Creamy Chicken and Dumplings (Best Easy Soup Recipe) + Video
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My Chicken & Dumpling Recipe, made with tender chicken, colorful vegetables, and a creamy chicken broth base, is full of flavor and makes a delicious meal. This savory stew recipe is not only comforting, but also so simple! Watch the helpful video in this post to see how easily this one pot meal comes together.
Chicken & Dumpling Recipe
Chicken and dumplings is the ultimate comfort food, made with easy dumplings from scratch!
Every bite of this hearty stew oozes with thick, creamy goodness, and the added veggies take it to the next level.
If this is your first time making this dumpling soup recipe, get ready for the whole family to be hooked. It’s a southern staple in my house!
This stove top chicken & dumpling recipe is the perfect one pot meal for family dinner on a busy weeknight.
It’s literally the perfect comfort food that is easy peasy. You’ll love the creamy texture.
You’ll be amazed by how easy it is to prepare – ready in just 30 minutes! Perfect for a comforting meal on a chilly day.
For more delicious quick chicken meals, try my copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup or my easy Air Fryer Chicken Tenders.
Chicken and Dumplings Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast – If you prefer dark meat, boneless skinless chicken thighs are a great alternative.
This recipe also works well with turkey cutlets, or with rotisserie chicken if you’re in a hurry. Leftover shredded rotisserie chicken works great. - Chicken Broth – Chicken stock will work just fine too for this chicken & dumpling recipe.
- Milk – This will give your dish its creamy consistency. I recommend whole milk, but you can also use low-fat milk.
- Seasoning – Simple dried seasonings will bring the flavor out in this dish. This recipe uses salt, pepper, garlic, onion, basil, and parsley.
But you can certainly use fresh herbs, or add dried rosemary and sage if you have those on hand! - Vegetables – Feel free to add your favorite vegetables. I use frozen peas and carrots here, but spinach and celery would also make excellent additions.
- Dumpling Dough – Make easy homemade dumplings from scratch with just 5 ingredients — flour, softened butter, milk, baking powder, and salt.
If you don’t have time to make homemade dumplings for this easy recipe, you can use storebought biscuit dough as well.
Tips and Tricks for 30 Minute Chicken and Dumplings
- Create a Slurry. Combine flour and milk in a sealable container like a Mason Jar, and shake it up.
You’ll get a smooth flour mixture called a slurry, which will help to thicken your sauce.
This turns this recipe into more a a creamy chicken dumpling soup, loaded with flavor. - Don’t Overwork or Overcook Dumplings. Be careful not to overmix your dumpling dough or to cook it for too long in the pot, otherwise you might end up with dumplings that are too hard.
Perfectly cooked dumplings turn out light, fluffy, and tender. - Test with a Toothpick. When your stew is close to ready, poke a dumpling with a toothpick. Your dumplings will be ready once the toothpick comes out clean.
If there’s some residue on the toothpick, give them a few more minutes to finish cooking. - Try the Instant Pot. If you love this quick chicken and dumplings recipe, try my instant pot version next.
It’s just as tasty as the stove top version, but uses buttermilk biscuits for the dumplings instead! Either way, it will be a family favorite! - Add fresh seasonings. If you want to add a bit of fresh thyme to this dumplings recipe, it’s a great way to add more flavor.
Minced garlic is also a great choice, and even a few bay leaves can help bump up the taste.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
This quick chicken and dumplings recipe is freezer-friendly and easy to store if you have leftovers!
Allow leftovers to cool before transferring to an airtight container. They will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
If you want to keep them longer, place a layer of plastic wrap over the dish, under the lid, before popping the container into the freezer.
This will help prevent freezer burn. You can store your leftovers for about 3-4 months in the freezer.
When you’re ready to enjoy this meal, allow it to defrost in the refrigerator and then reheat on the stovetop on low heat.
You may need to add milk or cream to help loosen it up.
Kitchen Tools You Will Need
- Dutch Oven – I love this set and use it all the time. It is perfect for roasts, and I especially love it for my one-pot meals.
- 1 Tablespoon Scoop – Use this to drop dumplings right into the pot!
Chicken & Dumpling Recipe FAQ
You can thicken this dish by adding more flour, or even cornstarch. Create a slurry with either of these ingredients and milk or water, then stir into your broth base until you get your desired consistency.
Yes, you can use vegetable broth if you have that on hand. You’ll still get a ton of delicious flavor from the chicken itself, plus the variety of seasonings — including poultry seasoning!
Although this 30 minute chicken and dumplings recipe makes a hearty meal, you can easily pair this dish with a variety of other recipes to make your meal more complete!
Bake up some Olive Garden Breadsticks or my Sweet Southern Buttermilk Cornbread while everything simmers.
You’ll also love how this dish tastes with a side of Italian Green Beans or these tasty air fried Brussel Sprouts with Bacon.
This recipe makes the fluffiest dumplings, and I’m obsessed with the texture. You’ll notice right away that delicious dumplings are light, with a little bit of chew. When you make biscuit dumplings, they add a soft texture to the soup, which means there is no need for any added side of bread. (although, if you wanted to add bread to this recipe, I’m not going to stop you!)
These perfectly fluffy dumplings take on the flavor of the creamy soup really well, which helps round out the texture of this great recipe.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Other Amazing Soup Recipes
Creamy Chicken and Dumplings (Best Easy Soup Recipe) + Video
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups milk
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
Dumplings
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- In a heavy bottomed Dutch oven or large wide pot, over medium heat, add chicken broth, water, butter and all seasonings (poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, parsley, basil, and pepper). Cover and bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile, cut chicken breast into bite sized pieces. Add to the pot. Stir to combine and cover.
- In a sealable container (such as a large mason jar) combine flour and milk. Seal tightly and shake vigorously to combine well. You will create a smooth flour mixture for thickening your sauce called a slurry. Slowly pour the slurry into the pot, stirring constantly. Add frozen vegetables and cover.
- Meanwhile combine dumpling ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix well with a fork. Remove cover from the soup pot and stir well.
- Drop dumplings into the soup one tablespoon at a time, use a 1 tablespoon scoop to make it even easier. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until soup is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published November 2012, updated December 2023
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Made this tonight for fussy eaters so no veggies but they all loved it and so did I thanks for a great and fast recipe
Could I use Pillsbury bisquits instead?
Made this using leftover chicken soup. Turned out great! Added parsley and garlic powder to the dumplings for more flavor. It was a big hit!
Do you think this would work with gnocchi instead of dumplings?
This looks very good however I have never thought of chicken and dumplings as soup. Also some of the comments seem to think this food is Southern. Its not.
Can you make this before you eat and just add dumplings in the day you eat it?
Hi! I made this last night and it was definitely a success…however, it didnt thicken up quite like I expected. What kind of milk do you recommend? Whole?
For those afraid the chicken won't cook in the broth – chicken BREAST cut into bite-sized pieces (less than 1") will cook in less than 5 minutes! Chicken thighs cut same will cook almost as fast. So don't understand how it could be "half raw" after 20 min. of cooking. Maybe you're just used to over-cooked meat.
If your dumplings aren't cooking through, you may be making them bigger than called for. This is a measuring tablespoon, not a soup-type spoon, which can make dumplings twice as big. Also, don't lift the lid until time is up.
I am making this tonight for dinner, and my mouth is literally watering! It smells so good in the kitchen! Im almost done and cant wait to eat my bowl by the big picture window and watch the snow fall! Thank you!
I made this and it is delicious! I even made a small side pan with no chicken and used vegtable broth for my vegetarian granddaughter. The seasonings and vegetables made it extra special. I always made traditional chicken and dumplings and they are wonderful but these are extra special. My grandson has requested them for his birthday dinner on Sunday. Thanks for the recipe!
I made these twice and it turned out great both times. The third time though I couldn’t get the dumplings to thicken and they turned out undercooked. I went back to Double check the recipe compared to the ingredients I had left and I did put in the right amounts. It never did seem to want to thicken enough, so I put in some extra flour, which helped some. Still looked a little runny to me, but I thought maybe it was thick enough. Nope. Any idea where I could have gone wrong? It’s really bugging me that I can’t figure it out!
Made this tonight. SO GOOD!! Def going into normal rotation! The only thing I did different was add some minced garlic to the stew (because… garlic lol) and added a little Italian seasoning to the dumplings and let them cook an extra 15min or so because they didn't seem cooked through. Thank you for the recipe my family LOVED it!!
Looks delicious! I've always made chicken and dumplings the southern way, too. It's takes a lot longer and my daughter needs a quicker/easier way to make this. This will be a perfect option. I think I'll go with your recipe, too. Why take an hour or so cooking this when you can get just as good or better in only 30 minutes? Thank you for the recipe! I love your recipes. 🙂
While the recipe itself is tasty, my dumplings were also soggy, not cooked through after 10 minutes. Had to cook an additional 30 minutes. Any suggestions ?
Could this be done in a crock pot? What you think?
Taught my g-daughter this recipe to teach her how to read a recipe and cook it. Came out delicious.
Now it is holiday and I have a lot of time to cook whatever I want for dinner and your chicken dumpling soup recipe is always one of my favourite choice! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I don't see a time for simmering with the raw chicken added. Can you elaborate for me on this?
Made this exactly as written tonight and we loved it! I have never been able to get flavoring in my drop dumplings but also have never used poultry seasoning. Definately helped. Thank you for sharing this!
Great recipe! I just finished it last night and the result was unexpected, my wife and daughter both liked it, which made me happy. Thanks for your recipe!!!
Thank you so much! I love this recipe; it is perfect as is. It is easy and perfect for a chilly evening. My daughter is gluten free, and I make some dumplings for her with gluten-free flour. They come out great, as do the ones made with regular flour. I would think you could substitute potatoes and other vegetables for chicken if you are vegetarian.
I use Bisquick for my dumplings. My mom always used it. Recipe is on their site. Comes out perfect every time.
OMGosh…. I made this tonight. (021221). The taste reminded me of the Chix & Dumplings we had growing up…. sooooo many years ago. We like our dumplings a bit on the smaller side so, next time, I’ll probably do them as gently rounded teaspoons but otherwise, JUST DELICIOUS. Will share this to my FB page.
DELICIOUS!!! So glad I found this recipe, thank you! It is so creamy and divine!
Sounds absolutely yummy 🙂 Can't wait to try it. Thanks for the recipe.