Chicken and dumplings can turn into an afternoon project once homemade dough enters the recipe. Mixing, rolling, and cutting dumplings adds another job before they ever reach the pot.
This version skips that part without skipping the dumplings. Refrigerated biscuit dough goes into the slow cooker near the end, where it cooks in the chicken broth and creamy sauce.
The shortcut came in handy with a house full of teenagers over for game day. Dinner could cook without someone standing over the stove, and the store-bought dough did not draw any complaints. The bowls came back for seconds.
Chicken Cooks First in the Slow Cooker
Start with 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Scatter 1/2 cup of chopped onion over the meat.
In a bowl, whisk together one 10.5-ounce can each of cream of chicken and cream of celery soup with 32 ounces of chicken broth. Add 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
Pour the mixture over the chicken, then add 12 ounces of frozen peas and carrots. Cover and cook on high for four hours without stirring.
Shred the Chicken Before Adding the Dumplings
After four hours, remove the chicken breasts and shred them with two forks. Return the meat to the slow cooker and stir it into the sauce.
At this point, the chicken, vegetables, and creamy broth are cooked. The dumplings are the last part to go in, and there is no flour-covered counter or rolling pin involved.
Refrigerated Biscuits Become the Dumplings
Open 16 ounces of refrigerated biscuit dough and cut each biscuit into about 12 bite-size pieces. Scatter the pieces across the surface of the chicken mixture.
Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes. Give the dumplings a gentle stir to separate them and push them into the sauce, then cover the pot again.
Cook for another 30 minutes, or until the pieces are cooked through. The biscuit dough takes on the role of homemade dumplings while cooking in the same pot as the rest of dinner.
Leftovers Need One Small Change
Taste the finished chicken and dumplings and add more salt or pepper if needed. From there, it can go straight from the slow cooker into bowls.
Leftovers can stay in the refrigerator for up to three days. Freezing calls for a different approach because the cooked dumplings do not hold up as well. Freeze the chicken and sauce without them, then add fresh biscuit dough when reheating.
Chicken thighs can replace the breasts, and turkey breast also works if that is what you have on hand.
Would you make dumpling dough from scratch, or open a can of biscuits for the shortcut?
