Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings

These ingredients and about 6 hours are all you need to have scrumptious, delicious chicken and dumplings. They are a staple in Southern cuisine. Or at least in my opinion they are! My great grandmother used to cook a chicken all day, take it out and pull the meat off the bones, put it back in the pot, make dumplings from scratch...etc. It was an all-day, labor intensive sort of meal. It was delicious. But I simply am not going to do that. Sorry. I guess she just loved her family more than I do! haha.

So I found a lazy dumpling recipe online and modified it quite a bit. This recipe is one I look forward to every month. Although it has been a long fight for my husband he has finally got me to eat leftovers and this recipe makes a TON of food. So we end up eating dumplings for about a week honestly. But they are just as good warmed over as they are fresh. Honest!

Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings

*4 chicken breasts
*1 large can of Cream of Chicken condensed soup
*2 cans of jumbo buttermilk biscuits
*1 medium white onion
*2-3 Tbsp of butter/margarine
*Water
*2 Tbsp corn starch
*Salt & pepper

If the chicken is frozen (which mine always is) start it thawing. I pop 4-5 breasts in a bowl and microwave them about 5-6 minutes. That usually thaws them out. While they're cooking I put the cream of chicken soup in the pot and turn it onto high. Take the now empty soup can and fill it with hot water, add that to the pot. Then fill it up about 1/4 again, add 2 Tbsp of cornstarch and stir it to mix well. Cornstarch mixes easier in small amounts of water. Then add the cornstarch mix to the crockpot.

Next dice up the onion and add it to the pot. The chicken should be done so it is time to get it out of the bowl (EWW!), cut it into chunks (more EWW!) and add it to the pot. Then thoroughly wash your hands and all surfaces. Icky chicken.

Okay, next you'll want to add your butter. And salt and pepper to taste. I usually just cover the top of the mix with pepper and then the same with the salt and add more in as it cooks. Of course you can always add more in later but its really hard to take it out if you add too much! I don't typically measure spices unless I'm baking and it needs to be precise. When I'm cooking it is more about the smell of the dish and the taste. So I don't really know how much I add of those things!

Once everything is in the pot, turn it on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8. Now, the biscuits do NOT go in until later. They need to just chill out in the fridge all day.

Either before you add the biscuits in or while the chicken is cooking, you can break the chicken up some more if you want. You can also leave the chicken breasts whole and use two forks to shred the chicken. Or you can just leave it in chunks. Either way you prefer.

If you're cooking it on high, then after 4 hours (after about 6 on low) you can add the biscuits. Just tear the biscuits up and plop them in. After 30 minutes, or when the top layer of biscuits looks less mushy, stir the biscuit layer so the ones on top are on the bottom. This will get them all good and moist without overcooking any. But they won't be doughy in the middle. Another 30 minutes after that the dumplings should be done. I usually let mine simmer probably another hour or so on low until all the dumplings are mushy-bread looking.

Everyone in my family will actually eat these bad boys. And my husband and I take them to work for a couple of days. And I usually take some to my parents to enjoy. There is definitely PLENTY to go around from this recipe. If you aren't a fan of leftovers, I recommend halving what I have listed. Hope you enjoy!