When you’re busy, there’s nothing like a tasty and simple slow cooker recipe. You can simply drop all the ingredients in the pot and come back at the end to finish things off. When the recipe is a classic comfort food made easy, the recipe is worth its weight in gold. That’s certainly the case with this Easy Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings recipe. You get all of the rich, delicious flavors of chicken and dumplings with only a fraction of the work.
This recipe uses refrigerated biscuit dough for the dumplings. I think refrigerated biscuit dough is delicious when used this way! I find this dish works best when I quickly cut the biscuits into quarters before I drop them into the soup mixture, but you could also simply tear them into pieces. Try larger or smaller pieces to suit your personal taste. At times I find it’s a good idea to stir the dumplings into the soup mixture about ten or so minutes after dropping them into the slow cooker. Depending on the size and shape of your slow cooker, you may not find that step necessary.
Chicken breasts are called for in this recipe, but boneless, skinless chicken thighs could work as well. I like to give my chicken breasts a very rough chop before I return them to the pot. Others may prefer to shred the chicken. There’s no right or wrong way to serve your chicken, the primary goal is simly to make it possible to fit the chicken pieces on a spoon.
I think a small dice is best for the onions in this dish. Use your favorite kind of onion, or use shallots instead. If you don’t happen to have a fresh onion on hand, onion powder can be used to replace it. About a tablespoon of onion powder should do the trick. If you’d rather omit the onion, garlic powder could be used instead, or you could combine garlic and onion powders.
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
salt & pepper
2-3+ cups water, as needed
Directions
- Place onions and carrots on bottom of slow cooker dish. Add chicken. Add butter. Pour soup on top and sprinkle in thyme, garlic salt, and salt & pepper to taste. Add water to cover chicken completely, use more than 2-3 cups if needed to cover chicken.
- Place lid on slow cooker. Cook on High 5 to 6 hours.
- 30 minutes before serving, remove chicken.
- Add packaged biscuits to slow cooker. Quarter each biscuit for best results. Cook until biscuit is no longer raw in the center.
- Shred or rough chop chicken. Return to slow cooker. Serve as soon as biscuits are cooked through.
Notes
- Celery salt or seasoning salt can be used to substitute for garlic salt.
- Tip: Slice carrots in 1/4 inch thick rounds. They will be the slow cooker for several hours, so you want them large enough that they don’t fall apart.
- Onion powder or garlic powder (or both) can be used as substitutes for onions.
- Cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup can be substituted for cream of chicken for soup with slightly different flavor.
- Use chicken stock in place of water for a richer, more flavorful dish.
- Thyme can be substituted with poultry seasoning, or your favorite chicken soup herbs.
This recipe can be tweaked according to your particular tastes. If you would like to use a poultry seasoning blend, that would work very well. Italian seasoning blends would also be good, giving the soup a bit of Italian flair. If you’d prefer a zestier seasoning blend, don’t be afraid to experiment.
Fresh herbs can also be beautiful in this dish, but I recommend saving them to sprinkle on each individual serving when the dumplings are done. Before I serve I take a taste of the soup to see if any further seasoning is needed. Sometimes a bit more salt and pepper at the end can help brighten up the flavor.