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Blue bowl with chicken dumpling soup.

Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Soup

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

Soup:

  • 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 cup diced celery, about 2-3 stalks
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 1 cup diced yellow or white onion
  • 1 teaspoon salt, I use coarse, kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • 8 cups chicken broth, I use low-sodium
  • 1 to 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 3-4 cups cooked chicken (see note)
  • ½ cup water + 1/4 cup all-purpose flour to thicken
  • ½ cup frozen peas

Dumplings:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, use 1 1/4 cups flour for sturdier dumplings
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme or sage
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil

Instructions 

  • In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots, onions, salt, pepper and thyme. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables start to soften. Add the chicken broth and chicken (if using uncooked chicken). Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is just cooked through and/or veggies are tender. Remove the chicken to a plate and cut into small pieces.
  • In a small bowl (or blender), combine the 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup flour until smooth. Whisking vigorously, slowly add the flour mixture into the hot broth and stir until well combined. Stir in the frozen peas and cooked chicken and bring the soup back to a simmer.
  • For the dumplings, in a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Add the sour cream, milk and oil. Stir just until combined (don’t overmix).
  • Drop teaspoon-sized amounts (the dumplings should be fairly small, they’ll expand while cooking) of dumpling dough into the boiling soup, covering the entire surface of the soup. I use a #60 small cookie scoop. Cover the pot and simmer the soup and dumplings for 12-15 minutes. Do not lift the lid of the pot while the dumplings cook! Add time if the dumplings haven't cooked all the way (or if they are bigger in size than teaspoon-sized portions).
  • When the dumplings have cooked fully, remove the lid and gently stir the dumplings to break them apart, if needed. Serve.

Notes

Using Leftover Chicken or Turkey: very often, I make this with leftover chicken or turkey. I just omit cooking the chicken in the broth and water at the beginning and add the leftover, cooked chicken with the peas.
The Original Version of the Recipe: used 1 full teaspoon dried thyme; sometimes I find that flavor overpowering, so I've given the option in the ingredients list to use 1/2 teaspoon. Also, over the years, I use all chicken broth for the liquid base, but if you have followed the original recipe and want to keep doing so, it is 4 cups broth + 4 cups water.