Chicken and Dumplings

Why This Chicken and Dumplings Works

As the chicken simmers in the broth, the meat slowly cooks through but stays moist because it is surrounded by hot liquid instead of dry heat. Some of the chicken’s juices mix into the broth, so the liquid starts to taste richer and a little thicker. After the chicken is pulled out and shredded, it goes back in later, so it doesn’t dry out from sitting in the pot too long.

While the vegetables cook in the butter, the onions, carrots, and celery soften and lose their crunch. Their edges start to break down, so they blend into the broth instead of feeling like separate chunks. The garlic and thyme spread through the hot fat first, then move into the broth, so every spoonful tastes the same.

Once the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk are mixed, the dough is still soft, but it holds together. When spoonfuls of that dough hit the simmering broth and the pot is covered, the baking powder makes the dumplings puff up. Steam from the hot broth moves into the dough, cooking it from the inside. The flour on the outside also thickens the broth a bit, so the whole pot ends up creamy, with tender chicken and fluffy dumplings floating through it.

Mistakes To Avoid

Letting the chicken boil hard the whole time instead of a gentle simmer makes the meat tough and stringy. The fast bubbling squeezes out moisture, so even once it’s shredded and put back in, the pieces stay chewy instead of soft in the broth.

Dropping dumpling dough into a rolling boil causes them to break apart. The outside tears before it can set, so the flour leaks into the pot, thickens the broth in random clumps, and the dumplings end up ragged or disappear almost completely.

Lifting the lid while the dumplings cook breaks the steamy environment they need. The temperature drops, the tops dry out instead of steaming, and the dumplings stay doughy in the center while the outside turns heavy and dense.

Overworking the dumpling dough until it’s very smooth makes the dumplings tough. The flour soaks up too much liquid and tightens, so instead of light, fluffy pieces, they cook up as thick, chewy lumps.

Adding the shredded chicken back too early and simmering it a long time makes it dry. The small pieces keep cooking in the hot broth and lose moisture, so the meat feels fibrous even though it’s sitting in liquid.