Hearty Chicken Soup with Dumplings

It's the week before Thanksgiving and the weather is finally catching up with the season, meaning it's finally time for those warm, delicious comfort foods we associate with autumn and winter. My favorite of these is definitely chicken and dumplings and I've had this meal in mind for a few weeks now, but wanted to refine the recipe a little bit before sharing it. When I made it last night it turned out perfectly, so I guess we're ready. Dumplings can be tricky and anytime I've tried other recipes the dumplings have disappointed me. The dumplings will rise quite a bit as they cook, so I roll the dough out and slice it into rectangles with a knife or pizza cutter, so that the dumplings will be thin and can cook all the way through.

When cooking a whole chicken, I always like to add the extra step of making a bone broth for those extra nutrients. (Then I can feel better about the less-nutritious dumplings part of the recipe.) I often do this ahead of time, cooking the chicken and then freezing the broth and the shredded meat separately. This allows me to simply combine all the soup ingredients and add the dumplings at the end. 

CHICKEN BONE BROTH SOUP

1 whole chicken

4 ribs celery chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 bay leaf

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

DUMPLINGS

2 cups all purpose flour, plus about 1/2 cup extra

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

4 tablespoons melted butter

1 tsp salt

Rinse whole chicken in cold water, and pat dry. Place, breast down, in crockpot with 1 cup of water. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken and pick apart, placing the large bones back in the crockpot, setting aside the meat, and discarding the rest.

Add 6 cups of water to the crockpot, along with the carrots, celery, shallots, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme sprig. Cook on low 6-8hrs. Use a slotted spoon to sift through and remove all the bones, bay leaves, and thyme sprig.

Place broth in a large pan over medium high heat and add the chicken, shredding into small pieces as you go. Bring broth to a boil while you make the dough for dumplings. 

To make dumplings: Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Combine milk and melted butter. Add to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine, adding extra flour a little at a time until the dough starts to form a ball.  Roll the dough out to about 1/4" thickness and slice into strips.  Cut or break off dumplings in approx 3" pieces and drop directly into the boiling soup, trying to spread them out so they don't pile up and stick together.

Cover, and return to the boil. Then reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes. (Pull out a dumpling to test, doneness. Once the dumplings are cooked through and not doughy, it's ready to serve.)

Serve topped with fresh parsley.