Loaded Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and Dumplings is the ultimate classic comfort meal. I love making this meal all year round however, during the fall and winter months is where I especially enjoy eating this loaded chicken and dumpling recipe. These loaded chicken and dumplings are packed with chicken, bacon, potatoes, mixed vegetables, and the best buttery dumplings! Do not miss out on making this for your family and friends. And don't forget the kiddos, they'll be thanking you every time you make this!
The Dumpling
The most important element in chicken and dumplings are the dumplings of course. If you screw up the dumplings it could potentially alter the entire dish. We want to make sure our dumplings remain fluffy, moist, buttery, and in tact. Making the dumplings is not hard at all. For these dumplings all you will need is flour, baking soda, butter, a tiny bit of milk, sour cream, and love. It's important to keep in mind we do not want to over mix the dough, as it could flatten the dumpling. I usually make my dumplings smaller than most, because of the size ratio between vegetables and chicken. I love to have the perfect bite, so it makes the dish easier to consume.
Some recipes use shortening for the dumplings. Because I want these fluffy and more of a biscuit texture, I use butter. I do not suggest using shortening because it is extremely unhealthy, opt for coconut oil instead if you have to.
The Chicken
The chicken is simple, but its important to shred. Add a small amount of coconut oil or butter to a cast iron dutch oven or pan. In a cast iron dutch oven on medium-high heat, or any other pan, add chicken breast or thighs to the skillet. We want to make sure the chicken has a good sear on it before we shred.
Season the chicken with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard, and a tiny bit of thyme. Cook for about 10 minutes and you'll begin to notice browning. Once the chicken is fully cooked through, go ahead and shred directly in the pan. Add the potatoes, onions, and garlic, making sure the potatoes are cut into smaller pieces.
Season the chicken with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard, and a tiny bit of thyme. Cook for about 10 minutes and you'll begin to notice browning. Once the chicken is fully cooked through, go ahead and shred directly in the pan.
Add the potatoes, onions, and garlic, making sure the potatoes are cut into smaller pieces. Mix. Add 3 tablespoons of butter, and 2 tablespoons flour. Mix until everything is dissolved creating a roux. Add vegetable stock and water to remove the browning bits at the bottom of the pan from the chicken. This will add such a nice flavor to the stock we are about to create. Because we added the flour, once the liquids start boiling it will condense and become thicker. We don't want the base to become too thick, so if this happens after about 15. minutes of boiling, continue to add more vegetable stock.
The veggies
After about 20 minutes of boiling add the mixed vegetables. I like to use just a regular bag of organic mixed vegetables you can find in the frozen aisle at your local grocery store. Once the vegetables are added this is when we want to start adding our dumplings and bacon bits.
The turkey bacon should be cooked in a separate pan, on medium heat, and allowed to become on the crispy side. We want to add this towards the end with the dumplings because when we additionally boil the bacon, we don't want it to revert back to a soggy texture. Add the cripsy bacon to the soup mixture.
Grab the dumpling mixture that you set off to the side. and roll into small balls. Simply drop them into the soup mixture. Once you have dropped all of your dumplings, immediately cover the dutch oven or pan, and allow to steam for about 6 more minutes. Open the dutch oven and mix. And thats it! Your loaded chicken and dumplings are ready!
Loaded Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
Ingredients
1 lb Chicken Breast or Thighs, shredded
2 pieces of Turkey Bacon or Regular Bacon, broken into bits
1 large Potato, diced into small pieces
1/2 cup onion, chopped small
1 bag of mixed vegetables
2 cups vegetable stock, add more if needed
2 cups of water
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp organic unbleached flour
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Dumplings
Ingredients
1.5 cups organic unbleached flour
3 tbsp cold butter
1/4 cup cold sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
Splash of cold milk, if needed
Salt and Pepper to taste