Chicken and Fluffy Dumpling Recipe

Chicken and FLUFFY Dumplings

One of my favorite recipes for the Rudd Rangers is chicken and fluffy dumplings.

Fluffy as a biscuit y’all! Last year, we processed our some of our favorite meat type birds to date: the Rudd Rangers.

Our Rudds were raised on our property and allowed to free range as soon as they were old enough to stay outside. Each consumed traditional chicken feed, but also had a rich diet of green grass and all the bugs they could catch.

At precisely 3 months of age, they were ready for processing.

This recipe is one of my husband’s favorite meals. It utilizes the bones AND the meat, making for less waste.

(I would like to add that Rudd Ranger meat is extremely tender. Some people suggest making chicken and dumplings using a chicken or old rooster that could be tough. This simply was not our case, we just happen to be from the South, so this recipe is a taste of home for us.)

We also love using the Rudd Ranger meat for Asian inspired cabbage wraps or grilled on top of a salad.

The Rudd Ranger chicken and fluffy dumplings recipe is EASY to make, and about as wholesome as you can get!

Estimated Time: 3 hours

Serves: 6 adults

You will need:

  • Small crock pot (cooking meat)
  • Large Mixing Bowl
  • Pressure Cooker (making broth)
  • Large pot or Dutch oven (final dumplings)

Ingredients:

Soup Base

  • 4 cups cooked chicken (2 Rudd Ranger breasts and 2 Rudd Ranger thighs)
  • 1 diced yellow onion
  • 2 diced celery stalks
  • Small bag of whole baby carrots
  • 1 bag frozen green peas
  • 5 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
  • 6 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
  • 6 Cups Chicken Broth (fresh is best!)
  • ½ Cup Heavy Cream

Seasonings: (all to taste)

  • Garlic powder
  • Salt
  • Black Pepper
  • White Pepper
  • Chopped or Dried Rosemary
  • -any additional herbs you’d like!-

Dumplins’

  • 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • Pinch of black pepper
  • Pinch of white pepper
  • 1 1/3 Cups of Heavy Cream

It is worth adding here that not all flours are alike. In my home, we LOVE White Lily self rising flour. I use it for dumplings, sour dough, pancakes, biscuits, everything! It definitely makes a difference in having fluffy dumplings, but of course you can use whatever flour you wish.

Instructions:

Cook your meat and prepare your broth simultaneously.

  • Cook 2 Rudd Ranger breasts and 2 Rudd Ranger thighs in a slow cooker crock pot. Cook on high for about 2 hours or until the meat is all the way cooked.

You can also cook a whole chicken in a large crock pot and pull the meat you want from it, or even cook chopped chicken breasts and thighs in a pan. I spend a lot of time outside, so use my crock pot for lots of things. This may also be a great option for someone who must be at work during the day.

See bottom of page for homemade broth recipe.

After you have your cooked chicken and your broth, you’re ready to make the dumplings!

Steps:

  1. Add a dash of olive oil to your Dutch oven or pot and cook the onions, carrots, celery, and frozen peas over medium high heat. Once they are sweating, add your cooked chicken, along with the salt, black pepper, white pepper, herbs, and GENEROUS amounts of garlic powder.
  2. Cook on medium for about 5 minutes while stirring.
  3. Add 5 tablespoons of butter to the pan and coat ingredients until melted.
  4. Dust 6 tablespoons of flour over all your chicken and veggies.
  5. Keep your heat on medium/high.
  6. Add ½ cup of heavy cream.
  7. Slowly add the 6 cups of fresh chicken broth, about one cup at a time. Stir frequently; this will help it thicken.
  8. Keep pot on low.

 

Making the Dumplins’:

 

  1. Make dumpling dough. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper, and white pepper. Then add the heavy cream. Mix until you have a big ball of dough.
  2. Using a spoon, or your wet hands, shape the dough into small round balls. About 1 inch in diameter. If you have any small children at home, this would be a great opportunity for them to help!
  3. Gently plop the dumplings into the simmering broth, and cover with the pot with a lid.
  4. Let them simmer on low for about 20 minutes. They will fluff up and increase in size. They will float when fully cooked.
  5. Serve and enjoy!

 

Broth Recipe

Making your own broth from your meat birds is so easy and very rewarding! Store-bought broth cannot compare to the rich, nutritious broth that comes from farm fresh birds. It can be used for so many recipes, and best of all, it leaves little waste. I like to go ahead and have some prepared broth at the beginning of each week; using it for whatever I am cooking throughout the week.

-If using feet, make sure the scales were removed during processing, or boil them and the scales peel right off. Chicken feet contain lots of healthy collagen and help thicken the broth. –

Ingredients:

–  Carcass bones of one Rudd Ranger

  • 1 Onion (cut on half with skin on)
  • 2-3 whole carrots
  • 3-4 stalks of celery
  • Any herbs you wish
  • Sprinkling of whole peppercorns
  • NO SALT
  • 8 cups of water

Cook in a pressure cooker for 2 hours. You could also boil the broth using a more traditional method if you don’t have a pressure cooker, it just takes more time.

Cook on High Pressure for 2 hours. Drain the broth. Fill pressure cooker with water a second time, reusing the same veggies and bones for an extra batch of broth. After running through the pressure cooker twice, the bones are crumbly and literally disintegrate; we feed them to our dogs.

Reserve 6 cups of broth for your dumplings. The rest can be kept in the fridge for 5-6 days or frozen for many months!