SOUTHERN HOMEMADE CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS RECIPES

Steps:

• Add chicken, broth, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder and bay leaf to a wide stock pot or dutch oven. Cover then bring to a slow simmer over medium heat. Once broth is bubbling, reduce heat to low then cook, covered, for 2-3 hours, or until legs and thighs are pulling apart from the body and the chicken is very tender. See notes.
• Remove chicken from broth; set aside. Strain broth into a large bowl or pitcher, discarding bay leaf and loose bones or skin; set broth aside.
• Melt butter in the (now empty) pot then cook celery, carrots and onion over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add flour, stir well, then continue cooking for 5 minutes.
• Slowly stir reserved broth in with vegetables. Continue stirring until completely smooth. Reduce heat to low and cover.
• Remove skin and bones from chicken then shred or cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.
• Prepare dumplings.
• Heat pot with broth over medium-high heat until it starts to boil. Add chicken. Gently drop dumplings, one at a time, into gently boiling broth. Take care to drop dumplings away from other freshly dropped dumplings as they will stick to each other before they have a chance to cook.
• Once all of the dumplings are in the pot, sprinkle with additional pepper then cover pot. Reduce heat to medium-low then allow to cook for 10 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through.
• Serve immediately.
• Place milk in a wide, shallow bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes to chill. This will help to separate the melted butter when we pour it in so that our dumplings are very much like actual biscuits without the fuss of actually making biscuits.
• Melt the butter then set aside.
• Combine flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and thyme in a mixing bowl then whisk to combine; set aside.
• Slowly drizzle melted butter into chilled milk, stirring with a fork until combined. The mixture should look like curdled milk or cottage cheese.
• Add milk mixture to flour mixture then stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until just combined.
• If making Drop Dumplings: scoop portions of dough with two teaspoons or use a cookie scoop (I used a 1” cookie scoop in the ones pictured here) then drop into gently boiling broth.
• If making Rolled Dumplings: Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface then sprinkle with more flour. Roll into desired thickness (anticipate they will double in thickness when cooked). Cut into squares or rectangles (however your granny did it) then drop into gently boiling broth.

Steps:

• Place the chicken into a large boiling pot. Add chicken broth and water. Make sure the chicken is covered with water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Throughout cooking skim away any foam that forms in your pot. Simmer for 1-1/2 hours until chicken is done and tender. Remove chicken from the broth and allow to cool.
• Debone the chicken once it is cool enough to handle. While deboning the chicken discard the undesirable parts (skin, bones, etc). Cut deboned chicken into bite-sized pieces.
• Now it's time to prepare your dumplings. Preparing the dumplings is easy. Mix your flour, salt, egg, butter, and milk in a stand mixer. If you don't have a stand mixer, a mixing bowl and hand mixer will do the job. Continue to mix to form balls.
• Form your dumplings by rolling out the dough to about 1/8 inch on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut your dough into bite-size pieces. If you feel creative try cutting out small circles, squares or diamond patterns.
• Bring the chicken broth to a boil. Drop dumplings into boiling broth, ensuring that they submerge. Add all of your dumplings to the broth. You can keep dumplings from sticking together by adding butter and dunk dumplings one final time. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Add chicken and simmer until chicken is heated. Your dumplings are now ready to serve.