Sort of like a chicken noodle soup, only better, chicken and dumpling soup is warm, delicious, and satisfying. You can make this recipe in the Instant Pot or in a stockpot on the stove. One serving of this yumminess is just 5 WW FreeStyle Smart Points!
If you have never made chicken and dumplings before, you might be surprised at how easy they are to make! You can have some whipped up for dinner with just three easy steps:
- Heat up some liquid (we used chicken broth).
- Toss in some chicken, vegetables, and dough. The dough can be made into balls (which I find to be easier) or flattened into what looks like large flat noodles (which is kind of fun).
- Let the dough cook until they become dumplings that are no longer dough-like.
There are a couple of things that set apart Chicken and Dumpling recipes:
The two main things that set different Chicken and Dumpling recipes apart are the ingredients in the biscuit dough and the choice of vegetables used. The way I learned to make the dough, and the easiest way in my opinion, is to mix two ingredients: Bisquick mix and milk.
As far as the vegetables go, I keep mine simple with some carrots, celery, and peas, but any vegetables that would work well in chicken noodle soup would work in a Chicken and Dumpling recipe. If there is a vegetable in my recipe that you don’t like, simply omit it. I made the recipe with peas and parsley being optional (personally, I like it better without the parsley), and the nutrition facts do not include peas or parsley, since I have marked them as being optional.
A little background on this recipe.
When my husband and I first got married, we did not have very much money. We were fresh out of college, and I had not learned the art of creating recipes that were cheap and healthy yet. Around that time, I discovered the aisle in the store with packages of Knorr Pasta Sides and Rice-A-Roni. Our local grocery store always seemed to have a great deal on those little packages of yumminess, so I made a habit of buying them. I mean, I think we could get one pouch for $1 on any given week, so we could get by spending $30-50/week on food. Each week, I would buy a big bag of grilled chicken and the pasta/rice sides. This, of course, wasn’t healthy to do everyday, but with the combination of me not knowing very many recipes yet and our financial situation, we were just glad to have something to eat.
A stroll down the “Chicken and Dumplings” memory lane.
After being in the Knorr Pasta Sides rut for a while, I remembered something I saw my friend make once. She used chicken broth, chicken, and Bisquick mix to make chicken and dumplings. I asked her how she made it and was pleased to hear how simple it was. My husband LOVED the chicken and dumplings, and I loved how easy they were to make. It was a win.
Fast forward to now…
I totally forgot about the chicken and dumplings. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had made them. It had to have been a few years, at least. Then I saw something in a cookbook that reminded me of the old chicken and dumplings recipe from our honeymoon stage, and I put it in our next meal plan.
Of course, my husband was pleased to see (and smell) one of his old favorites when he got home from work. Today I am sharing the same simple recipe that I made over 10 years ago. The only difference is that I learned how to make it in an Instant Pot, and now I add in veggies. I realize not everyone has an Instant Pot, so I have also included instructions for making this recipe in a stockpot on the stove-top.
Instant Pot, or not.
You probably saw at the top of this post that you could click, “Jump to Instant Pot Instructions” or “Jump to Stove Top Instructions.” I recently learned how to do what is called “an anchor” which allows a blogger to link to a different spot in the post, making things more convenient for the readers to skip right to what they are trying to get to. This is especially helpful when I am sharing a recipe with more than one method of cooking, but I have also started putting a “Jump to Recipe” link at the top of all of my newer recipes and will continue to do so with future recipes. I hope this is helpful to you!
The trick to getting the serving size right.
The points are in the dumplings, so you will want to pay attention to that. You get about 24 (1 tablespoon) dumplings out of this recipe and about 10 cups of “soup.” I have decided to count this soup as 6 servings, so one serving is 1-2/3 cup soup with 4 dumplings. I make my dumplings small (one tablespoon of dough each) because the dumplings magically expand in the broth (a great science experiment if you have little kids around).
Okay, are you ready to try one of our old family favorites?
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COOKING WITH AN INSTANT POT… (Scroll down for instructions in stockpot)
Here is what you need:
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup carrots, chopped or sliced
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
5 cups (99% fat free) chicken broth
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups Bisquick Original Pancake and Baking Mix
1 cup fat-free milk
1 cup frozen peas, optional
Fresh snipped parsley, optional
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instant Pot Instructions:
Add corn, carrots, and celery to the Instant Pot. Pour chicken broth over the vegetables.
Carefully add chicken to the Instant Pot. Set IP to HIGH and set to cook for 10 minutes if chicken is frozen or 8 minutes if the chicken is thawed.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix Bisquick with milk and set aside.
Quick release after the 10 minute cooking time is up, to let the pressure out. Take the lid off, but keep the IP on HIGH heat. Take chicken out of the IP and shred the chicken with two forks.
(Add peas to the IP now if you will be using them.) Add chicken back to the IP, being careful not to splatter hot broth up onto your hands and being mindful of the sides of the IP that will be hot.
Carefully add 1 tablespoon scoops of the Bisquick mixture into the hot broth and allow to cook until the dumplings are no longer dough-like, about 8-10 minutes, flipping over the dumplings about half-way through cooking time.
Turn off heat on the IP and serve. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with optional parsley if you will be using it.
Makes 6 servings.
One serving is 1-2/3 cups soup with 4 dumplings.
One serving is 6 Green, 5 Blue, and 5 Purple points.
Chicken and Dumplings in an Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup carrots, chopped or sliced
- 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
- 5 cups 99% fat free chicken broth
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cups Bisquick Original Pancake and Baking Mix
- 1 cup fat-free milk
- 1 cup frozen peas, optional
- Fresh snipped parsley, optional
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add corn, carrots, and celery to the Instant Pot. Pour chicken broth over the vegetables.
- Carefully add chicken to the Instant pot. Set IP to HIGH and set to cook for 10 minutes if chicken is frozen and 8 minutes if the chicken is thawed.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix Bisquick with milk and set aside.
- Quick release after the 10 minutes cooking time is up, to let the pressure out. Take the lid off, but keep the IP on HIGH heat. Take chicken out of the IP and shred the chicken with two forks.
- (Add peas to the IP if you will be using them) Add chicken back to the IP being careful not to splatter hot broth up onto your hands and being mindful of the sides of the IP that will be hot.
- Carefully add 1 tablespoon scoops of the Bisquick mixture into the hot broth and allow to cook until the dumplings are no longer dough-like, about 8-10 minutes, flipping over the dumplings about half-way through cooking time.
- Turn off heat on the IP and served. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with optional parsley if you will be using it.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COOKING ON THE STOVE:
Here is what you need:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup carrots, chopped or sliced
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
5 cups (99% fat free) chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas, optional
2 cups Bisquick Original Pancake and Baking Mix
1 cup fat-free milk
Fresh snipped parsley, optional
Salt and pepper, to taste
Here is what you do:
Cut chicken into small cubes.
Heat oil in large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add carrots and celery and allow to cook 5-6 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Add chicken broth, chicken, corn, and peas. Bring broth to a boil (chicken will cook in the broth).
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix Bisquick with milk.
Carefully add 1 tablespoon scoops of the Bisquick mixture into the hot broth and allow to cook until the dumplings are no longer dough-like, about 8-10 minutes, flipping over the dumplings about half-way through cooking time.
Makes 6 servings.
One serving is 1-2/3 cups soup with 4 dumplings.
One serving is 5 WW FreeStyle Smart Points.
Chicken and Dumplings cooked on the Stove-Top
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup carrots chopped or sliced
- 3-4 stalks celery chopped
- 5 cups 99% fat free chicken broth
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1/2 cup frozen peas optional
- 2 cups Bisquick Original Pancake and Baking Mix
- 1 cup fat-free milk
- Fresh snipped parsley optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cut chicken into small cubes.
- Heat oil in large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add carrots and celery and allow to cook 6-8 minutes or until crisp-tender.
- Add chicken broth, chicken, corn, and peas. Bring broth to a boil. (Chicken will cook in the broth)
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix Bisquick with milk.
- Carefully add 1 tablespoon scoops of the Bisquick mixture into the hot broth and allow to cook until the dumplings are no longer dough-like, about 8-10 minutes, flipping over the dumplings about half-way through cooking time.
- Sprinkle with parsley, if desired. Salt and pepper, to taste.
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Question: When you add dumplings to IP, do you cover it and set for more time or just leave it on and cook with lid off? I think it’s the latter but want to be sure. Recipe sounds delicious! Thank you.
Yes, you are right. The dumplings cook with the lid off. ?
New to cooking with an instant Pot, do adjust the temp or anything after you do the quick release when you add the dumplings or do they just cook in the already hot soup?
Hi Jessie, When you get to that point in the recipe you will take the lid off, but keep the instant pot on HIGH heat. Good question. 🙂
I’ve made this twice now and my dumpling mixture is WAY runnier. I’m using 2 c original bisquick and 1 c skim milk. What am I doing wrong?
mine also came much runnier. I had to add about a half cup extra Bisquick to look like her picture
I’m new to cooking in general… Is the serving size 1 AND 2/3 cups ..or.. 1/3 to 2/3 cups?
1 and 2/3 cups