Welcome back to Sizzlin’ Soups! Day2Day Joys, Christian Mommy Blogger, The Humbled Homemaker, Intentional by Grace, The Purposed Heart and myself have had a lot of fun bringing you our favorite heart-warming soup recipes.
In case you missed them, we’ve already featured:
- Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Chowder from LeighAnn
- Sausage & Kale Italian Zuppa from Rachel
- Sweet Potato & Sausage Soup from Nikki
- and Creamy Chicken & Rice Soup from Erin.
I’ve already tried the Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup (I made the wheat-free, dairy-free version), and my whole family loved it! These are recipes you will want to include in your regular meal-planning rotation, I promise you.And we’re going to make it easy for you to do just that… we will have a free gift for you after our last installment that you will definitely want to take advantage of! Be sure to subscribe to one of the above blogs so that you don’t miss out on the announcement!
Now on to this week’s soup. It’s my turn, and I’ve had fun experimenting with Chicken & Dumplings in the crock pot. Can you believe, by the way, that I had never even eaten chicken and dumplings before? Not that I can recall, anyway. But it always sounded like such a delicious comfort food, and one I knew I would love.
And I was right! Delicious comfort food that I will definitely be making again and again. I started with this chicken and dumpling recipe at Goodbite.com, and modified it to make it easier and healthier. I don’t believe in sauteing things before I put them in the slow cooker, because that just adds extra work. I don’t do extra work. Keep it to the minimum! So this is simplified for anybody like me who doesn’t have time for extra steps. (I did make use of a stash of frozen cooked chicken – if you don’t have such a stash, you’ll probably want to saute your fresh chicken at least briefly before putting it in the pot.)
Speaking of saving steps, there is one thing about making soup that seems to take for.ev.er. and that is chopping up the ubiquitous celery and carrots that always end up in soup. I’ve recently discovered a trick that significantly reduces my chopping time and makes soup an even easier weeknight menu option. Here it is:
I am probably the last person in Christendom to have discovered this trick… but just in case, I’m sharing it with you. (So tell me, do you chop your veggies this way?)
Note: I used granulated garlic in the dumpling dough because I’m not a huge fan of fresh minced garlic in my baked goods. But if you prefer fresh garlic, you can just use the same amount (1-2 cloves) of fresh garlic in place of the granulated garlic.
Chicken & Whole Wheat Garlic Dumplings
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked shredded or cubed chicken
- 3-4 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6-8 cups broth
- 1 tsp each rosemary, oregano, and parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup cream
- Dumplings:
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
Instructions
- Place chicken, vegetables, and broth in slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add herbs; add salt and pepper to taste. About half an hour before serving, stir in cream, then make dumplings. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Beat egg lightly and stir into yogurt. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until you have a moist biscuit-like dough. Drop by large spoonfuls into the soup. Cover and allow to cook on high for 15 minutes or so, turning halfway through if desired.
This is not as QUICK as many slow cooker recipes, because there’s the added step (sorry, couldn’t eliminate that one) of making the dumpling dough. However, you can set the soup going in the morning, then make the dumplings about half an hour or so before dinner-time – that will still save you some dinner prep.
It is very EASY. The only thing to be aware of is not to add too much liquid to the dumpling dough, or you will have a mass of dough that never quite cooks through covering up a delicious pot of chicken soup. Not that I would know from experience or anything.
This is a good CHEAP dish. Soups are so good for using up odds and ends of meat and vegetables, and this is no exception. (If you have corn, peas, or green beans instead of the veggies I used, go ahead and throw ‘em in the pot!) The dumplings take the place of the pasta typically found in a chicken noodle soup with very little extra cost.
I love my HEALTHY changes to this recipe, namely the use of whole wheat flour. You can use buttermilk in place of the yogurt (which is what the original recipe called for, and is just as healthy), but I usually have yogurt on hand, and I found it made the perfect substitute. These dumplings are SO much better for you than the typical canned biscuit recipe most people use. And I think they taste a lot better, too!
Sharing at Tastetastic Thursday, Pennywise Platter, and…
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(sorry, couldn’t eliminate that one) of making the dumpling dough.)
I enjoy chicken & dumplings but I rarely make it.. but when I do, instead of using dough, my grandmother taught me to slice & use 1×2 pieces of flour tortillas and drop them in it instead. You can stack 4 or 5 at a time to make it fast slicing too. YUM! They’re hands down WAY better than regular dumplings.
Interesting time-saving trick! I think I still like the dumplings, though!
I love chicken and dumplings, but have never made it in my slower cooker before, don’t know why not. I’ve never tried WW dumplings although I bake and cook almost exclusively with WW flour. My family doesn’t care for WW baking powder biscuits, but I’ll give these dumplings a try and see if they’re a hit.
I’ve enjoyed the sizzlin’ soups series.
I love soup!!
Elizabeth recently posted..It’s All About the Plan
This was the first time I tried it, too. There’s a first time fore verything! And have you tried white whole wheat flour? It’s not as strong of a taste or as hard of a texture as regular whole wheat flour. It’s what I always use.
OMG this sounds delicious! I think I will try it…I’ll let you know hope it goes if I do! Sounds perfect for a cold day
I have a bunch of hearty soups on my blog too if you want to take a look: http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/search/label/soup
Have a great day!
Jessica recently posted..Sweet Saturday Blog Hop #2
I hope you love it! I will have to check out your soups, thanks!
This looks awesome. We have a dairy allergy – probably a long shot, but do you think I could sub rice milk in here??
I did make a dairy-free version (which will be available in the e-book we’re releasing for free to subscribers this weekend), and if I remember correctly, what I did was mix some brown rice flour in the rice milk before adding it to the soup. That helped thicken it some like cream or real milk would. I think it was 1/4 brown rice flour.
This looks amazingly yummy! I make chicken and dumplings quite a bit in the winter but never thought of flavoring the dumplings themselves (other than salt and pepper). I am going to use fresh minced garlic instead of the granulated since I still have quite a lot of garlic from last year’s garden. I am definitely adding this to the menu next week.
I am really enjoying this soup series. I have printed quite a few of the recipes to try.
Jen Voss recently posted..Homemade Refried Beans – Make Your Own and Save!
Glad you enjoyed the series! If you subscribe to one of the contributing blogs, you can get a free e-book with all the recipes plus more!
I thought you had a gluten free/dairy free version…am I missing it? Really want to make this!
Nikki @ Christian Mommy Blogger recently posted..Comment on Gardening As A Renter: 3 Ideas To Inspire Your Green Thumb by Jenni
Yes, I do – it’s in the ebook. The dumplings are made with quinoa flour. Yum!
Ok…I was lazy and looked here first. I see it now. But I can’t find plain dairy free yogurt…do you think milk would work at all?
Nikki @ Christian Mommy Blogger recently posted..Comment on Gardening As A Renter: 3 Ideas To Inspire Your Green Thumb by Julie Bagamary
Yeah, you can try making a buttermilk substitute by adding a little lemon juice or vinegar to it first. That’s what I usually do if I don’t have any of the plain yogurt on hand.