Easy, quick Chicken and Dumplings

"Old fashioned" chicken and dumplings call for boiling a whole chicken, taking the meat off the bone, and making homemade dumplings. Of course the end product is delicious but I use some short cuts and end up with an equally (to me) delicious recipe. I always get lots of praise when I serve this:



I boil 2-3 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Remove the chicken to cool a bit and allow the broth to come to a boil. In the meantime, make the dumplings.

I used 2 cans of biscuits. These are larger than regular canned biscuits but are not the "Grand" size. If you use Grands, just cut more dumplings per biscuit. I used floured parchment paper to roll out each biscuit into a 4 inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. I cut each circle into 6 dumplings. Drop the dumplings, one by one, into rapidly boiling broth. Stir occasionally as you add more dumplings.

The dumplings will float and will be very fluffy. As they cook, they will flatten, become translucent and sink. That is how you know they are done. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Next, add enough milk to thin the broth, probably a couple of cups. Check the taste and add more salt if necessary. Cut the chicken into chunks and add to the broth.

This recipe turns out to be really delicious, hearty, and easy.