Old-Fashioned Chicken & Dumplings
Ingredients
- 4 large bone-in chicken breasts
- 4 celery stalks including leaves, cut into large chunks
- 1 large onion cut into large chunks
- 4-5 whole thyme stalks
- 1 T salt
- 3 tsp pepper or 8-10 whole peppercorns
- 6 C water
Dumplings
- 4 C all-purpose flour
- Milk
- Eggs
- Salt
Slurry to Thicken Gravy
- 4 T cornstarch
- 1 C ice cold water
Instructions
- Put all ingredients into a large dutch oven or stock pot. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cook until chicken is done, 30-40 minutes. Remove chicken from pot when done, and cool. When able to handle, remove chicken from bones and cut or shred into medium size pieces.
- Strain broth through a sieve to remove large chunks, and return broth to pot. Add chicken back to pot and turn heat to a very low simmer. (By the way, this is a great starter for chicken soup!)
- DUMPLINGS....Mix all ingredients just until combined. Do not overmix, or dumplings will be tough. Bring chicken & broth to a boil and drop tablespoons of dumpling into the broth. They’ll expand while cooking, so don’t make your dough drops too big. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook 15 minutes. DO NOT PEEK! The dumplings will do just fine in the dark without you peeking!
- SLURRY TO THICKEN GRAVY....Mix well and make sure there are no chunks. I use a fork to mix because it seems to get rid of chunks better. When dumplings are done, raise heat to bring broth to a boil. Slowly pour slurry into broth, stirring constantly. Add slurry to desired gravy thickness.