Now…living in the South, the idea is that chicken and dumplings or chicken noodle soup MUST be made from scratch with the whole chicken and homemade broth. Let me fill you in on a little secret. I’ve been assured time and time again from cookbooks and the Food Network that homemade chicken broth is incomparable to the stuff you can buy in the store. I have tried to make homemade broth a number of times, and, quite honestly, I find it to be a great deal of work and I can’t taste enough of a difference to make it worth my time. The other thing is that if you’re making soup that involves hours and hours of work, you’re not going to make it a lot. And this soup is too good not to make a lot. So don’t listen to those ninnies who would have you believe that you’re less of a person for using bouillon cubes or canned chicken broth and welcome them to the 21st century. And reality.
Ingredient Needed
Soup Carrots Celery Onion Fresh garlic Bay leaf Chicken broth Cooked chicken – rotisserie works great. You can just as easily cook your chicken right in the soup. I take a few chicken breasts and just gently poach them as the soup in simmering to cook the veggies. It all gets done at about the same time and you can just shred the chicken and toss it back in. Fresh or dried parsley Dried basil Evaporated milk Dumplings – Use biscuit mix, or make your own with the following ingredients. All-purpose flour Baking powder Kosher salt Milk Melted butter
Note: I really, really like dumplings in this soup. A lot. I love the texture and how they thicken up the soup just right. However, if you’re not a dumpling fan, you can use noodles. We have a recipe for homemade noodles, but if you buy them at the store, I strongly recommend that you get Kluski noodles like these ones pictured below. They taste homemade without actually having to make homemade noodles. That way, everybody wins
How to Make Chicken and Dumplings
