A Southern Table Staple
Get ready for a taste of Southern hospitality with these homemade chicken and dumplings! This thrifty dish is classic comfort food that can’t be beat. It’s a breeze to make and it makes a large pot, perfect for large family dinners or just meal prepping. We make the dumplings from scratch in this recipe but don’t that scare you, it’s as easy as pie!
History of Chicken and Dumplings
Most folks associate chicken and dumplings with the civil war and great depression and while this isn’t wrong, the real history goes further back. Our journey begins in Germany, the land of the dumpling. One of the most famous German dumpling dishes is spaetzle, which is a heavy egg dumpling typically made out of potato dumplings. In the 1820s, a large number of Germans began immigrating to the US, and they brought them a lot of their dishes. One of these dishes was chicken and dumplings. Dumplings were originally called knoedel by Germans, then became knoedela by Polish Jews.
It wouldn’t be until 1836 that we got our first meat and dumpling dish in print. Mary Randolph’s cookbook The Virigina Housewife mentions a meat and dumpling, while a few years later with Lettice Bryan’s The Kentucky Housewife makes mention of suet dumplings that are boiled with red meat. However the chicken and dumplings that we know in modern day would first be published in 1879 in Marion Cabell Tyree’s (say that 3 times fast) Housekeeping in Old Virgina. It should be noted that while most of these cookbooks give the impression that housewives were the master of chicken and dumplings, the reality is that African slaves and servants were the ones doing the heavy lifting.
Difference between Northern and Southern Dumplings
There are two types of dumplings when it comes to chicken and dumplings: Northern style and Southern style. The Southern style is rolled dumplings, while Northen is dough that rises to be fluffy rounded dumplings.
@danosseasoning The best chicken & dumplings you've ever had! #DanOsSeasoning #chickenanddumplings #dumplings ♬ original sound - Dan-O’s Seasoning
Ingredients
- 4-6 lb whole chicken
- 1 gallon chicken stock
- 2 cups self rising flour
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup Dan-O’s Original
- 4 cups water
- 1 large onion
- 4 stalks celery
- 1 small bag of carrots
Prep Time
20 Mins
Cook Time
90 Mins
Instructions
- Add the whole chicken to a large stock pot
- Add 3/4 of chicken stock, water, and 1/4 cup of Dan-O’s to pot
- Chop onion, celery, and carrots and add to pot and boil for 1 hour
- In a separate bowl the flour, softened butter, remaining ¼ of chicken stock, and 1/4 cup of Dan-O’s together and knead into a ball
- Flatten dough ball and cut into thin rectangles
- Remove chicken from pot and set aside
- Reduce heat to a low simmer and place dumplings side by side in pot (not on top of each other)
- Cook for 15-20 minutes
- Pull chicken meat and add to pot
- Mix together, and serve hot
- Enjoy!
2 Responses
Great recipes
Just made it. Didnt realize you could burn something while boiling it. But good gol dong this is good.