Medium

Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings

Name: Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Canadian
Ingredients: 6 pieces bone-in chicken thighs; 8 cups chicken broth; 2 pieces carrots, sliced; 2 stalks celery, sliced; 1 piece onion, diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 tbsp baking powder; 0.5 tsp salt; 3 tbsp cold butter, cubed; 0.75 cup milk; 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped; 1 tsp thyme

(248)

1 hr 20 min6480 cal

By ChickenRecipes.ca Team|March 15, 2024

This is the recipe that Canadians from every province claim as their grandmother's — and they're all right because every grandmother made some version of it. Tender pulled chicken in a thick, herbed broth with fluffy drop dumplings that puff up to twice their size and soak up the broth from the bottom while staying light on top. The secret to good dumplings is cold butter and not overmixing the batter — treat it like biscuit dough, not cake batter. Drop them into barely simmering broth, put the lid on, and do not peek for 15 full minutes. Every time you lift the lid, you release steam that the dumplings need to cook properly.

soups-stewscomfort-fooddumplingscanadian-classic

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Ingredients

Servings:

Instructions

Nutrition Per Serving

480

Calories

34g

Protein

18g

Fat

42g

Carbs

Fiber3g

Sugar4g

Sodium720mg

Reviews

4.6 / 5 (248 reviews)

Sophie H.

Aug 19, 2025

This is comfort food at its finest. Pure perfection.

Daniel D.

Sep 24, 2025

Great recipe! Even my picky kids loved it.

Emily R.

Nov 11, 2025

Made this twice already this month. So delicious!

Tyler R.

May 7, 2025

Best chicken recipe I have tried in a long time.

Recipe at a Glance

Prep:

20 min

Cook:

1 hr

Total:

1 hr 20 min

Servings:

Difficulty:

Medium

Pro Tips

1Cold butter is essential for fluffy dumplings. Cut it into small cubes and keep it in the fridge until the moment you need it.
2Do not stir the pot after dropping the dumplings — they're fragile and will fall apart.
3Don't peek. Every time you lift the lid, you lose the steam that cooks the tops of the dumplings.

Variations

Herb dumplings: add 1 tbsp of dried Italian herbs to the dumpling dough for extra flavour.
Cheesy dumplings: fold 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar into the dough before dropping.
Slow cooker version: simmer everything in the slow cooker on low for 6 hours, then make the dumplings on the stovetop with the broth.

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