Oh, the comforts of chicken soup…just makes you feel good! And when you add the deliciousness of drop dumplings, its like a hug in a bowl, like a nice warm cuddle. This is a beautifully simple and delicious recipe, perfect for when the weather is getting cold or you are getting a cold :). Enjoy!
Add 2-3Tbsp olive oil to a large pot or dutch over. Add 1ish lbs of cubed raw chicken, add 1 cup of diced onion, 1 cup frozen carrots, 1 heaping cup of chopped celery. Tip: use the celery leaves along with the stalks for soups. I feel like the leaves are the unappreciated part of the celery. They hold some of the best flavor in the celery plant and since you don’t really snack on that part, use it in your cooking :). Also, celery freezes well, so when you are chopping it, reserve what you are not using in a Zippy bag and toss it in the freezer for later.
Add about 1ish tsp coarse sea salt and a generous amount of fresh ground pepper. Flavor!
Saute and cook until the chicken is cooked and veggies are tender.
Add 4-6 cups Chicken broth. Get the low-sodium kind…I don’t like my broth deciding how salty my soup will be (the nerve! *head shaking*)
Add 1-2 bay leaves and about 1 Tbsp fresh thyme (can use dried is necessary). Now allow to lightly simmer on medium to low heat for min of 30 min. Be careful not to cook down liquid too much, if you are cooking it for longer than about 30min, make sure you cook on low heat and cover it so the liquid doesn’t all cook away (speaking from experience here!) or you even easier, you can pour it all in a large crockpot and put on low or warm.
Now for the dumplings! I love, drop dumplings! They go with everything and are a great alternative for when you tire of rice and noodles.
Ok, take flour (only white all-purpose works here, whole wheat gets a strange flavor and texture IMO), salt and baking soda and toss in large bowl. Then take 1 cup milk (or water) and 2 eggs and combine/beat/mix (didn’t know how to phrase that) in another bowl. Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients and pour the milk and eggs in the flour. Gently combine with a fork.
Add 1 heaping tsp of dried parsley. This is optional, doesn’t really give much flavor, just looks pretty.
This batter will be pretty thin. If too thick, add water to thin.
Bring a large pot of water up to a hard boil. Some people add oil to the water, honestly I don’t think it makes a difference…so why waste the good EVOO?
I take my (awesome, use it all the time) tiny ice cream scooper and drop the batter into the boiling water. Each dumpling will sink to the bottom and then float. Allow them to float for about 3-5 min before removing with a slotted spoon. Try to work fairly quickly, but you will alternate adding batter and taking cooked dumplings out. But don’t worry about over cooking them, they are pretty hard to mess up…except if you under-cook them and they are gooey in the middle. They will feel pretty firm when you press on them with your finger and you can always cut a few open to make sure 🙂
Place a few dumplings in a bowl and ladle soup on top…or put soup on bottom and lay dumplings on top 🙂 You pick, but which ever way you choose I guarantee you will love it!
Enjoy, Preferably with friends and loved one!
- For the Soup:
- 2-3Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1ish lb chicken, cubed
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 heaping cup celery, diced (see above for tips)
- 1 cup frozen carrots
- 1ish tsp Coarse Sea Salt
- Generous amts of fresh Ground pepper (1/4-1/2tsp ish)
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 1Tbsp fresh Thyme (1tsp dried)
- For the Dumplings
- 2cups white all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1Tbsp baking soda
- 1 cup milk (or water )
- 2 eggs
- 1tsp dried parsley
- extra water to thin is necessary
- Add Olive Oil to large dutch oven/pot
- Add onion, carrots, celery, chicken salt and pepper to dutch oven. Cook chicken and saute veggies.
- Add 4-6cups of low sodium chicken broth
- Add bay leaves and fresh thyme. Simmer for min 30 min. If cooking longer, cook on low and cover to make sure liquid doesn't cook away. Or transfer to a crockpot...easy
- Dumplings:
- Put a large pot of water in the stove, bring to a hard bowl.
- Add/combine the dry ingredients to a large bowl. Also, combine milk and egg in seperate bowl. Use a fork or wire whisk to combine. Add Parsley, combine. Add extra water to thin if necessary.
- Using a teaspoon or tiny ice cream scooper, drop batter one at a time into the boil water. EAch dumpling will originally sink and then float to the top. Allow the dumplings to float/cook for at least 3-5min to ensure they are done. You will alternately add batter and remove cooked dumplings. Sounds complicated, but its really easy, trust me!
- Either add dumplings to soup or ladle soup over dumplings in a bowl.
- Enjoy!
