Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings always reminds me of my Grandma. She was such an amazing cook and sometimes it seemed like she was able to put together amazing dishes right out of thin air. I know skills like that come with time – but I honestly believe she had a natural instinct for cooking. I may have inherited some of that intuitiveness, but I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen making mistakes and learning. I happened upon this recipe by accident; I actually intended to make a spicy chicken soup. What a beautiful mistake this turned out to be.

You’re going to start by making a spicy version of chicken soup. I love the way chicken cooked in the crock pot shreds so easily so I use this method often for cooking chicken soup. You will want to thicken the soup prior to adding in the dumplings – this is where the milk and cornstarch slurry comes into play. The milk will help make it creamy and the cornstarch will thicken the liquid.

This dumpling dough is super simple to put together and yields big flavor. My grandma always made her dumplings into balls so I like to pinch mine off into tablespoon sized balls and drop them into the crock pot. If you prefer flat style dumplings you can roll the dough out and cut it into strips.

The next part is where the magic happens. When you drop your dumplings in they should sink to the bottom – do not worry. Put the lid back on the crock pot and wait for a half hour. As the dumplings cook they will puff up and rise to the surface. Even if they have all risen to the top still give them the full half hour to cook through. This will be very hot so allow it to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sized chicken breasts
• 6 cups chicken stock/broth
• 2 large carrots – cleaned and chopped
• 3 celery stalks – cleaned and chopped
• 1/2 red onion – chopped
• 2 cloves garlic – minced
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon of blackened seasoning
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Cornstarch Slurry:

• 1/2 cup of preferred milk
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Dumplings:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
• 3/4 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons of butter – melted

Method:

1. Sautée carrots, celery, onions, garlic and butter until tender.
2. Add chicken, chicken stock, cooked veggies and spices to the crock pot and cook on low for six hours or high for three hours.
3. Remove chicken, shred and add back to crock pot.
4. Make a cornstarch slurry using the milk and cornstarch and add stir into the chicken soup.
5. If cooking on low turn crock pot up to high.
6. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
7. Stir in butter and milk until well incorporated.
8. Roll dough into tablespoon sized dumplings and drop into crock pot.
9. Cover crock pot and allow dumplings to cook for 30 minutes.
10. Allow to cool for five minutes before serving.
11. Enjoy!