UW Extension

A meal of chicken and dumplings creates a sense of coziness. Chicken and dumplings combine cooked chicken simmered with dumplings in a flavorful, creamy broth. Additional vegetables, like carrots, onion, and celery, are also routinely part of the recipe, adding savoriness. Herbs and seasonings are also often added to brighten the flavor.

Avoid flavorless chicken and doughy dumplings. With these top tips, you can ensure your chicken and dumplings are a phenomenal meal.

Chicken – Rather than using chicken breasts, opt for chicken thighs. This cut has more fat than the breast, and the meat is slightly darker and moister, giving the dish more flavor. The fat content allows for simmering chicken thighs for a good length of time without them drying out. If you want to use chicken breasts, try to shred them down as much as possible to ensure the soup can properly coat and moisten the meat.

Fats – By frying the chicken and sautéing the vegetables instead of placing them straight into the liquid to cook, you develop a brown color on them and increase the dish's overall flavor. Mix butter with a high smoke point oil to get the flavor of butter while preventing it from burning.

Frying the Chicken – Traditional chicken and dumplings are often made using boiled chicken, then cubed up and dropped into the soup. Boiling the chicken prevents you from using additional oil to cook them, but it can also make the protein hard and almost inedible. The proteins toughen up if you boil chicken at a too-high heat or keep it on the boil for too long. In addition, this causes any moisture or fat in the meat to leach out, leaving you with tough chicken.

Frying the chicken and leaving it to rest before cubing it up allows the moisture to re-establish itself in the meat, giving you tender bites. Frying the meat also develops flavor, thanks to the browning it gains on its exterior. It's also important not to boil your chicken once you've added it to the soup mixture; instead, keep it on a low simmer. This will stop the chicken from seizing up and getting tough and your dumplings from doing the same thing.

Roux – A roux combines all-purpose flour and melted fat cooked together before the liquid is added. A roux requires equal amounts of fat and flour to ensure the sauce becomes thick enough without tasting floury. As the liquid heats, it combines with the flour, slowly turning into a thick, white sauce.

Flour – Dumplings are almost always better made with self-rising flour than regular all-purpose flour. Self-rising flour has the leavening agent baking powder added, giving the dough you make with it a lighter, spongier consistency.

If you don't have self-rising flour, you can make your own. Combine 1 cup all-purpose flour with 1½ teaspoons of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Thoroughly mix the ingredients before using.

Dough – Homemade dumplings come together in just a few minutes, so the effort is worth it. The dumplings are one of the two stars of the dish, so getting them right is crucial. When they're made incorrectly by overworking the dough, they can toughen. The solution is to be as gentle as possible when working with your dough. Stir together your dry and wet ingredients until just combined, and once your dough ball feels solid and well-formed, stop.

If your recipe uses flat dumpling noodles cooked in the broth, don't roll them too thoroughly or re-roll the dough too many times, as this can toughen it up. Additionally, try not to add too much extra flour to roll it out, as this can dry out the dough, making it dense.

Dumplings – Generally, chicken and dumpling recipes designate around 15 minutes of cooking time at a low simmer once the dumpling mixture has been added to the pot. To ensure maximum steam coverage for the dumplings, spread them evenly around the pan so they're not touching.

The key to making perfect dumplings is to keep the lid on until the cooking time has elapsed. The dumplings cook from the liquid's steam, making them light and pillowy. Every time you open your pot, that steam escapes, dropping the mixture's temperature and causing your dumplings to become chewy instead of fluffy.

An easy way to check dumplings is with a toothpick. Insert a toothpick into the middle of the thickest part of a dumpling. The dumplings are fully cooked if it comes out without any raw dough on it. Dumplings can overcook fairly easily; when they do, they lose all their bite and fluffiness and start falling apart.

Chicken and dumplings are pure comfort food made of flavorful broth, tender chicken, sweet carrots, fresh herbs and fluffy homemade dumplings. Find a recipe that sounds good to you. This meal will warm up and comfort any soul on a cold winter's day!

(Sources: http://www.thedailymeal.com; http://www.masterclass.com; http://www.theslowroasteditalian.com)

The University of Wyoming and the United States Department of Agriculture cooperate.

The University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.