Grandma's Dairy-Free Southern Style Chicken and Dumplings Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my chicken and dumplings not creamy? ›

Create a Slurry.

Combine flour and milk in a sealable container like a Mason Jar, and shake it up. You'll get a smooth flour mixture called a slurry, which will help to thicken your sauce. This turns this recipe into more a a creamy chicken dumpling soup, loaded with flavor.

The recipe below can be used either way. You might also like our recipe for cream cheese ranch chicken. This is a basic recipe and works for me every time. You can use milk instead of water and some people even sweeten with a little sugar if adding dumplings to fruit.

Southern dumplings are made with shortening and are simmered in the broth. Northern dumplings — they aren't necessarily from the north, but they aren't southern dumplings so I am calling them northern — are made with butter and are steamed on the top of the pot.

Make the Dumplings: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the melted butter and milk and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough just comes together. Stir the chicken, peas, and parsley into the pot.

Use Cornstarch to Thicken Chicken and Dumplings

To give that a little thicker texture we're going to add 1 cup of cool water to 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and stir it up well. Make sure the soup is brought back to a good boil and go ahead and stir in the cornstarch mixture.

If it's boiling too hard, the dumpling dough can fall apart. Simmering broth might not be hot enough to raise the dumpling dough. Remove or tilt the lid after they've cooked so the dumplings don't over-steam and get soggy and dense. At least, that's the way I was taught and dumplings come out fluffy and delicious.

These dumplings start with all-purpose flour, which creates structure and holds the other ingredients together. Baking powder is a leavening agent, which means it releases gas that makes the dough expand. It's responsible for the dumplings' light and fluffy texture.

In an absolute pinch, water can sometimes be used as a substitute in a recipe that calls for milk…but you might experience some changes in flavor and texture. (Think: Less creamy, less fluffy and less rich.)

Mix one cup of water with 1 ½ teaspoons melted butter. Water can be used in most recipes that call for milk. According to the USDA, 88 percent of the volume of milk is water.

Bott boi. Pennsylvania Dutch bott boi is a soup popular in central and southeastern Pennsylvania, also called chicken and dumplings in the American south.

What is a fun fact about chicken and dumplings? ›

By the mid-1800s, a variety of dumpling and meat dishes began to appear in southern cookbooks and a recipe of chicken stewed with dumplings was first published in 1879 by Marion Cabell Tyree in a cookbook called “Housekeeping in Old Virginia.” Many historians are also quick to point out that these recipes were cooked ...

Dumplings: In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and shortening with a fork. Add egg and 1/2 cup milk; mix to form dough. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on floured surface. Cut into four-inch strips with sharp knife.

In recipes that call for buttermilk, it is not recommended to replace buttermilk with plain milk, because the absence of acid will not produce the same end result. But using an acidic ingredient combined with plain milk will create a substitute with properties closer to that of buttermilk.

Ingredients: 150g self raising flour (or 150g plain flour and 2 tsp baking powder mixed together) 60g shredded suet (suet gives best results in my opinion but you can substitute it with lard or butter if you must) ¼ tsp sea salt.

Mix together a bit of cornstarch with water then stir it into the ground pork. Stirring in a bit of cornstarch and water will make the insides of your dumplings super tender. It's the secret to juicy, tender dumplings!

If the dough is dropped right into the liquid, the simmering action may break up the dumplings. Also, the dough will soak up moisture from the liquid so the dumplings will become soft and soggy.

Season the filling well

If it tastes bland before you stuff it into the wrapper, it will be even more tasteless as a dumpling, as the wrappers will mute the flavor slightly.

Too lean equals dry, flavorless dumplings. Keep the meat chilled for as long as you can. Work in a bowl that's sitting in ice. If you don't, the fat separates from the emulsion and you end up with dry dumplings.