Chicken Dumpling Soup
If you're living in the Northeast, please tell me you're safe and sound. So many trees and power lines down around us!! What a storm! Could you believe that howling wind?!! Fortunately, we only lost power for about 8 hours (so my husband only had to hear me gripe for a mere 4,600 minutes) but I know many people, are still in the dark and believe me, I feel your pain!! Hopefully the lights will be on soon and we'll be heading into some better weather and lighter more Springy fare. But until the weather cooperates, I think I've bought the right to share two more terrific and easy soups with you (not that I don't make soups even in the dog days of summer, but then I've always been a little strange where soup is concerned.) Today, it's this easy and wonderfully homey Chicken and Dumpling Soup and I predict it's fast going to become one of your favorites.
I love soups that are meals in a bowl and this one is all that and more. It's almost unfair to call it a "recipe" 'cause all you do is toss chicken, carrots, onion, frozen corn, broth and any other veggies or spices you like into a pot and let it all simmer. Perfect for busy times!
And while the soup is bubbling away, you make the dumplings in the food processor in like 2 seconds, taking this from ordinary chicken soup into a bowl of wonderfulness that you'll find yourself gushing over! They're fluffy but also chewy at the same time and totally addictive! I guarantee people will be fighting for that last chewy little bite!!
So, so good and satisfying! Maybe you'll even catch yourself sneaking in a pot of this in August too!!
Chicken Dumpling Soup
Makes 6-8 servings
You don't absolutely need one, but a food processor makes the making of these dumplings a breeze!
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
For the soup
- 2 1/2-3 pounds bone-in chicken breasts
- 3-4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
- 1 large onion, peeled and diced
- Two 32-ounce boxes low-sodium chicken broth
- 10 ounce bag frozen corn
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the dumplings
- 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup water
The Recipe
1. To make the soup: Place chicken, carrots, onions and broth and in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and let simmer until chicken is entirely cooked through, 25-30 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and transfer to a plate. When cool enough to handle discard skin and bones and shred or chop chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add back into the pot along with the corn and bring to a boil again. Lower the heat, cover the pot again and let simmer.
2. Meanwhile make the dumplings: Place the flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse to combine. Add in the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add in the water and pulse just until the dough comes together. (If you don't have a food processor, you can make these by hand. It'll just take a bit longer--whisk the flour mixture together and then use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut the butter in. Mix in the water).
3. Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough into the hot soup. Cover the pot again and let simmer for another 8-9 minutes. If dumplings seem undercooked, let it simmer another few minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from All You Magazine. I tinkered a lot with this and added carrots, onions more corn and upped the amount of broth.
