Chicken and Dumpling soup is just one of my comfort foods. It’s so warming on cold winter days. We have been getting a lot of those lately here in Utah. Is anyone out there getting tired of being cold? It’s only January I keep telling myself. I have at least 5 months to go before I can run in shorts and a singlet!
I love brothy soups! Comfort without the heaviness of cream based soups. You have the option of using home made chicken stock, which you can find a recipe for by clicking on “Homemade Chicken Stock”. You can also use a store bought chicken stock. I’d use a low-sodium broth or stock. With that said, let’s make soup.
For the soup you will need: 8 cups chicken stock, 2 carrots (peeled), 2 celery ribs, one onion, fresh parsley, rosemary and thyme. Salt and pepper to Cut the peeled carrots in half lengthwise. I cut them in half just for ease in chopping.
Do the same with the celery ribs.
I like a fine dice.
Cut the onion in half.
Chop the onion.
That’s is for your prep work. You know have a “mirepoix” (mihr-PWAH). A combination of carrots, celery, and onions that are sautéed in butter.
Add about 1-2 tablespoons of oil into a large pot.
Add the chopped carrots, celery and onions. Sauté until the onions are translucent and the carrots and celery start to soften.
In the meantime, prepare the fresh herbs.
Finely chop the fresh parsley.
Remove the rosemary leaves from the stems.
Finely chop.
I did not have any fresh thyme so I’m using 1 teaspoon of dried. Set the herbs aside.
The vegetables have softened nicely.
Add the chicken stock.
Cover the pot and let simmer for 30-60 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and cooked through to your liking.
While the soup is simmering, I’m going to make the dumplings. You will need Cream of Wheat or Farina.
WTH? (That’s Utahn for “what the heck”)
This is an unusual dumpling. Using Cream of Wheat or Farina will create a denser dumpling. The dumpling won’t fall apart like most dumplings made with flour do.
You will need: milk, Farina (Cream of Wheat), eggs, butter, salt and fresh parsley.
In a medium-sized sauce pan bring the milk to a simmer.
Add the salt.
Once the milk starts to bubble around the edges, sprinkle in the Farina.
Whisk constantly.
The mixture will begin to thicken. Really thicken!
When the mixture has thickened remove from the heat. At this point the mixture is too thick for a whisk.
Change to a wooden spoon.
Add the butter. You will need to use some elbow grease to stir this in! You can do it!
Lightly beat the eggs.
Add to the Farina mixture.
Once again, it takes a little time to completely blend in the eggs. The mixture will begin to soften.
Once the eggs have been completely mixed in you can add the fresh parsley.
Stir in the fresh parsley.
The dumpling dough is now complete.
Remove the lid from the simmering pot of soup.
I use a tablespoon to form the dumplings and drop them into the soup.
They dumplings will sink to the bottom of the soup when they are first dropped in. They will float to the top as the cook.
Put the lid on the pot and simmer for about 10 minutes to completely cook the dumplings.
Once the dumplings have cooked you can add the chicken. You will need 2 cups of precooked chicken. You can purchase a rotisserie chicken from the store and use the meat or you can cook your own. I like to use a whole chicken when making my broth. I pull the meat off the bones and save it for soup.
After adding the chicken I do not bring the soup back to a full boil and I don’t stir it much. This will make the chicken fall apart into little shredded pieces and doesn’t look good in the soup. Got it?
Gently simmer at this point, if you need to re-heat.
Add the herbs.
I like to add the fresh herbs at the end of cooking because I want to taste the fresh flavor.
That’s it! A pot of soothing chicken soup.
I could eat this every day!
Chicken and Dumplings Soup
1 tablespoon oil
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 quarts Chicken Stock
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
Dumpling recipe below
In a large pot drizzle about 1 tablespoon oil and sauté the carrots, celery and onions until soft and the onions are translucent. Add chicken stock and simmer over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add the dumplings from the recipe below. Drop dumplings with a tablespoon into simmering soup. Cover and gently simmer over low heat for 10-12 minutes or until dumplings are cooked. Add the rosemary, parsley, thyme and chicken. Stir gently. Do not over stir or the chicken and dumplings will begin to fall apart.
Dumplings
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup regular Cream of Wheat or Farina
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Combine milk and salt in sauce pan. Bring to a simmer. Slowly sprinkle in Cream of Wheat or Farina, stirring constantly. Cook for 2-3 minutes. This mixture will become very thick. Remove from heat and stir in butter and eggs until mixture is smooth. Stir in parsley.
Drop by tablespoons into simmering soup. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes.
Comfort food! Nothings better…except for chocolate…of coarse!
After Scott was released from a four-day hospital stay to treat a dangerous staph infection, I nursed him back to health with this chicken soup. He just kept remarking how much he enjoyed it! Thanks Janet.
OH Poor Scott. Those infections are nasty. Hope he is feeling better. Chicken soup cures most anything.
Very nice photos and description. My children love dumplings in their soup, I've been looking for recipe that doesn't fall apart like the ones made with flour and shortening. Thanks for the recipe and instructions. I never would have thought of cream of wheat.
Laura
The cream of wheat is kind of a shocking ingredient, I know, but it really is great. This is such a warming and comforting meal. I hope your children enjoy it.
Thanks for this recipe. They are just like my mother made and I need to make some as I've been thinking and remembering them constantly for the last month. I will put them in a pea soup my mother made. This pea soup is made with canned peas, onions, paprika, and chicken broth. We are Hungarian and this was a meatless, Friday staple. Thank you again.
Thank you for sharing this memory and your mother's pea soup. Sounds delicious.
love you
🙂
This is a recipe my grandma makes its popular German dish. Thanks for the recipe I had almost forgotten this soup existed. We always called it football soup because of the shape the dumplings make
My grandmother made these for us when I was a child, a winter staple. She was a German native and called them knuckerels. She always put in a touch of baking powder, and they always came out as light as air. Alas, I have lost her recipe. Your directions are quite clear and photos are just lovely. I hope mine come out looking as nice as your's look. Thank you for putting this up.
I love you story/comment. Thank you so much. Grandmother memories are the best.
My grandma made something similar to this but she was Slovenian and she called it “turtle soup” ?
I just made this soup! I have heard of Turtle soup. Thank you for giving me something fun to research. Great title.
No nutmeg?
You can add nutmeg if you want.