Southern Chicken and Dumplings
Bone-in chicken poached and shredded into a roux-thickened stew, finished with buttermilk dumplings steamed right on top.
- Serves
- 6
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Written
Method
-
Combine the chicken thighs, broth, bay leaf, and half the onion, carrots, and celery in a large pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chicken is tender and pulls easily from the bone, about 30 minutes.
-
Lift out the chicken and set aside to cool slightly. Discard the bay leaf. Once cool enough to handle, shred the meat off the bones and discard the skin and bones.
-
Melt the butter in the same pot and add the remaining onion, carrots, and celery. Cook until softened, about 6 minutes.
-
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir until no dry patches remain, about 1 minute.
-
Gradually whisk in the reserved broth and bring to a simmer, stirring, until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
-
Return the shredded chicken to the pot and season with salt and pepper.
-
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt for the dumplings. Cut in the cold butter with your fingers or a fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, then stir in the buttermilk just until a shaggy dough forms.
-
Drop the dough by the tablespoon onto the surface of the simmering stew, spacing the mounds apart so they have room to expand.
-
Cover and simmer without lifting the lid until the dumplings have puffed and a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean, about 15 minutes.
-
Ladle into bowls and scatter with parsley.
Notes
Keeping the lid on for the full 15 minutes is the part people get wrong — the dumplings cook by steam, and every peek lets enough of it out to leave the centers gummy. Trust the timer.
A rotisserie chicken shortens this considerably: skip the poaching step, use 8 cups of store-bought broth for the base, and stir in about 4 cups of shredded meat when the stew would otherwise get its chicken back.