by jessfuel 15 Comments
Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to break out the stretchy pants until New Year’s resolutions roll around. It’s the most gluttonous wonderful time of the year!
This recipe for Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings is easy comfort food for a chilly evening of tree trimming or cookie baking, I love the time and attention that the slow cooker saves the cook!
Nick and I had a great Thanksgiving weekend in Missouri at his Dad’s house! It included lots of food, shopping (for the girls), fishing (for the boys), great times with family and friends, and a super cheesy Christmas light display.
The signs for this place promised an awesome 2.5 miles of Christmas lights and displays. We were super excited when we saw it (well, some of us), and made the boys turn around to go back to it. While idling in line to get in, still brimming with excitement and belting out Christmas carols, we asked one of the nice men directing traffic just how much this little trail of lights was going to set us back.
Only $12 per person… wait, WHAT!? What happened to the season of giving?? Almost 50 bucks to drive 2.5 miles?? The guy must have been used to this reaction because he quickly mentioned something about a local discount and shooed us along.
Then Operation Rip-Off Christmas began. I sunk down behind one of the front seats and everyone proceeded to pile every jacket and shopping bag in the entire car on top of me, thus reducing our car load from 4 people to 3.
It was a steamy hot few minutes, but stifling my laughter when we got to the payment booth was the hardest part. Nick began to babble on and on about being a local.
He was pretty convincing in the beginning, but he doesn’t always know when to leave well enough alone and by the time he was handing over cash, I’m pretty sure she had seen through our little ruse.
In the end, we only paid $18. I might feel bad about ripping off a Christmas attraction, except for the fact that even at $18, we got the bad end of the deal.
It. Was. Horrible.
I’ve seen neighborhoods put on shows 50 times better. We were sad, but still managed to make it fun.
Our trip back to Mississippi was not so fun. It took nearly 24 hours including an unintended overnight stop in Memphis. But I can’t really complain since it was my 7th flight in a year and the first mishap since last Thanksgiving’s travel woes. I guess it’s just a bad time to travel!
Anyways, now we are home and I’m back in the kitchen.
Though I’ve lived in the South(ish) for over 3 years now, I’ve actually never had chicken and dumplings before this! So I didn’t really know what to compare it to. But Nick assured me that the dumplings tasted just like dumplings he’d had before.
They just tasted delicious to me! This is definitely a perfect warm winter meal for a chilly day!
Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
Author: Jess
Recipe type: Entree
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 48 ounces chicken broth
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- ½ cup half and half
- for the dumplings:
- 1⅛ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ tsp dried rubbed sage
- Pinch cayenne
- 2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
- ½ cup milk
Instructions
- Add onions, carrots and garlic in the bottom of the crock pot.
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and add to crock pot on top of the veggies.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.
- Add 2 cups of chicken stock and mix well. Bring to a light boil and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and pour into the crock pot.
- Add remaining chicken stock, cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
- After 6 hours, turn the crock pot to high.
- Remove the chicken from the crock pot and lightly shred it.
- Stir half and half into the crock pot, then add the chicken back in and cover.
- In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & pepper, thyme, sage and cayenne.
- Cut in butter with a pastry cutter, 2 knives, or your fingers until it's evenly dispersed and coarse crumbs form.
- Add milk and stir until a sticky dough forms.
- Scoop tablespoons of dough into the crock pot, covering the chicken mixture evenly.
- Cover and cook for another 1-1.5 hours, until dumplings are cooked but soft and not longer raw in the middle.
- Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
