my homemade ice cream….came out more like a sorbet than ice cream most likely due to this surprisingly low fat content of this brand of coconut milk but that’s OK with me….still tasted fantastic)…for the flour for the dumplings you can try using a gluten-free flour of some kind like rice flour (if you have a stand mixer and have the grain mill attachment for it you can grind your own rice flour, again not gluten intolerant either just offering this as a suggestion)
subbing meat might be a bit more problematic…..I know the people who make the “Smart Deli” stuff (I think the parent company that makes that product line is called something like “Lightlife”) make “chicken” strips that are vegetarian (and possibly vegan) but buying 2.5 lbs worth of it can get expensive as I believe it’s only like a 12 oz. package but costs something like 3 or 4 bucks for that package of it….could also try subbing tofu instead….I know it definitely wouldn’t be the same (heck even subbing those chicken strips wouldn’t be quite the same as using real chicken) but at least it might be something your husband could eat (and possibly enjoy eating)
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I think you are fantastic!! I love your recipes and your writing is the best! An email from you is ALWAYS the first thing I open and read all the way through. Thank You
Thanks Mary!
A great big happy anniversary to the two of you! :)
I am definitely making this recipe. And I am with you on those silly arguments too; my boyfriend and I had several similar towel and lights “silly-fights” and it made me laugh when I read yours. Thank you for this amazing blog- its my first and only blog I follow.
Thanks Dora!
My god this post is so beautiful! I hope when I eventually co-habit or marry, I’ll keep this mind and make this soup…
thanks for sharing Jess!!
I read this and laughed out loud during the whole thing. Then I called in my mom and read it to her and we laughed and laughed. I can always count on you to bring laughter and sunshine into my day. Well, that, and amazing recipes.
I have been married 17.5 years and can totally relate to this story. With us it was always that he came in from work and dropped his dirty socks on the floor right next to the chair he sat down in….and then NEVER picked them up. over the years I learned to just stop complaining about it because it just wasn’t worth a war. After all these years, he now takes off the socks, balls them up together and throws them down the hall, where they land right in front of the washing machine. :)
Honestly, you are the best storyteller I know. Never stop. :)
Such a funny story! I had a breakdown on my husband just the other night that I now realize is so silly. But at the time SO important!! Haha.
PS – really looking forward to making this recipe! Thanks!
I read this, went to the store after work to get some add’l crap that I needed and made it IMMEDIATELY. Can I just say? Holy. Sh*tballs. That is freaking DELICIOUS. We had it last night and my boyfriend and I just loved it. He has never been a fan of dumplings but he really liked these. So good! Thank you!
#1 I salivated over this recipe and just so happened to have everything I needed on hand. That never happens.
#2 I followed all your directions, but I added some celery and used low fat milk instead (pre-holiday dieting :/)
#3 I served it to my family and they wouldn’t shut up about how good it was. I don’t know if it’s because I hardly ever cook for them or if it was truly that good, but I’m going with the latter because I thought it was dang amazing!!!
If I could curl up with a bowl of this, my Dawson’s Creek DVDs, fuzzy pjs, and a large mug of hot cocoa, all whilst snuggling my humongous dog FOREVER, I would. Thanks for the keeper recipe!!!
Yup. I’m totally making this today. Perfect raining day weekend food.
Sweet story. You always hear people say that relationships are hard work but they never say just how, and it’s exactly this. A lot of the time, it’s about making the decision if the thing is worth yelling about or not.
These photos are beautiful :)
I made this tonight and I am fairly certain I can now buy those fabulous shoes I have had my eyes on without my husband saying anything. Thanks for helping me complete my closet!
Thursday is mine and my husbands 4 year anniversary and since we wont actually see each other because of my stupid school requirements I will make him this meal to remember me by :)
I have this in the crcockpot right now and I am so excited because my family loves chicken and dumplings but we have never found the perfect recipe. It’s like finding that perfect pair of jeans. Or black pants. Nearly impossible.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Going to add it to my favorite recipes. Although next time I think I will add more vegetables. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this on Sunday night and it was FANTASTIC! I meant to have leftovers for a few days but my husband ate all of it. Loved it!
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So I made this yesterday… YUM! I’ve never had chicken & dumplings before (neither had my husband) so we were both a bit like “oh man are we going to have to order pizza?” But nope. It was AWESOME! We even both had second helpings. I’ll definitely be making this again… thanks for the recipe! Oh & I have enough broth/chicken/carrots/onions mixture left over (we ate ALL the dumplings) that I think I am going to try to add some potatoes & corn & make a soup out of it or something… I’d hate for it to go to waste.
Keep up the good work! I love trying your recipes!
xoxo
Made this tonight to have during the Steelers game. LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing; this will definitely be a winter staple.
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I made this recipe last week and boy was hooked. This is by far the easiest and best chicken and dumplings I have ever had. Well diff make all year round. Thanks for the great reciepe.
I meant to say “boy was I hooked” My family all loved this receipe by the way.
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I’m gonna try to make this some time this week. I’d just like to let you know that where it says “1/2 teaspoon flour” for the chicken part of the recipe I think it’s supposed to be “1/2 teaspoon of pepper”
For time saving techniques:
Many supermarkets have a decent selection of pre-chopped veggies like onions and carrots available. And also many supermarkets, in the freezer case, sell bags of diced cooked chicken breast (usually oven roasted or grilled, Target has diced grilled chicken breast in its freezer cases in their own store brand, Market Pantry)….these are about 20 oz. in size….so 2 bags would give you just the right amount of chicken
Healthy tips:
for the chicken part – make the chicken broth from boullion, use fat-free half & half, use Land O’ Lakes spreadable light butter with canola oil (not only is it lower in fat at 5 grams total fat per tablespoon as opposed to 11 grams of total fat per tablespoon for regular butter but the spreadable stuff stays soft in the fridge and thus is easier to work with and will melt faster when you do the roux), and then for the roux can use whole wheat flour
for the biscuit “dumpling” dough you can again use the spreadable light butter and use skim milk or even leftover fat free half & half
I have this in the crockpot right now. I’m coming up on ten years of marriage, and still occasionally have those, “what was I thinking” moments. For example, my husband doesn’t like chicken and dumplings. I’m hoping this might change his mind.
making this for the 3rd time since you posted the recipe. SO easy and such as hit amongst my friends and family! may go down as my favorite recipe find of the year :)
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So…the chicken and dumplings (dumplings added later) that I made this weekend and froze was the best part of today. It was one of those days… And man, this recipe was good!! (I hope you know the trick of putting the soup in a freezer bag and then freezing flat on a cookie sheet…saves lots of room in the freezer…) Ate this and watched Dowton Abbey season 1…getting addicted as we speak…
Making this right now! I have to pull the veggies out before I serve because the love of my life hates veggies!!! For 23 years i have been omitting or removing veggies from his dinners lol he doesn’t usually know I do that! I used to freak out about it because I love veggies, now I just smile…because there is a very good chance I left a carrot behind lol! Thank you for sharing this! I can’t wait to read more of your blog!
Excellent recipe from scratch, & it’s easy, Thank you! It was so hard to find one without using canned creamed soups! I used a whole chicken & my own broth. Next time I may try cutting down on the sugar or leaving it out, I like my recipe more salty, but everyone including myself thought it was excellent!
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i have been looking for crockpot chicken and dumplings with homemade biscuits for forever!!!! yay!!! i love making biscuits from scratch =) this is dinner tonight!
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Jessica-
Incredible kismet.
Great story. My best man in the world and I had a medusa-moment incident last night. The worst in our 1.5 years. (And yes, I still live in the man-cave…it however is a lovely home….full of 80’s pinball machines and arcade games.)
We were still quite cold this morning, so my guilt-ridden (previously take-no-quarter, Valkyrie self) decided that chicken and dumplings might help healing. As I was looking for a recipe, I landed on your post….got the recipe and an uplift and smile too!
I’ll send an update on the recipe…I only cooked up until it was time to add the dumplings. Then my guy gets home with plans to take me out. I’ll reheat and add dumplings tomorrow.
An unexpected laugh: I had my lover read your post, which he enjoyed. English is not his first (although his is excellent) language. His first comment: “Ape-shit?! I’ve never heard that term before. I think this post provides a thorough definition…I like that term.”