What Came First? Chicken or the Dumplings?

Hey howdy everybody, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. It's just your regular crazy winter weather in the South, new responsibilities at work, and winter boogies that are keeping this momma very busy. I have a quick post today that's so simple and I hope that you all will get to try it before the cold weather leaves us. Today I'm going to make the world's easiest chicken and dumplings.  

This used to be an all day process that began with me boiling a whole fryer, seasoning broth with onions and vegetables, deboning chicken and straining broth, but this is much faster and has lots of flavor.  I start by getting a rotisserie chicken, try and get the plain or “savory” one, any other seasoned chicken is too overpowering for this recipe. You will need:

1 carton of chicken broth (plus one can if you prefer it thinner)

Onion powder

Garlic powder

2 tbsp dried parsley

Salt and pepper

1 can of biscuits

1 tbsp butter

Flour

Begin by deboning the chicken; add this and the broth to good deep stock pot.

 I like to cut the corner off a flap of the broth carton if I'm going to use the whole thing, this eliminates the glug, glug and gives me a nice smooth pour.

Season with a few sprinkles of onion powder and garlic powder and bring to a gentle rolling boil.

While the broth comes to temperature get out the biscuits, a rolling pin, flour and a pizza cutter. Be careful not to buy butter flavored biscuits, I did this once in college and ended up with an inch of yellow colored, butter flavored grease product floating on top of the pot, blagh! 

Open your biscuits and coat both sides with generous amount of flour, this will thicken your broth when you add them to the pot. Roll the biscuits very thin and stack them up. I use a pizza cutter to cut my biscuits into thin small strips.   

Once your broth has come up to a boil gently add handfuls of the biscuits to the pot, use the back of the spoon to push them down into the liquid. 

Once they've all been covered put the lid on top and wait for them to cook. They will all puff up and float to the top; it looks a bit like a science experiment. 

Then when they are all cooked they will sink down into the bottom. Once the dumplings are cooked they will distribute evenly throughout the chicken and broth when you stir.  

 After the dumplings have cooked turn it down to a medium low, add a couple of pats of butter for richness and some dried parsley and you are ready to serve. 

There you have it quick and easy chicken and dumplings.  You will get a feel for how you like it, thick or thin, other seasoning, what have you.  Give this one a try, you'll be glad you did, and remember to share it with a friend.  Be sure to come back for some organization tips, more recipes and a little building project I have going on for 'Harry the Dog'.