I grew up eating chicken and dumplings. The kind mom makes is such a mystery and also makes perfect sense. The ingredients are incredibly basic. A whole chicken + water + time + flour + salt + pepper. That’s it! Somehow it is the most comforting thing to have filling up the house on a cold winter day. Plus, it is delicious.

This chicken and dumplings is nothing like that, because we do not have 4 hours to cook our chicken into oblivion and make our own broth. The flavor has to be created faster when we are cooking in a 1.5 hour cooking class. I added some store bought chicken broth for flavor, evaporated milk for creaminess (that usually comes from cooking down her broth with the dumplings in it), and some veggies for color and fiber. In the end I must admit this recipe is nothing like the chicken and dumplings I grew up with, so I call it chicken soup. However, it is DELICIOUS. I want to eat it every day for dinner. The broth is rich and creamy, and I can’t get enough of the dumplings.

This chicken soup was part of our soup course in 2024. This recipe is great for older chefs (8 years old+) who are looking to improve their knife skills. Celery is one of the best things for building knife skills and learning to cut things evenly.

2-5 year olds:

• chopping long strips of celery with child safe knife (plastic)
• stirring roux with help

5-8 year olds:

• peeling carrots
• chopping celery
• stirring roux with supervision
• measuring and pouring
• dropping dumpling dough into soup (turn down so it’s not bubbling)

8+ year olds (experienced):

• dicing onion with supervision
• dicing carrots
• dicing celery
• mincing garlic
• cutting chicken thighs with kitchen shears into bite sized pieces
• opening can

Dumplings swell quite a bit as they steam and soften, so make them smaller than bite sized when plopping the dough in to cook.

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion

2 large carrots

2 stalks of celery

1 clove of garlic

4 Tablespoons butter

4 Tablespoons all purpose flour

4 cups chicken broth

¼ teaspoon dried sage

¼ teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs

12 oz can evaporated milk

½ cup frozen peas

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Dice onion, celery, and carrot. 
2. Mince garlic. 
3. Cut chicken thighs into bite sized pieces.
4. Add olive oil to a large pot or dutch oven. 
5. Heat until oil is slightly shimmery. Add your onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. 
6. Cook until softened, 5-10 minutes. 
7. Scoot your vegetables to the edge of your pot. Place butter and flour in the space in the center of your pot and whisk constantly. 
8. Cook butter and flour 1-2 minutes, or until mixture smells toasty. 
9. Add your broth, sage, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bring your soup to boil. 
10. Add your chicken thigh pieces and simmer until they are fully cooked. 
11. Add evaporated milk and peas to your soup. 
12. Combine 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper until you have a shaggy dough. 
13. Drop your dough by the spoonful into your soup. Cover and simmer until your dumplings are fully cooked through, about 10 minutes.