Better than Cracker Barrel Chicken 'n Dumplings Recipe

I am the author of this recipe and I want to add a couple of notes. First use a roasting or stewing chicken not a fryer as they have less fat. More fat, more flavor. Don't scimp on the flour, the more flour you use the thicker your broth will be. When you take the chicken out to remove from the bones and add your dumplings you should remove the lemon as well. If you add frozen vegetables it is important that you bring your broth back to a boil BEFORE adding your dumplings. These are flat dumplings from the Kentucky region NOT drop dumplings which are similar to matza. When I say a pinch of salt I am talking old school grandma used her hand to measure, it's probably more like a tablespoon, just taste and adjust accordingly. Hope this helps

Love love love this recipe! This is where my heart is! With so many people trying to recreate the wheel, this was a comfort recipe and a comfort food. Love this technique, I love using the broth to make the dumplings! If you think your dumplings will be plain Jane, you're so wrong. The seasonings of the broth transfer right over to the dumplings. I used left over chicken breasts and drum sticks. Deboned them then threw it all (bones and all) in the pot to boil and make a broth. Pulled out the bones with tongs before adding dumplings. Whole family ate it and loved it. Thank you so much! This is definitely a keeper. I feel recipes like this are hard to come by, felt like it came with a little peice of history. (For me. I realize this maybe old hat for some.) Couldn't be happier. Next time I will take a picture.

Used Chicken thighs and Breast instead of whole chicken and it came out very good. Used a little lemon juice instead of a lemon and taste was excellent.

I made this dish with the addition of rosemary and adobo to the broth while cooking. Some other reviews made me leery of the lemon, so I removed the two lemon halves halfway through cooking. I'll leave them in next time for even more deliciousness. I'll also double the carrots and celery, and maybe add peas, as suggested. I allowed the dough to rest 20 minutes before rolling out to 3/16" thick. This recipe is wonderful! If you don't like flat style dumplings, feel free to make drop dumplings, but we love them made this way.

This is pretty close to my Grandmother's recipe and our family couldn't wait for the weekend when she would make it for us. The only difference was that she would make egg noodles instead of squares and when she added the noodles she made sure that they were coated in flour to thicken the sauce so it as more of a gravy. Then she'd make mashed potatoes which we would put the chicken and noodles over. It was delicious.

Recipe is…..okay. I would recommend not using the lemon or maybe take it out a lot faster. It makes the soup have a weird acidic taste that it hard to get out of your mouth. To make the lemon taste not as strong I had to add a variety of seasonings, add a LOT of water, and add some sugar. I would also double up the veggies. I love veggies and didn’t think there was enough. I also added peas because they were in the picture but not in the recipe. I liked the dumplings and they were easy to make but they were hard to handle since the broth was so hot. I do like the southern dumplings that are like biscuits in chicken n dumplings, but I was actually looking forward to these dumplings and they are pretty good. The only really bad thing was the darn lemon! Since it is boiled into the broth and chicken it is SO hard to get rid of. It’s boiled into your chicken, your broth, and since you make your dumplings with the broth it’s even built into your dumplings! A little lemon may be okay……but just be cautious. My family loves lemons too. We love lemon flavored foods, but the lemon in this soup just makes it……not enjoyable.

It's kinda how I make mine except, I take out the veggies after boiling with the chicken, ( which our family favorite is leg quarters), put them on a pan and roast them. Then I serve as a side dish. I also add butter to my stock pot, about 1 1/2 sticks. As for the dumpings, yes flat! I make mine with heavy cream, ( white lilly or gold medal flour only), but I'm sure you can use just a generic brand, It's just my preference. I freeze butter, grate a stick into my dumping mix. Make pea size mix with hands.Add heavy cream slowly in your mix. After mixing I kneed and fold three times on floured surface. I dust with flour lightly as I hand push them into rectangle. On the side I have a pie plate with flour mixed with a little bit of corn starch. No seasoning in it yet. All the seasoning is in the pot with the stock ( btw we love onion and garlic which now will be in a roaring boil.)Then I begin to cut after dough has rested for about 20 minutes. Each dumping I then dust in the cornstarch and flour mixture and drop the flat cut biscuits one by one in the pot. You must keep stirring the pot slowly after each few dumpings. keep going till all dumping are in. Keep the bottom stirred but don't push dumplings too hard or they will fall apart. to avoid sticking you may have to add more water/stock. After about 25 minutes add leftover heavy cream. Lower temp when dumpings are done. This is MawMaw dumplings! Remember just keep stirring until you turn them off. Hope someone will try them, you will never make them any other way. Season to taste but my little secret is a lg. pinch of Conecue Seasoning instead of salt in the stock pot.

This recipe is so like the chicken and dumplings my Grandmother made long ago. Tried this recipe for my Mother and Aunt and they LOVED it! All 3 grands also ate two bowls which tells me it is a keeper. It may sound strange cooking the chicken with lemon, but unless you knew you couldn’t tell. I added more veggies about 10 minutes before adding the dumplings. Interesting my family liked the broth a bit thicker so sprinkled a bit of flour over the cut dumplings before dropping them in the pot. Thanks so much for this recipe!!

I omitted the lemon. Just preference. I've made this several times and I love it. I add garlic and parsley and extra carrots. I thicken some too. One of my favorite recipes!

Been adding lemon to chicken soups for decades, nice to see it in recipes these days! Thanks for clarifying 'pinch' for us. A shortcut to dumplings is rolling out cheap, canned biscuits and cutting them in squares. Cheap buttermilk biscuits, not the 'layered' ones. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

I have made this recipe several times. I strained the broth after the chicken was done. I also juiced the lemon--did not use entire lemon. Just like CB chicken-so good and NO leftovers! The dumplings are not supposed to rise--they are like thick noodles that cook down to thicken the broth.

I thought I'd add some frozen peas and carrots. That's all I have on hand. I don't have any broth except the beef better than bullion(any suggestions). I have not discarded the water I boiled the chicken in. I added a bunch of seasoning, chicken seasoning and a bay leaf to add more flavor to water as well. I do have a can of cream of chicken as well. I don't care for celery. I also used 3 big chicken thighs. Guess I'll try it and see 👀 🤷

Finally a recipe with dumplings that I can make.

Can’t get enough of this recipe.

It was easy and my family loved it!

This was ok ish.Family didn't like the flat dumplings ( we are used to the fluffy drop dumplings. If I make this again I would make the drop dumplings as well as omit the lemon.

While I haven't made this particular recipe yet, I've made Chicken and Dumpings several times before, and it always amuses me to see the argument that Flat Dumplings are noodles. I hate to tell you, but there are two kinds, Flat Dumplings and Drop Dumplings. Both are correct, it all depends on where you're from and Family tradition as to which one is right. I was raised on Flat Dumplings and prefer those, but I've had (and made) Drop Dumplings. Just make what you like and enjoy them and don't criticize other's choices, it's their families' tradition.

I use milk and no lemon. That’s how we did it in Ohio back in the day!!

I’d not like the lemon and added more vegeatables.

Love it!!