topic Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings in Recipes

First time ever making chicken & dumplings

151949 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 17:51:20 GMT

And I'm using a recipe that makes them in the crockpot. I have the chicken in the pot cooking now in a broth made from chicken breasts, chicken broth, celery,onion carrots and cream of chicken soup.After this cooks for 5 hours you take out the chicken & shred it then stir it back in, and add frozen peas. Then roll out and cut the dumplings and add them , allow to cook for 45 to 60 min. longer, til the dumplings are throughly cooked. Seems like a very long time to cook dumplings to me.After all the broth they will be cooking in is going to be boiling. opinions?

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

Qshopper1991 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 17:59:28 GMT

Good for you! Sounds delicious!

Fresh pasta usually cooks very quick. Depending on thickness, it should cook between 5-9 minutes.

Take a pic if you can! Would love to see the finished dish!

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

tends2dogs — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 18:04:46 GMT

@151949 What are you making the dumplings out of? My only concern is that they would soak up all the broth. I don't think that sounds too long to cook, though. You don't want them to be doughy.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

151949 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 18:23:59 GMT

The recipe is from a Bisquick cookbook - so they are rolled biscuits that you slice into strips and place in the broth.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

151949 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 18:32:20 GMT

I just looked up David V. recipe for chicken & dumplings and he uses Bisquick drop biscuits - and only cooks them 20 min. which sounds more normal to me.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

IamMrsG — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 18:34:19 GMT

Dumplings are not pasta, and should not be wet, gluey masses. A proper dumpling is light, almost biscuit-like. To illustrate the point, here is a picture from Ree Drummond's recipe:

Although she does not tell you in the recipe, to achieve this texture, the dough is not placed directly into the broth, rather onto the chicken pieces, above the broth.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

151949 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 18:40:24 GMT

@IamMrsG I have been making recipes with dumplings all my life - being from German heritage - and ALWAYS you drop the dough into the boiling broth. The outside will be wet but the inside will be cooked and very fluffy.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

Hooty — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 18:44:29 GMT

@151949, I wish you luck, one of my favorite southern dishes, but have never been brave enough to make them!

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

151949 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 19:02:44 GMT

@Hooty As long as it isn't raw my DH will eat almost anything so that gives me lee way to experiment. This certainly smells good right now as it is cooking.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

ECBG — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 19:08:00 GMT

It takes longer to cook a whole chicken than chicken breasts. Next time you could cook your skinned breasts/breasts and thighs, skim off the fat ahead of time and cut down time and calories tremendously.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

151949 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 19:30:16 GMT

@ECBG wrote:
It takes longer to cook a whole chicken than chicken breasts. Next time you could cook your skinned breasts/breasts and thighs, skim off the fat ahead of time and cut down time and calories tremendously.

HUH?

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

qualitygal — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 19:37:09 GMT

I do the dumplings (cut in 1/4's) and they cook right along with the meal. They are placed on top at the beginning. It's wonderful tasting! Yours is different than how I do mine.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

IamMrsG — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 19:50:35 GMT

@151949 wrote:
@IamMrsG I have been making recipes with dumplings all my life - being from German heritage - and ALWAYS you drop the dough into the boiling broth. The outside will be wet but the inside will be cooked and very fluffy.

@151949 I based my advice to you--which I stand behind, BTW--on the words you chose for the subject line, "First time ever..." My intent was to prevent what seemed to be a novice from having disappointing results.

Apologies for intruding. Enjoy your dumplings.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

CelticCrafter — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 21:48:28 GMT

Just my own experience and opinion, chicken breast in the crock pot for a total of 6 hours is way too long, even if it's going to be shredded.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

Tigriss — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 22:26:07 GMT

I can not tell you how many pots of chicken and dumplings I have made over the years from childhood forward. I do it from scratch, and it takes two days. I first cook my hen (I use a hen because hens are older and have more fat than chickens. You want the fat to develop the flavors.) in my crock pot with bone/reg. broth on low for 8 hours until it comes off the bone easily. I pull the chicken out to cool and pour up the broth to cool overnight in the fridge (this develop the flavors and lets you pull the fat off very easily). I clean the chicken meat from the bones, skin, and cartilage. I'm very picky and clean it carefully. I hate to get a bite of gristle when I eat mine. I tear/cut the chicken into bite/small size pieces and put them into a ziploc bag and into the fridge. On day two, I pull out the broth and skim the fat, then bring to a boil on the stove in a large pot (the dumplings need room to move about). While that boils, I mix up about a cup of flour, an egg, and just enough water to bring it into a dough. I roll that out thin and cut my dumplings layering them onto wax paper on a sheet pan for dropping into the broth later. When the broth boils, drop your dumplings one at a time and not on top of each other so they don't stick. When they have cooked a bit, I drop the chicken in to warm (I usually pull it out when I start to come up to room temperature). When the dumplings are cooked, I turn to low/keep warm until ready to serve. It is time consuming, but very good. You can put a bit of turmeric in to tint the broth a great shade of yellow.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

151949 — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 22:58:57 GMT

It turned out great. The dumplings cooked 30 min and were perfect. The flour used to keep them from sticking when I rolled them out thickened the gravy perfectly. DH had 3 servings. We ate every last morsel of it!. It was so simple - I'll definitely make it again.

Sitting here now watching a gorgeous coral sunset over our lake while I finish my tea. Life is good.Tomorrow is NYE - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

Kachina624 — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 23:28:42 GMT

@ECBG wrote:
It takes longer to cook a whole chicken than chicken breasts. Next time you could cook your skinned breasts/breasts and thighs, skim off the fat ahead of time and cut down time and calories tremendously.

I'VE never liked the rolled out dumplings. I've always cooked my chicken in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes as opposed to 5 hours in a crock pot. I then drop my dumpling dough into the broth, cooking 5 minutes with lid off and then steaming 5 minutes with lid on. That's it and I have big, fluffy dumplings. I don't care for the doughy ones.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

RedTop — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 00:24:30 GMT

Love chicken and dumplings. My family always made rolled and cut dumplings. My husband and I prefer a dropped dough dumpling.

Re: First time ever making chicken & dumplings

Bjjo — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 00:40:37 GMT

I do the same, a tigriss😀