The BEST Easy Chicken and Dumpling Soup (Prepped In Only 10 Minutes)

This chicken and dumpling soup recipe is perfect for when you're feeling a little run down or just looking for a hearty, comforting meal! It combines a rich, creamy broth, succulent chicken, tender bits of celery, and sweet chunks of carrots to create a soup like no other. Honestly, it's the best way to utilize leftover chicken, and my family loves this chicken and dumplings soup so much that it's become a permanent part of our dinner rotation during the cold winter months.

The Best Chicken and Dumpling Soup

The secret to a great chicken and dumpling soup is always the chicken soup flavor itself.

Our chicken and dumplings soup recipe uses chicken stock, a little butter, and lots of wholesome ingredients to create an incredible flavor that will have you coming back to this soup recipe again and again.

The stock and butter also help to thicken the soup and give it a lovely richness which is perfect for those cold winter days when you just need a warm, hug in a spoon.

This soup is not just delicious though, it's also super easy to make. In fact, just a handful of simple steps are all you'll need to follow to make it, and the whole process is effortless.

By the way, if you're looking for some tasty bread recipes to serve with this chicken and dumpling soup we've got a few that pair deliciously with it. This air fryer garlic bread, this crazy bread, and this shrimp toast are some of my favorite ones to serve with it.

Ingredients

Another thing to love about this recipe is that it doesn't require any fancy ingredients. In fact, you probably have most - if not all - of them in your kitchen already!

Anyway, here's what you'll need for this amazing chicken dumpling soup recipe:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 small carrots, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 lb. Chicken, cooked and shredded
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt, to taste
• Fresh parsley (optional)
• Black peppercorns (optional)

And for the dumplings:

• ¾ cup flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter
• ¼ cup milk

Pretty simple stuff, right?

By the way, you can use a lot of the dumpling ingredients to make my famous fried dough, so you might want to whip that up for dessert!

Ingredient Substitutions & Suggestions

There are loads of ways to customize this chicken dumpling soup recipe to give it a special twist or a different flavor.

One easy way is to experiment with different types of chicken to see what gets your taste buds going. You can try chicken thighs, shredded chicken breasts, or a mix of pieces from a whole chicken - like from a store-bought rotisserie chicken.

With that said, I recommend using cuts of dark meat to make this chicken and dumpling soup. Dark meat is just typically more tender and flavorful than white meat - like you'll find in chicken breasts - and I think it just makes the soup taste better.

If you want a lighter chicken and dumplings soup, you can also replace the chicken stock in the recipe with storebought or homemade chicken broth.

For a real twist on this recipe, you can replace the dumplings altogether with your favorite noodles and make a creamy chicken noodle soup instead. You can make a fantastic chicken noodle soup with egg noodles, ramen noodles, udon noodles, or even Italian noodles. All of these options are delicious, fun alternatives to dumplings.

Lastly, seasoned salt can also add some extra flavor to your chicken and dumplings soup. Just remember that if you are using garlic or onion salt, you may need to adjust the amount of actual garlic and onion in the recipe. The trick is always to taste as you go to get the balance right.

How to Make Chicken and Dumpling Soup

As I mentioned earlier, just a handful of simple steps are all you'll need to follow to make this soup.

Basically, the recipe comes down to just sauteeing the veggies and making the roux, adding the chicken stock, adding the meat and peas, and making/adding your dumpling dough.

Honestly, it sounds more involved than it is. It's really an easy peasy process, and since the soup all cooks in one pot, cleanup is a breeze too.

Anyway, let's not waste any more time and get cooking.

Step 1: Cook The veggies

So, first things first, you'll want to set a large pot over medium-high heat and melt the butter in it - I used a 4-quart pot, but any large pot or even a dutch oven will work. 

Then add the onions, celery, and carrots to it and cook those all together for just a few minutes until the onion is tender and translucent.

Step 2: Add the chicken stock

It's flavor time! Now that the veggies are good to go, you can pour the chicken broth into the pot along with the shredded chicken. Then season it with salt, a bay leaf, and black peppercorns if you're using them. Give everything a good stir, bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer.

While the soup is simmering and developing all of those delicious flavors, you can make the dumplings.

Step 3: Make the dumplings

So, while you let the soup simmer, you'll want to get started on making the dumpling batter.

First, add the flour, salt, and baking powder to a large mixing bowl and give them a stir to combine. Then you'll want to grate the cold butter into the bowl and work the butter into the flour with your fingers. For this step, make sure to fully work the butter into the dough before you grate more.

Once all of the butter is incorporated into the dough, you can pour the milk into the bowl and give everything a stir until you have a ball of dough. And after stirring, you can knead the mixture a few times with your hands to really help the dough ball come together.

Step 4: Drop The Dumplings Into The Soup

By now, the soup should be good to go, so it's time to add the dumplings to it. Just break off small pieces of dough from your dough ball and drop them into the soup. Once all of the dough is in the soup, you can cover the soup pot with a lid and let it simmer for 20 minutes so the dumplings can cook.

Also, just so you know, if you are making chicken soup with noodles rather than dumplings or want to add noodles to the soup, this is the stage to add the noodles. Just check the recipe instructions on the noodle packet to find out how much cooking time you need.

Step 5: Serve The Soup

Anyway, once the homemade dumplings are cooked, you can add in the fresh parsley and give the soup a good stir.

I like to serve this chicken and dumpling soup with fresh parsley because it gives it a light freshness. However, you really can use any fresh herbs in its place and lift this chicken and dumplings recipe to another level of tastiness.

Finally, ladle this chicken dumpling soup into bowls, and serve warm. Enjoy! 

How to Store Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Storing this chicken and dumplings soup is really easy.

All you need to do is wait for the soup to cool down naturally and then put it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Stored like this, the soup will stay good for up to 3-4 days.

Some people even find that it's better the next day when the flavors have really had time to fuse together.

Alternatively, you store your chicken and dumpling soup for even longer you can freeze it. Again, let the soup cool down and then put it in the freezer in an airtight freezer-safe container.

How to Reheat Chicken and Dumpling Soup

To reheat the chicken and dumpling soup, I recommend putting it back in a pot and warming it up on the stove top over medium heat. Reheating it like this should take you just 5-10 minutes.

However, if you'd like to reheat your chicken and dumplings soup even more quickly, you can use the microwave. Just reheat it in 1-minute intervals until hot.

FAQs About This Chicken and Dumpling Soup Recipe

What's the Secret to a Great Chicken soup?

The secret to a great chicken soup is packing as much flavor into it as possible. This chicken and dumplings recipe uses a mixture of butter and poultry seasonings to give the soup a real richness that canned soup could only dream of!

Can I Use Other Meat in the recipe?

Absolutely! All chicken soup recipes work just as well with leftover turkey as well. You can even add shrimp, clams, and other proteins at the end of this recipe to really make it pop too!

Can I add extra vegetables to the recipe?

Definitely! One of the great things about this recipe is that it is so versatile. One idea is to try adding different types of mushrooms for a rich chicken and mushroom dumpling soup that will warm you up from the inside out.

CAN I USE STORE-BOUGHT DUMPLINGS INSTEAD OF MAKING MY OWN DUMPLINGS?

You can definitely use store-bought dumplings to make your chicken and dumpling soup. The only thing I will say is that making the homemade dumplings for this soup is really, really easy. So, I think it's worth giving it a go and making your own dumplings at home for that really authentic experience.

Wrapping It Up

Well, that's how to make chicken and dumplings soup from scratch.

I don't know if it's the creamy broth, meaty chicken, or perfectly chewy dumplings, but there's just something so addicting about slurping this soup. It's just so good!

Honestly, this recipe has quickly become a family favorite at our house, and I've got a feeling it will become one at yours too.

Anyway, if you try this chicken and dumplings soup, be sure to leave us a comment below and let us know how it went! We love hearing your feedback.

More Soup Recipes

If you're looking for some more delicious soup recipes to try next, we have a ton on the blog I think you'll love!

Check out all of these easy soup recipes:

• Chicken tortilla soup
• 4 ingredient potato soup
• Crack chicken noodle soup
  
• Fideo soup
• Seafood soup
• Sausage and lentil soup

Oh, and as always, for even more deliciousness, be sure to follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube! We post new recipes on them every day.

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