A classic and hearty Chicken and Dumplings Soup From Scratch! This easy recipe is made using a whole chicken, loaded with vegetables, and topped with fluffy homemade dumplings.

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we can move on from talking all about turkey to talking about chicken. Although, I am a little sad that Thanksgiving 2017 is over because Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for a couple reasons. First, there is so much food! And, obviously, I love food. I love making food, I love eating food, and I love talking about food. My favorite Thanksgiving foods are by far my mom’s stuffing, my Green Bean Casserole with Rosemary Parmesan Gravy, and ham. I just love ham. And being that we raise cows and pigs for our own meat, our ham is as fresh and tasty as it gets! We even smoke the hams ourselves in a smoker that my dad built out of an old refrigerator. Pretty nifty, and pretty damn delicious.

After Thanksgiving, we usually have leftover ham, which means SMOKED HAM AND BEAN SOUP! Ahh, it’s soo good. My mom has made it for years, and guess what, I’ve got it up on the blog, so now you can make it too!

Speaking of yummy soups, who doesn’t love a classic? My Chicken and Dumplings Soup From Scratch is made using a whole chicken and is the ultimate cold weather comfort food. Even though this recipe calls for a whole chicken, I don’t want you to be intimidated; it’s easier to make than you may think.

You can buy a whole chicken at basically any grocery store next to all the other cuts of chicken. Then you just throw that chicken into a large pot, add some water and cook it right up (among other things). By doing so, you’ve made homemade broth and cooked your chicken in one swoop. Toss in some vegetables, mix together a handful of ingredients to make dumplings, and you’re almost done. Once you add the dumplings to the soup, you cover it with a lid, and in 15 minutes they are perfectly fluffy and tasty.

Not to mention, this Chicken and Dumpling Soup From Scratch feeds a crowd. It’s perfect for large families or leftovers! It reheats nicely.

You can freeze your leftovers, but the dumplings don’t un-thaw super well. I noticed that they kind of fell apart after being reheated from a frozen state. But, it all still tasted just as good! It just wasn’t as pretty. But does it really matter when it still tastes delicious? Nahhh.

Now, go enjoy something other than turkey and mashed potatoes, like this Chicken and Dumplings Soup From Scratch!

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Chicken and Dumplings Soup From Scratch

Prep 15 mins

Cook 2 hours, 15 mins

Total 2 hours, 30 mins

Author Rachel Riesgraf

Yield 8-10 servings

A classic, hearty version of Chicken and Dumplings Soup made from scratch using a whole chicken to make the tastiest broth. Easy-to-make, loaded with vegetables, and topped with fluffy homemade dumplings.

Ingredients

Soup:

• 1 whole 3-4 lb chicken, thawed
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 celery sticks, thinly sliced
• 4 large carrots, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup flour
• 4-6 cups chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base (or 2 chicken bouillon cubes)
• ½ teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning chicken
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper, plus more for seasoning chicken
• ½ teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 cup frozen peas

Dumplings:

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Place whole chicken in a large 4-6 quart baking dish with water. Season well with salt and pepper. Cover with tinfoil and bake 25 minutes for each pound, or until internal temperature reaches 165° F. So, if your chicken weighs 3 pounds, bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. 
3. Once done, remove chicken from the baking dish and let cool enough to handle, then remove meat from bones and shred. While chicken is cooling, strain liquid from the baking dish into a large bowl, and measure how many cups you have and set aside.
4. Add oil, celery sticks, carrots, and onion to a 6-quart or larger dutch oven or stockpot. Cook on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are slightly tender.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and a cup of the liquid from the chicken, and pour into stockpot; whisk to combine. Add remaining liquid from the chicken and enough extra chicken broth to make a total of 8 cups of liquid in the pot. Add chicken bouillon, salt, pepper, and thyme to the pot, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil to slightly thicken the soup, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.
6. While soup is simmering, make the dumpling batter. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and parsley (if desired). Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until combined. Do not over mix dumplings or they will become dense.
7. After soup has simmered for 30 minutes, add chicken meat and peas to pot and stir to combine. 
8. Using a spoon, gently drop dumpling batter into the soup to create about 8-10 dumplings. Don’t make them too large, as the dumplings will double in size. Cover and simmer for 18 minutes or until dumplings are cooked. Do not remove the lid while the dumplings are cooking, as they need the steam to cook properly.
9. Enjoy!

Notes

1. I used a 3-pound chicken which had about 4 cups of meat on it. Alternatively, you can use 3 medium chicken breasts.
2. If your chicken is frozen, bake at 350° F. for about 3 hours or until internal temperature reaches 165° F. 

Courses Dinner/Lunch