Cozy Chicken Dumpling Soup is the ultimate comfort food in a bowl – and it’s made with simple ingredients and packed with flavor by using one unexpected ingredient – white cooking wine. The soup is light, creamy, and so easy to make.
This post is sponsored by our friends at Holland House®. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Blue Bowl possible!
Tips for cooking tender, flavorful chicken:
Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of thyme and sage. Add olive oil to your pan and begin cooking your chicken in batches, to help it cook evenly. (This is half the chicken I cooked in total). Use an instant read thermometer to tell when your chicken is done – I cannot stress how invaluable of a tool this is! Your chicken is done when the center reads 165 degrees F. I also like to add a splash of white cooking wine into the pot while cooking my chicken.
Deglaze your pan:
This sounds like a fancy term, but it’s actually something quite simple. Once you’ve cooked the chicken and removed it, add the butter to the pan, and once it’s almost completely melted, add a splash of Holland House White Cooking Wine. This will allow you to scrape up the brown bits from cooking the chicken with your wooden spoon – and we want those bits in our veggies as they cook because they’ll add tons of flavor!
Cook the veggies:
For the base of this soup, we’re sautéing diced onion, celery, and carrot. Season this mixture with salt, pepper, thyme, and sage for plenty of flavor, and cook for 7-8 minutes until a bit softened. (The veggies will soften more in a later step, too.) Add garlic, and cook just for an additional minute or two. It’s important to add this last so it doesn’t burn.
Adding flour and liquid to the soup base:
Add two tablespoons of flour to the veggies, and cook, stirring for a few minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Next, add the chicken broth and Holland House White Cooking Wine – it adds SO much incredible flavor to this soup, and I consider it to be a pantry staple item! I add it to so many things – like this soup – for a bold burst of flavor. Shred your cooked chicken from earlier and add it to the soup. You can also add some frozen peas at this point – it’s up to personal preference.
What are dumplings?
The dumplings in this soup are somewhere between a biscuit and a dumpling. These aren’t the type of dumplings you’d find in Asian cuisine, as they’re more of a biscuit that cooks in the soup broth. This practice was apparently started during the Great Depression to stretch the amount of chicken in this meal farther.
Even though the idea of cooking biscuit dough in a soup may sound odd, it’s quite tasty. They aren’t soggy at all, and the inside is light and fluffy, just like the inside of a traditional biscuit. The outside of course, doesn’t have that crisp top on a baked biscuit, but the whole thing is still wonderfully delicious!
How to make dumplings for chicken dumpling soup:
To make the dumplings, cut a bit of butter into a mixture of flour, salt, and baking powder. Then, stir in 1/2 cup of milk until the dough is moistened through, but isn’t overly sticky.
Drop this mixture by the large spoonful into the simmering soup. Place the lid on, and cook for 10-12 minutes. You’ll get 8 to 9 large dumplings from this mixture. Resist the urge to lift the lid until the timer goes off, as the steam needs to be contained to cook the dumplings.
You can remove a dumpling from the soup and cut into the center to check for doneness once your time is up. If you need to add a few more minutes, do so, but I found that 10 minutes was the sweet spot for my dumplings. If you make yours smaller, start with less time. They should appear cooked through on the inside – you’ll know if they aren’t done.
Finish the soup off with a dusting of fresh parsley, and scoop into bowls while it’s piping hot! This is such a delicious and easy recipe, although it certainly will impress whoever you serve it to. Winter comfort food at its finest.
More soup recipes to love:
Tomato Basil Soup – The depth of flavor in this soup comes from basic pantry ingredients and is amped up with roasted heirloom tomatoes.
Chicken Wild Rice Soup – It’s rich and creamy, full of tender veggies, herbed chicken, and hearty wild rice. Don’t forget the crusty bread for dunking!
Homemade Beer Cheese Soup – The ultimate comfort soup! It’s creamy, cheesy, and even has some veggies (you know, for balance). Serve it up with soft pretzels!
Chicken Gnocchi Soup – Tender carrots, soft pillowy gnocchi, seasoned chicken are all wrapped up in the most creamy, delicious soup base.
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Cozy Chicken Dumpling Soup
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 1 and 1/2 lbs chicken breast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- dried thyme and sage
- 1 tbsp Holland House White Cooking Wine
For the Soup
- 3 tbsp salted butter
- 2 tbsp Holland House White Cooking Wine, divided
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 4 large carrots, diced
- 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
- 3/4 tsp salt
- pinch black pepper
- 4 tsp dried thyme, divided
- 3 tsp dried sage, divided
- 4 extra large cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 5 and 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup Holland House White Cooking Wine
For the Dumplings
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp salted butter, cold
- 1/2 cup milk, plus a splash more
Instructions
- Prep: Whisk together the dry ingredients for the dumplings in a medium bowl, and set aside for later.
- Cook the Chicken: Cut your chicken breast into quarters for quicker cooking. (I usually slice them lengthwise first if they're very thick.) Add the olive oil to a large dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Season the chicken with a sprinkle of salt, pepper, thyme, and sage. Cook the chicken in two batches, so as not to crowd the pan, flipping each piece after 2-3 minutes. Use an instant read meat thermometer to check for doneness - 165°F. Once all the chicken is cooked, set aside on a plate to rest, and cover with foil.
- Make the Soup: Don't clean the pan - just add the butter over medium low heat, and once it's just about melted, add a splash of white cooking wine, scraping up the brown bits from cooking the chicken to build flavor. (If it seems like there are burnt bits from the chicken, scoop those out and toss them.)Add the veggies and salt, along with 3 tsp of the thyme and 2 tsp of the sage. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 7-8 minutes, until they begin to soften. Add a splash of white cooking wine during this to continue deglazing the pan and build flavor as you cook. Add the minced garlic, and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes more. Add the flour, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Next, slowly add the chicken broth, stirring it in as you go. Stir in the white cooking wine, and remaining 1 tsp of thyme and 1 tsp of sage. Turn the heat to medium low and let this hang out while you finish the dumplings.
- Make and Cook the Dumplings: Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until you have pea sized pieces coated with flour. Stir in the milk. The dough should be moistened throughout, but not crazy sticky. Add a splash of extra milk if it needs help coming together. Bring the soup to a rapid summer, and drop the dumplings by large spoonfuls into the soup - you should have 8-9 of them. Cover with the lid (keeping the steam in is what will help cook the dumplings), and cook for 10-12 minutes. Mine were done at 11 minutes. Once the time is up, cut into a dumpling to check for doneness in the center - it should look like a fluffy cooked biscuit in the center.
- Serve + Store: Once the biscuits are cooked, serve immediately! Sprinkle with fresh parsley, if desired. Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
Notes
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