Old Fashioned Iowa Chicken and Dumplings

It is Sunday.  Growing up in the 50’s, Sunday always meant chicken to my family.  With the weather we have in store for us today, I’m making an Iowa comfort food, chicken and dumplings for my Sunday dinner.  I grew up on chicken and dumplings (great way to extend chicken to feed 8 kids).  When I left Iowa I found out there were more than one kind of dumpling.  I love them all, but I do favor the kind I grew up on.  Mom made them with Bisquick (She also used Bisquick to make her pancakes).

Some people like a chicken, peas and carrots thick soup (similar to a pot pie mixture), but I’m a plainest.  When I used to babysit years ago, the woman whose kids I watched would make up a big pot of chicken and dumplings for me to feed the kids for supper and she would leave the bones in her chicken.  I really liked the idea because it gives more flavor.  She did not add the peas or carrots but just put dumplings on the broth with pieces of bone in chicken (legs, breasts, etc). 

4 cups of chicken broth (I like lots of gravy, you can always use less)

Bone in chicken pieces or shredded if you like (1 entire cut up chicken and toss in a couple extra legs for the leg lovers)

2 bay leaves

2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup milk

Salt and pepper

Simmer your chicken in a very large pot of chicken broth.  Add two bay leaves and salt and pepper.  Cook until it is tender and nearly falling off the bone.

Mix the Bisquick and milk together to form dough.   Bring the broth and chicken back up to a boil.

Add a teaspoon full of dough into the broth and bring it down to a simmer.  Drop the rest of the dumplings and simmer it uncovered for 10 minutes and then covered for 10 more minutes.

Pull out the bay leaves.  Taste for seasoning again and salt and pepper if needed.  Serve in bowls with several dumplings, a piece of chicken and lots of gravy.  The Bisquick thickens the broth and makes a creamy gravy. It can’t get any easier than that.

Variation - You may add your peas and carrots if you like.  I also like to sprinkle the dumplings with a little paprika after I have dropped them in the pot.  If you would like a little more flavor you can grate a small onion and put it in the broth while cooking your chicken.  Make sure you sample the broth several times for seasoning.  You may add a can of cream of chicken condensed soup if you like.  I use my own. I have shared the recipe in the past but will share it again.   Just add ½ of a cup of the dry mix to your pot of broth for the extra flavor and to add a creaminess. 

4 cups instant non-fat dry milk

½ cup dairy creamer

1 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup dried chicken bouillon 

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon black or white pepper

This equals 18 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup.  Just think of the storage space you save.

To reconstitute (equal to one 10 ounce can of condensed cream soup) the soup, combine 1/3 cup of the mix and 1 1/4 cups water.  In a small saucepan on the stove or a microwave safe bowl; cook and stir till mixture thickens.

Label the jars and note the above directions to reconstitute the mix right on the lid.  Once you have reconstituted the soup, add you chicken, mushrooms, cheese, broccoli or what ever you wish to make the cream soup of your choice.

Tip – I save the flavor packets from Chicken Ramen Noodle packets and use them in this recipe.  I seldom use the packets when I making the noodles so found another use for them. 

I make up a batch of this each fall and it gets me though the winter and saves me money and storage space. 

Comfort food is the way to go today.  Stay warm, be happy and may God bless you and yours.