Homemade old-fashion chicken and dumplings is comfort food at it’s best. These dumplings can be made into flat strips or fluffy balls – either way these from scratch dumplings are sure to please your family.
This simple recipe is super versatile, in fact, you could even use a store bought rotisserie chicken, in a pinch.

Whenever I have chicken and dumplings on the menu, I like to serve whole roasted chicken the night before. This way I can rooast several whole chickens in the roaster oven. This is by far my most used small appliance in my kitchen, I love it so much.
We eat one for dinner that night and then after dinner we pick the meat off the other one to use for chicken and dumplings. I can get three meals from two chickens if I shred the meat and use it in soup or a casserole but if I serve it whole, the whole chicken is eaten and the boys are clamoring for more. So, I compromise – whole chicken one night, soup the next.
I save the stock from the chicken, skim off the fat and used it to season the soup.
The next afternoon, I put the chicken stock, meat and chopped carrots in a big pot (a 12qt. pot). Then I added some salt and pepper. I will sometimes add a dash of cayenne if we are sick.
This is my basic chicken soup “recipe”. I can add rice, barley, noodles or, in this case, dumplings.
Homemade Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings is a classic comfort food. This easy recipe will quickly become a family favorite.
Ingredients
Soup
- Whole Chicken
- Chicken Broth
- 5-7 carrots
- Salt
- Pepper
- Cayenne
Dumplings
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup milk (you can add up to 2 Tbsp more if you need to)
Instructions
To make the soup:
Roast a whole chicken (I usually do several at one time). When the chicken is done, save the broth and let the chicken cool.
When it's cool enough to handle, pick the meat from the bones.
In a big pot (I use a 12 qt. pot, but you could use a smaller one and if your family is smaller. Just adjust the quantities.)
Put the chicken stock, meat and chopped carrots into the pot and heat it up.
Add salt and pepper to taste. I will sometimes add a dash of cayenne if we are sick.
This is a basic chicken soup "recipe". Instead of dumplings you can add rice, barley or noodles.
To make the dumplings:
Mix ingredients in order given.
Roll out to 1/2 inch thick.
Cut into 1" square pieces.
Drop one at a time into boiling broth and cook until done.
The dumplings will puff up and float and then sink when they are done.
Enjoy!
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Looks delicious! I like how you have a basic base for your soup and then add whatever you have on hand to it. I haven’t had chicken and dumplings in a long time so I’ll have to try this soon!
Thanks, Jenn. It’s funny each person likes something different, some were disappointed it was dumplings instead of barley. So I pointed out that it was really the same soup – but they didn’t buy it.