My Easy Healthy Chicken and Dumplings is a lightened up makeover of a classic stick-to-your ribs comfort food that's easy to make and doesn't skimp on flavor! I cook light, fluffy dumplings in a pot of homemade chicken soup that tastes like it's been simmering on the stove for hours. It's the perfect simple and hearty meal to warm you up on a cold day!
When it's cold outside, there's nothing more comforting than curling up with a piping hot bowl of soup. I love having a big pot of soup simmering away on the stove on lazy weekends. I make all kinds of soup from Butternut Squash Soup to Red Lentil Coconut Soup to hearty Italian Pasta Fagioli.
But when it comes down to it, it's hard to beat a bowl of good old homemade chicken soup! And when you add tender, fluffy dumplings to that tasty soup, well that just takes it over the top!
Jump to:
- What is Chicken and Dumplings?
- Is Chicken and Dumplings Healthy?
- Why This Recipe is Healthy
- Why This Recipe is Quick and Easy
- Ingredients
- How To Make Easy Healthy Chicken and Dumplings Step-By-Step
- 2. Make the Dumplings
- Chef's Tips
- What To Serve With Chicken and Dumplings
- Storage and Reheating
- Recipe FAQs
- More Tasty Soup Recipes
- Recipe
- Reviews
What is Chicken and Dumplings?
Chicken and dumplings is the ultimate comfort food and a classic Southern dish. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s basically a hearty, homemade chicken soup.
The soup is made by simmering a whole chicken in a pot with water, vegetables and seasonings, creating a flavorful chicken stock. Then the chicken is shredded and added back to the stock.
The dumplings are made with a biscuit-like dough that's dropped into the hot chicken soup and cooked in the simmering liquid. As they cook, they expand and puff up into tender, fluffy, cloud-like biscuits.
The result is a delicious, comforting, and hearty meal that’s perfect to warm you up on a cold day.
Is Chicken and Dumplings Healthy?
Chicken and dumplings is a classic Southern comfort food dish, but it isn't necessarily the healthiest dish. Traditional chicken and dumplings from scratch uses a lot of rich ingredients like chicken fat, butter, and heavy cream.
I was actually inspired to make this dish after seeing chef Michael Symon's chicken and dumplings recipe in one of his cookbooks. Although his dish looks absolutely delicious, it has a lot of heavy ingredients.
Plus, it takes quite a while to make (he recommends making it over the course of two days!).
So I set out to make a quick and easy, healthy homemade chicken and dumplings soup recipe that could be made in a short amount of time but wouldn't skimp on flavor.
Why This Recipe is Healthy
This is a heart-healthy chicken and dumplings recipe for the following reasons:
- I sauté my vegetables in heart-healthy olive oil instead of butter. Olive oil is composed of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids, which have many important health benefits and help lower your risk of heart disease. To learn more, read my post about the health benefits of olive oil.
- I keep the sodium in check by using low sodium chicken stock. Limiting your sodium intake can help keep your blood pressure in check. Read my post about the DASH diet and how it can reduce your blood pressure.
- I don't use any heavy cream in the chicken soup, thereby reducing the amount of saturated fat in the dish. Instead, I use flour to thicken the broth.
- Instead of using a large amount of butter or chicken fat in the dumplings, I use buttermilk. The buttermilk reacts with the baking powder, making a tender and light dumpling without having to use too much additional fat. I only use one tablespoon of butter for flavor. The buttermilk also adds a boost of protein and calcium.
Why This Recipe is Quick and Easy
- I skip the process of simmering a whole chicken in water with herbs, which takes several hours. Instead, I use prepared chicken stock (or homemade chicken stock if I have any on hand).
- I use shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken or other leftovers.
- I make simple drop biscuits rather than biscuits that you roll out. You still get tender, fluffy biscuits but with a lot less work!
Have you ever wondered how long chicken can sit out before you need to toss it? Read my post all about how to properly handle and store chicken to help ensure that it's always safe to eat!
Ingredients
Ingredient notes and substitutions (see recipe card at end of post for full ingredient list):
- Chicken- use cooked shredded or diced chicken breast or dark meat. You can use rotisserie chicken or any leftover chicken.
- Herbs- I use a combination of thyme, parsley, and bay leaf
- Buttermilk- buttermilk helps make light, fluffy biscuits. If you don't have any, you can make your own buttermilk with milk and lemon juice or vinegar (see FAQs below on how to do this).
- Chicken stock or broth- I use reduced sodium broth to control the sodium in the dish
How To Make Easy Healthy Chicken and Dumplings Step-By-Step
See recipe card at end of post for full recipe instructions.
1. Make The Chicken Broth
The broth in traditional chicken and dumplings can range from a thin soup to a thick, casserole-like dish that's eaten with a fork instead of a spoon. My recipe is rich and hearty, lying somewhere in the middle.
- Step 1- Sauté the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in olive oil in a large Dutch oven or braiser.
- Step 2- Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook 2 minutes until golden brown.
- Step 3- Add the thyme, bay leaf, and chicken stock. Simmer until vegetables are softened.
- Step 4- Stir in the chicken, parsley, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Make the Dumplings
For me, the dumplings are what make this soup really special. They're basically light, fluffy, homemade biscuits that cook in the simmering soup and puff up into clouds of pillowy goodness. They add a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs quality to what would otherwise be a basic chicken soup.
There are a few different variations of dumplings used in classic Southern chicken and dumplings. In some recipes the dumplings are formed into balls, and in others, they're rolled out and cut into shapes.
Sometimes they're rolled out flat so that they resemble noodles. In other recipes, like this one, the dumplings are dropped into the soup.
- Step 5- Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper together in a bowl.
- Step 6- Stir the buttermilk, egg and melted butter together in another bowl.
- Step 7- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold together with a spatula until just combined (don't over-mix the dough).
- Step 8- Using a small cookie scoop or two spoons, drop balls of the dumpling dough into the lightly simmering soup. Spoon a little of the soup over each dumpling to moisten them. Cover the pot and cook until the dumplings are firm and cooked through, 18-20 minutes.
Garnish chicken and dumplings with chopped parsley and/or thyme and plenty of black pepper.
This Chicken and Dumplings recipe is part of my Best Fall Soup Recipes collection.
Chef's Tips
- When making the biscuit dough, stir the ingredients together with a spatula until just combined. Avoid over-mixing the dough- this will help keep the dumplings light and fluffy.
- Once you add the dumplings to the soup, lower the heat to a simmer, not a hard boil. This way the delicate dumplings don’t break apart.
- If you'd like a creamier soup, you can stir in ¼-½ cup of whole milk or half and half.
- Don’t open the lid to peek once you put the dumplings into the broth. This will help the dumplings steam and retain their moisture.
- If you have time, you can make your own homemade chicken stock for this recipe or even use leftover homemade turkey stock from Thanksgiving.
What To Serve With Chicken and Dumplings
I would suggest serving this easy chicken and dumplings with a simple salad or vegetable side dish to round out your meal. My Tuscan Kale and Apple Salad or Roasted Asparagus and Grape Tomatoes are both excellent options.
You can also serve my low carb Cheesy Cauliflower Bread on the side.
You can finish of your meal with my Grilled Peaches with Greek Yogurt, Slow Cooker Apple Crisp or Easy Skillet Blueberry Peach Cobbler.
Wash it all down with my Blueberry Mint Limeade or Strawberry Pineapple Lemonade.
Storage and Reheating
Store chicken and dumplings in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can reheat it in the microwave in a microwave-safe dish or on the stove in a pot over medium low heat.
I don't recommend freezing this chicken and dumplings as the dumplings may disintegrate into the soup over time.
If you'd like to freeze the dish, I would recommend just freezing the soup and making the dumplings fresh on the day that you're going to eat it. Then, simply drop the dumplings into the soup when you're heating it up on the stove.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! You can definitely shred up rotisserie chicken and use it in this recipe- it's a huge timesaver! You can also use leftover turkey and make Turkey Dumpling Soup. It's a great way to use up your Thanksgiving leftovers!
Yes, you can make this recipe gluten free. Simply substitute a gluten-free flour blend like this one for regular flour in the biscuit dough and also when you're making the roux for the chicken broth.
When you make the chicken broth, one of the first steps is to add flour to the vegetables sautéing in oil. This mixture of flour and fat is called a roux and this is what thickens the broth when you add liquid to it and bring it to a boil. If your chicken broth is still not as thick as you'd like, you can still fix it by adding a beurre manié at the end. This is a classic French technique that I learned in culinary school. Just mix 2 teaspoons flour with 2 teaspoons soft butter and whisk the paste into the simmering soup to thicken it. You can also thicken the soup by stirring in some cream.
The dumpling dough in this recipe is really easy to make but yes, you can use a readymade product. Read the nutrition labels and choose a healthier option like Bisquick Heart Smart Pancake & Baking Mix. You can also use canned buttermilk biscuits and cut them into pieces before adding them to the soup.
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make it by stirring 1 ½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice or white vinegar into ½ cup milk (any type). Let the mixture sit for a 5-10 minutes until it thickens slightly and small curds form. Then use as directed in the recipe.
If your dumplings turn out heavy, dense or tough, you may be over-mixing the dumpling dough. Whisk the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then gently fold them together until just combined. To avoid dry dumplings, be sure to cover the pot with a lid as they cook. This will help the dumplings steam and retain their moisture.
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Recipe
Easy Healthy Chicken and Dumplings
Equipment
Ingredients
Soup:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme)
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 cups low sodium chicken
- 3 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken or turkey (can use rotisserie chicken)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dumplings:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 6-8 tablespoons buttermilk*
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat and add the onion, celery, and carrots. Sautè the vegetables until they start to soften, 3-4. Add the garlic and cook another minutes until fragrant.
- Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to combine. Cook 1-2 minutes, until flour is a pale golden brown. Then add the thyme, bay leaf, and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer until the vegetables are cooked, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cooked chicken, parsley, and lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- To make the dumplings, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl. Stir 6 tablespoons buttermilk, the egg and melted butter together in a second bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold together with a spatula until just combined (don't over-mix the dough). Add an additional tablespoon or two of buttermilk if needed to form a moist and spongy dough.
- Lower the heat on the stove so that the soup is at a low simmer. Using a small cookie scoop or two spoons, drop balls of the dumpling dough into the lightly simmering soup. Each dumpling should be about two teaspoons big- they will expand in the soup. Spoon a little of the soup over each dumpling to moisten them.
- Cover the pot and cook until the dumplings are firm and cooked through, 18-20 minutes. Try to avoid uncovering the pot- this will help the dumplings steam and retain their moisture. Garnish chicken and dumplings with chopped parsley and/or thyme and plenty of black pepper.
Notes
- * If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make it by stirring 1 ½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice into ½ cup milk (any type). Let the mixture sit for a 5-10 minutes until it thickens slightly and small curds form. Use as directed in the recipe.
- When making the biscuit dough, stir the ingredients together with a spatula until just combined. Avoid over-mixing the dough- this will help keep them light and fluffy.
- Once you add the dumplings to the soup, lower the heat to a simmer, not a hard boil. This way the delicate dumplings don’t break apart.
- If you'd like a creamier soup, you can stir in ¼-½ cup of whole milk or half and half.
- Don’t open the lid to peek once you put the dumplings in. This will help the dumplings steam and retain their moisture.
Nutrition
About the author
Dr. Sonali Ruder
Meet Dr. Sonali Ruder aka The Foodie Physician- ER doctor, chef, culinary creator & mom.
Jamie says
Can this be frozen for a make ahead meal?
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Great question! The soup would freeze well but I'm afraid the dumplings would tend to disintegrate into the soup. Maybe you can make and freeze the soup and then make the dumplings fresh on the day that you're going to eat it. Then drop them into the soup when you're heating it up on the stove.
Darlene Chambers says
Chix was great! But the dumplings were far from light and fluffy..trying to figure out what I did wrong
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Oh no! Did you use baking powder? Maybe you over-mixed the dough? Mix until just combined to keep the dumplings fluffy and not dense.
Victoria says
Delicious! These the lightest dumplings I have ever had.
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
That's great to hear!
Ashley says
Delicious. Will definitely make again! Fit my macros perfectly, plenty of protein, generous portions, and hit the spot for "confort food". Looking forward to the leftovers for lunch this week!
I did add 1/2 cup of whole milk to the soup just before adding the dumplings because I wanted it to have a little hint of the creaminess of chicken and dumplings without adding a ton of fat. That's the only change I made from the original recipe.
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Yay, I'm so happy you enjoyed the dish! I get excited about yummy leftovers too 🙂
I like your idea of adding a little milk for creaminess. Thanks so much for your review!