Cheater Cheater Chicken and Dumplings

Now before any of you start yelling at me... I will fully admit that my posts run the entire gamut of "made from scratch," and "right from the garden," all the way to "cheater cheater" recipes that take liberal advantage of convenience foods that you can pick up quickly on your way home from work.  On one former post that ended up on Pinterest, someone wrote in horror at the use of canned biscuits and store bought meatballs.  Well you know what?  There are times when you have TIME, and other times when you have NO time but still want to cook for your family.  There are also times when a novice cook wants home-cooked comfort, but is intimidated by certain techniques.  For those times, there is absolutely nothing wrong with incorporating convenience items!  Believe me, the kids will still much prefer that to picking up take out.  

Well this is one of those cheater cheater recipes.  We had four baseball games scheduled yesterday evening, then a wave of torrential rain moved in.  Dinner wasn't exactly "planned" if you know what I mean.  And over here, dark rainy evenings demand comfort food.  .... plus my three year old asked for "chicken and dunklings," so here we are.  Nope, this may not be Grandma's "cook ALL day," made from scratch chicken and dumplings, but who cares?  They are easy, good, and the kids love them!  They also required very little kitchen skills, so you may recommend them to someone just getting into the kitchen.

Click here for Printable Recipe
Ingredients:

• a rotisserie chicken. Almost every grocery store has them hot nowadays... just waiting for you
• a box of low-sodium chicken broth
• 2/3 - 1 cup evaporated milk in the can
• 3 Tbsp butter
• a can of biscuits - doesn't matter what kind
• use 2 cans if you prefer more dumplings
• salt, pepper, poultry seasoning
• flour 
• a few sprigs of thyme for garnish (optional)

Step-by-step

When you get home, strip the meat from the carcass of the chicken.  Seriously, aren't rotisserie chickens one of the best things around?  They are hot, juicy, well seasoned, already cooked, and actually less expensive than buying a whole raw chicken!

The meat from one rotisserie chicken.

Cover the meat in a bowl, and throw the carcass into a pot covered with the chicken broth and water to cover the chicken.  Season the water with salt, pepper, and a little poultry seasoning.  Get that on first and let your broth "build" flavor while you go about your afternoon business - putting up groceries, checking homework, getting hugs and kisses, etc.  

chicken bones and skin, plus chicken broth and water.

I let it boil for about an hour and a half to extract the flavor out of the bones, skin, etc.  Using the parts that you would have thrown away (skin, bones) to make the broth really stretches the buck out of that $5/6 dollar chicken!!  If you want, you can add a few sprigs of fresh thyme.  Just throw them in whole.  The little tender leaves will separate from the stems, which you can fish out later.  (You could also do this part ahead of time and have the broth ready in the fridge when you get home.)

For the dumplings (dunklings), liberally sprinkle your work surface with all purpose flour.  Arrange the biscuits on the flour.  Sprinkle the biscuits with a mixture of salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.  It may seem odd to you  that I season the dough, but this ensures that I have seasoning at every level of the dish.

a can of refrigerator biscuits. 

salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

Season each biscuit.  The seasoning will be pressed into them when you roll them out.

Sprinkle a bit more flour so your rolling pin won't stick.

Roll them dumplings out very thin (larger than my hand) and make easy work of cutting them by rolling over them with a pizza wheel.  I often let Canon and Lily help me roll out and cut the dumplings.  Don't worry if they aren't all the same.  Again - who cares?  You are spending time together and they are learning skills and having fun.  Period.  Keep it all in perspective.  Gather up the dumpling pieces with the flour and set them to rest in a plate.  The more flour you pick up with them, the thicker your final broth, so adjust according to the preferences of your family/guests.

About this size.  Geez... that's vague, huh?

Make it fun.  Run a pizza cutter through them.  Let the kids do it.  This isn't the Food Network.  Anne Burrell isn't going to fuss at you if your knife cuts are not all the same.   (No offense, Anne.  Love ya!)

I like them rolled out VERY thin.  You can see the seasoning in them.

Let them rest while you fish out all the "stuff" from your broth.  I could have probably used a little bit more flour than I have here for a little thicker broth.

(You could also make these dumplings ahead of time and put them in the fridge.)

After the broth has "developed," remove all pieces and parts of the carcass with a spider or by using a strainer.  Bring the broth to a boil and add the dumplings.

See how nice and rich our broth has gotten from all those "left over" chicken parts?

At first, they will puff up and get super fluffy.  Don't worry.  They won't stay that way.

Add the butter and evaporated milk and give them a good few stirs.  Let them cook on about a medium to medium high boil for about 15 minutes.  The dumplings will thin out and drop down, and the broth will thicken.  It's like magic.

3 Tbsp butter

2/3 cup evaporated milk.  You could use regular milk or even cream if you want.  It's your dish.

Give it a good stir and walk away for a while.

It seems they have disappeared.  I told you they would drop down.

Now, you can turn off the heat (or turn to low heat) and add in the cooked, rotisserie chicken.  I am enlisting a helper for this.

Adding the chicken is a good activity for Lily... but one piece at a time was gonna take a while!

By the spoon full worked better.  LOL

Yummm... is it starting to look more familiar now?

At this point, we have done very little real "work" and have thick creamy broth and tender dumplings.  Adding the chicken back at the end ensures that it won't be overcooked and dry.. and also that it won't break up into sheds (we prefer nice healthy hunks of chicken).  

Serve to some people you love.. and stay dry and cozy.  Enjoy family time.  

Don't let anybody make you feel bad about taking short cuts in the kitchen.  If it works for you, do it.  I actually began making the dumplings this way on a ski trip years ago... You know the kind - where you have a very limited pantry and some of those mountain town grocery stores are iffy.  I was so pleased with the result and the EASE that I continued to make them this way.

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Looking for more comforting soup recipes like this?
Please visit my Recipe Index for lots of ideas to cook with/for your family.  Almost all of my recipes have step-by-step photos, and things that your kids can help you with for good old "together" time.  

Here are a few recipes to get your wheels turning:

Copycat Recipe of Panera Bread's Turkey Chili

Cajun Corn Chowder

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

French Onion Soup

Shrimp and Corn Soup

Short Cut Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Taco Soup

Written Directions:

Strip the meat from the carcass of the rotisserie chicken.  Cover the meat in a bowl, and throw the carcass into a pot covered with the chicken broth and water to cover the chicken.  Season the water with salt, pepper, and a little poultry seasoning.  Boil for about an hour and a half to extract the flavor out of the bones, skin, etc.  If you want, you can add a few sprigs of fresh thyme.  Just throw them in whole.  The little tender leaves will separate from the stems, which you can fish out later.  (You could also do this part ahead of time and have the broth ready in the fridge when you get home.)

For the dumplings, liberally sprinkle your work surface with all purpose flour.  Arrange the biscuits on the flour.  Sprinkle the biscuits with a mixture of salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.  Roll them dumplings out very thin (larger than my hand) and make easy work of cutting them by rolling over them with a pizza wheel.  Gather up the dumpling pieces with the flour and set them to rest in a plate.  The more flour you pick up with them, the thicker your final broth, so adjust according to the preferences of your family/guests. (You could also make these dumplings ahead of time and put them in the fridge.)

After the broth has "developed," remove all pieces and parts of the carcass with a spider or by using a strainer.  Bring the broth to a boil and add the dumplings. At first, they will puff up and get super fluffy.  Don't worry.  They won't stay that way.  Add the butter and evaporated milk and give them a good few stirs.  Let them cook on about a medium to medium high boil for about 15 minutes.  The dumplings will thin out and drop down, and the broth will thicken.  It's like magic.

Now, you can turn off the heat (or turn to low heat) and add in the cooked, rotisserie chicken. At this point, we have done very little real "work" and have thick creamy broth and tender dumplings.  Adding the chicken back at the end ensures that it won't be overcooked and dry.. and also that it won't break up into sheds (we prefer nice healthy hunks of chicken).