The Most Common Mistakes People Make With Homemade Chicken And Dumplings

Homemade chicken and dumplings are a staple comfort food, especially in the South. Simple and rib-sticking, this dish has been chalked up by some as a Depression-era or antebellum invention, but cookbooks show mention of similar dishes like this chicken in dumplings variation in the southern United States as far back as the early 1800s.

If you're not overly familiar with chicken and dumplings, don't make the mistake of equating the homemade variant with something like what you'd find in a can, paired with vegetables for a mixture that's more chicken pot pie filling than soup. No, homemade chicken and dumplings are closer to the kinds of comfort foods you might find on the Cracker Barrel menu — simply chicken in a succulent broth, alongside tender dumplings that are traditionally cut into squares or strips (rather than being rounded or biscuit-like). That's it — no need for extraneous veggies or anything else.

However, for all the simplicity of this dish, don't make the mistake of assuming that making homemade chicken and dumplings is just throwing a few things in a soup pot and then calling it a day. There are plenty of mistakes you can make — and avoid. Here are some of the most common.

There are two key components to chicken and dumplings: the chicken and the dumplings, and both must be treated with equal care. While the dumplings come together with minimal ingredients, how you treat these ingredients will dramatically affect your end dish. This even applies to how you handle the dough you'll make for the dumplings.

If you overwork your dumpling dough, you'll end up with overly chewy and tough dumplings, and no one wants that. It's similar to how, if you over-knead a loaf of homemade bread, you'll end up with a hard loaf. So, when putting your dough together, don't overmix it, but don't over-roll it either, if you're rolling it out flat to cut into strips. Just mix the ingredients until they come together and become easily workable, and then stop. When rolling the dough, make sure your surface is well-floured, which will make the rolling and cutting easier.

When making dumplings, don't just reach for whatever flour you happen to have on hand in the pantry. Yes, you may know not to use almond flour or oat flour, but don't use just regular plain baking flour, either. Instead, go for a self-rising flour that already has leavening agents added in. This can make for a lighter, fluffier dumpling.

Furthermore, some Southern cooks will swear up and down that White Lily flour is the best choice for chicken and dumplings (and biscuits). This is because White Lily flour, made from Southern-grown soft red winter wheat, has a finer texture and lower protein content than comparable flours and thus the flour absorbs less liquid. You don't need to live in the South to buy this Southern staple, though. You can order a bag of White Lily self-rising flour online. If you can't get your hands on White Lily flour, Martha White flour or cake flour are suitable substitutes.

Some home cooks may use an entire chicken if they're making a big batch of chicken and dumplings. You can even air fry a whole chicken if your appliance is large enough. But if you're making chicken and dumplings in smaller quantities, then individual cuts of meat will work just fine. However, you need to choose your cuts of chicken carefully.

While chicken breasts are the go-to for many dishes, including other similarly hearty soups, stews, or casseroles, they're not great for chicken and dumplings, especially if you plan on letting your chicken and dumplings simmer on the stove for a bit. Shredded or chunked chicken breasts easily become tough and chewy after a long simmer time, while the texture you're aiming for is tender and fall-apart-in-your-mouth. Opt instead for the higher-fat chicken thigh, which won't dry out as easily and, when shredded, makes the perfect complement to your light and fluffy dumplings. Additionally, the dark meat chicken is richer and adds extra flavor, again thanks to the higher fat content.

Your chicken and dumplings should swim in a liquid that's relatively creamy and slightly thick. Think not as thick as a gravy, but not as thin as a chicken noodle soup. Aim for stew territory. Most chicken and dumpling recipes, though, start with a basic chicken broth base, and adding the chicken and dumplings to the mix won't really help with the creaminess or thickness very much. As such, you'll need to thicken the broth yourself.

An easy way to do this is by mixing cream or milk with a little flour and then gradually mixing it into the gently simmering broth. You can also make a similar thickening slurry by using a mixture of cornstarch and the broth from the pot. You can likewise choose to start your cooking process with a roux, though this is hardly traditional; just melt some butter in your chosen cooking vessel, add flour to form a thick paste, and then pour in your broth. The paste will thicken the broth quickly. If you've accidentally used too much flour and butter and over-thickened the broth, just add more broth.

You can use your favorite boxed or canned broth for chicken and dumplings (or even your favorite bouillon paste), but if you really want to go traditional and totally homemade, you have to make your stock from scratch, too — and since you're already cooking chicken, making your stock is just a small extra step to add to the process.

While it might seem fancy or a bit over the top, the process is pretty easy. Even the most novice home cook can do it. To make homemade chicken stock, all you need to do is place your chicken carcass (or bones, if you don't have a full carcass) in a large stock pot, then cover it with water. You can add vegetables like celery, onions, garlic, or carrots if you want, but it's not strictly necessary. Herbs and seasonings like thyme, rosemary, and a few bay leaves are recommended as a minimum, though. Let the mixture come to a boil, then simmer, and let it sit on the stove for several hours. That's it. When it's done, strain all the solids from the liquid. You get a delicious stock and, as a bonus, your house will smell oh-so-cozy and delicious, too.

If you're in a hurry and don't have time to make your own stock, you can boil your chicken in water, along with some herbs and veggies, and then reserve that liquid to use as your stock. While this does give you a bit of a quick work-around for making homemade stock, it's not ideal for two reasons. The stock won't be as flavorful as if you'd let the chicken carcass simmer for multiple hours, and your chicken won't be as flavorful, either.

For the most flavorful, delicious chicken for your chicken and dumplings, cook the chicken in a fat like butter or olive oil before shredding the meat (remove the skin if your chosen cut of chicken came with skin) and adding it to your cooking vessel. Along these lines, if you're choosing to use pre-cooked chicken for your chicken and dumplings, don't go the route of canned chicken. Instead, buy a rotisserie chicken (just beware of the higher sodium content) and shred the meat from the chicken. After the rotisserie chicken is shredded, you can save the carcass for use in a later stock.

Whether you drop your dumplings by the spoonful into the broth for somewhat spherical dumplings or you roll and cut your dumplings into strips, make sure that the dumplings are of similar size. Otherwise, you could end up with dumplings that do not cook consistently. That means some of your dumplings will be either overcooked or undercooked.

Even if you do get your dumplings all the same size, though, you likewise don't want them to be too large or too small. If they're too large, they overtake the soup and chicken. If they're too small, they fall apart and don't have that fluffy bite you're aiming for. If cutting your dumplings into strips, roll them very thin (like if you were going to cut out cookies), and cut the strips about an inch to two inches wide and two inches long. For drop dumplings that are more circular, scoop them at about the size of a golf ball.

You'll need a liquid to keep your dumpling dough together. While some recipes may call for you to add ice water, dairy is a preferred option for tender dumplings with a smooth consistency. Use whole milk, buttermilk, or cream. For the full benefits of adding milk, you just want to avoid any dairy that's low in fat. Buttermilk is often the preferred option for traditional chicken and dumplings, as the buttermilk's acidity can help make the dumplings even fluffier and softer — it's the same reason why buttermilk is often called for in certain baking recipes like biscuits. If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can use a mixture of regular milk with an acidic ingredient, like lemon juice.

If, though, you don't want to use milk for whatever reason, you may also use chicken stock in your dumplings. It will provide more flavor than perhaps you'd get from just water.

Don't get overly excited and accidentally add your dumplings to the stock too soon. For all their heartiness, dumplings can be relatively delicate, so you need to add them to your stock at exactly the right time. 

Always wait until your stock is at a boil before adding your dumplings. This ensures they start cooking as soon as you add them to the broth. If you add the dumplings too soon, they can begin to break apart as you wait for the stock to heat up. Then, let the dumplings cook for exactly the right time, too. If the dumplings are left in the cooking broth for too long, they can start to disintegrate. As such, if you want to let this soup simmer most of the day, you'll want to wait until you're fairly close to serving time before you add the dumplings.

Once the dumplings are added to your boiling stock, put a lid on the pot and set a timer. You don't want to let the dumplings cook for longer than necessary. Often, dumplings will cook in 15 minutes or so.

Just like dumplings will fall apart if you add them to the stock too soon, they can also fall apart if you let them cook for too long. Additionally, letting your chicken and dumplings cook too long can decrease the overall quality of your other ingredients as well, overcooking your chicken and turning any added vegetables like carrots, celery, or peas into mush. Depending on your chosen recipe, the entire process should take just under two hours, including cooking your chicken, letting the soup simmer, and making and adding the dumplings. Of course, additional time may be needed if you're making stock from scratch.

As your dumplings cook, they'll float to the top of your stock. There, a mixture of the boiling, as well as the steam produced, will cook your dumplings to completion. Because the steam is such an important, vital part of this process, you want to trap it all in the pot with the dumplings — and not let it escape. As soon as all your dumplings are added to your stock, cover the pot with a tight lid, and then leave the lid there.

Don't open the lid to check whether the dumplings are done until enough time has elapsed that they should be done. Setting a timer can help you gauge whether or not enough time has passed. If you do lift the lid frequently and allow the steam to escape, you could end up with unevenly cooked dumplings or dumplings that take longer to cook overall.

You do, though, have to eventually decide whether your dumplings are done or not. There are a few ways you can go about this.

First, you can use the toothpick or skewer test that you might use for any baked good. Just pick a dumpling that looks on the thick side and give it a poke right in the middle. If the toothpick or skewer comes out of the dumpling clean, with no residual dough, the dumplings are cooked. You can also scoop one dumpling from the batch and cut it in half to check if you don't quite trust the toothpick method. Look for any signs that the dough is raw. Note that cooked dumplings are traditionally chewy, similar to pasta, so they won't puff up in the middle like a bread or cake might, with a visible crumb.

If your dumplings aren't cooking through, it might be that your dumplings are too large or that you've overcrowded your soup pot. Try removing some of the dumplings and replacing the lid.

Remember that dumplings can be on the delicate side, so even if you've added the dumplings at the right time, left them to cook in their steam without disturbing the pot, and cooked the dumplings until they're completely done, you can still cause them to fall apart with one big mistake: over-stirring. Resist the urge to stir and stir (and stir some more) your chicken and dumplings as they simmer. Doing so can turn your lovingly made, perfectly cooked dumplings into a messy pile of broken dough. In fact, don't stir the dumplings at all while they're in the middle of cooking. If you're worried about burning from lack of stirring, it means your soup's probably cooking at too high a temperature.

If your dumplings do end up falling apart from over-stirring (or from one of the other myriad causes), you can salvage your chicken and dumplings by scooping out the most-broken dumplings using a slotted spoon. If the dumplings are too far gone for even that, rest assured that, so long as they're cooked through, they're still edible — just not pretty.

The most basic of chicken and dumplings recipes will result in a hearty, comforting mixture of a rich and creamy broth, succulent chicken, and chewy dumplings. While savory and delicious, though, this combination can also be a little one-note. If you want something with a more robust flavor profile, you have a few options.

You can start with the obvious: onions, garlic, and complementary herbs and spices like rosemary and oregano. You might also add some umami-rich ingredients, like a dash of Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce or a small amount of white miso paste. For an acidic slant, try lemon juice or red wine or balsamic vinegar. Other options include adding nutritional yeast or throwing a parmesan rind into your broth. Since the dish is relatively simple, it makes a good canvas on which to experiment with combining various flavors. However, if you're making chicken and dumplings for the first time, consider going simple with the classic flavor profile — and then adjust the dish to your personal tastes from there.

There are a lot of chicken and dumpling shortcuts out there, but most provide lackluster dishes. For example, canned biscuits and gnocchi are both popular stand-ins for dumplings, but the textures are completely different than what you'd get with a typical dumpling recipe. Likewise, some recipes add canned cream of chicken soup to their base for flavor and as a thickener, but this also can negatively affect the overall flavor (and add a lot of excess salt).

Everyone wants the magic of a homemade, from-scratch meal but with less time invested. While some weeknight chicken and dumpling recipes are fine for a quick meal, don't assume you'll get the same results that you would if you were to make your stock and dumplings from scratch. Really, the only ingredient swap you should make for convenience's sake is possibly with the chicken, but even then don't go with canned of frozen pre-cooked chicken. Opt for a store-bought rotisserie bird.