Chicken and Buttermilk Herb Drop Dumplings

The ultimate comfort meal. This 30-minute creamy chicken stew topped with homemade buttermilk herby drop dumplings is an easy feel good weeknight dinner, a cozy hug that is much needed after a long day of balancing life.

Using pulled rotisserie chicken or shredded leftover chicken (or turkey!) makes this a simple any-night dinner that everyone will love. This comforting creamy chicken stew can be found between the classic noodle soup and pot-pie filling. It has a traditional a soup base, herbs and a we will top it off with a splash of cream.

Homemade Drop Dumplings

These were a favorite of mine growing up, but my mom used a boxed version, this recipe is 100% made-from-scratch and just as easy with ingredients from the pantry and fresh herbs. All you will do it mix together the ingredients (recipe below) then a few minutes before serving dinner, drop a spoonful of the mixture on the top of our creamy chicken stew. They float on the top as they cook through to a biscuit-like texture dumpling.

Word of wisdom – they will expand as they cook, you can use a small drop (maybe a cookie dough/meatball scooper) to get more of a bite size dumpling. No matter the size, you cannot go wrong with these.

Buttermilk – the buttermilk adds a tangy flavor and a little acidity to the dumpling which will react with the baking powder making the dumplings expand and rise so that they are light and fluffy. Don’t skip this ingredient, if you need a quick buttermilk substitution, this will recipe always works for me.

Herbs – I always try to use fresh herbs but if, like me, you live in a place where they are not always readily available dry herbs will work just as well. Either way, I always think that herbs give the dumplings an unexpected freshness which is a delicious combo with the creamy chicken stew.

Chicken and Buttermilk-Herb Drop Dumplings

Inspired by childhood, drop dumplings will always be a favorite! These buttermilk-herb drop dumplings on top of a creamy pot-pie chicken stew is all-time-favorite weeknight dinner.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

1x2x3x

Ingredients

Creamy Chicken Stew

• ¼ cup Butter
• 1 cup Onion – diced small (1 medium onion)
• 1 cup Celery – diced small (about 3 stalks)
• 1 cup Carrots – diced small (about 3 carrots)
• ½ heaping tsp Tarragon Dry or Freshly chopped
• ½ tsp Thyme Dry or Fresh
• ½ tsp Salt
• ¼ cup Flour
• 6 cups Chicken Stock – unsalted
• 2 cup Cooked Shredded Chicken
• 16 oz Frozen Corn Fire-Roasted if you can find it
• ½ tsp Black Pepper
• 1 cup Heavy Cream

Buttermilk Herb Drop Dumplings

• 1 ½ cup Flour
• 1 TBSP Baking Powder
• 1 ½ tsp Salt
• ¾ cup Buttermilk
• 1 Egg
• 1 TBSP Melted Butter
• 1 TBSP Chives Dry or Freshly Chopped
• 1 TBSP Tarragon Dry or Freshly Chopped
• 1 TBSP Thyme Dry or Freshly Chopped

Instructions

Creamy Chicken Stew

• In a large pot or dutch oven, add in your butter, onion, celery and carrots. Add in your herbs: tarragon, thyme and salt. Cook over medium heat until they soften, about 5 minutes.
  
• Sprinkle in your flour and stir to coat the onion, celery and carrots. Cook for about 1 minute.
  
• Add in 6 cups of chicken stock. Stir to combine, until the flour lumps are smooth. Add in your chicken, corn, pepper and cream. Over medium low heat, cook for about 10 minutes while you make the drop dumpling batter.
  

Buttermilk Herb Drop Dumplings

• In a bowl, add your flour, baking powder, salt, buttermilk, egg, melted butter and herbs.
  
• With a fork whisk together until combined and the herbs look evenly distributed. It will be a thick and lumpy batter.
  
• Turn the heat of the creamy chicken strew back up to medium. Drop your dumplings in, try not to overcrowd the pot because the dumplings will expand. Cook them for about 3-5 minutes until they are cooked through.

  If you still have more dumpling batter, with a slotted spoon, carefully remove the cooked dumplings and repeat until all dumplings are made. See Blog Notes.
  
• Serve with extra chives for garnish.