12 March 2020

Chicken and Dumplings - Instant Pot (or Not)

Chicken and Dumplings - Instant Pot (or Not) / www.delightfulrepast.com

Chicken and Dumplings is a real comfort food classic! And if you’d like to make it on the stovetop rather than in the Instant Pot, go to my original Chicken and Dumplings post. 

Also, go to that post if you’d like to read about the great dumpling controversy—you know, fluffy versus flat, dropped versus rolled. As you can see, I make fluffy dumplings. 

And fluffy they are. Never stodgy (unpleasantly solid and heavy). Sometimes I use a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in the milk, and sometimes not. Either way, they come out light, fluffy and delicious. 

Thing is, the Instant Pot is narrower in diameter than my Dutch oven, so there’s really only room for half the dumplings. If you’re serving it all at once (dinner for at least 6), you could transfer the finished stew to a wider pan that will hold all the dumplings. 


Chicken and Dumplings - Instant Pot (or Not) / www.delightfulrepast.com


I’ve often used bone-in chicken breasts and thighs rather than cutting up a whole chicken, but for this Instant Pot version I went with a whole chicken and did not cut it up. 

You see, I’m still on my Streamlined Cooking kick and not cutting up the chicken and not browning the pieces was a huge timesaver. The chicken comes out fall-apart tender and easy to remove from the bones. 

I was prepared to have to remove a lot of fat from the broth, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of fat, so I just went with it. That was another timesaver.

I hope you’ll try it soon and let me know how you like it. And, tell me, which dumpling team are you on, fluffy or flat?


Chicken and Dumplings - Instant Pot (or Not) / www.delightfulrepast.com


Chicken and Dumplings - Instant Pot


(Serves 6 to 8)

The Chicken Stew

1 whole organic free-range chicken (3.5 to 5 pounds/1.6 to 2.25 kg), giblets removed
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 medium (about 12 ounces/340 grams) yellow onion, quartered and sliced (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups thinly diagonally sliced carrots (about 12 ounces/340 grams)
3 stalks (about 4 ounces/113 grams) celery, thinly diagonally sliced (1/2 cup)

2 cups (16 fluid ounces/473 ml) water
1/4 cup flour shaken with 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley


The Dumplings


(Makes 18)

2 dip-and-sweep cups (10 ounces/283 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon non-GMO baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/57 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (8 fluid ounces/237 ml) milk (1 tablespoon of which can be apple cider vinegar)

1 In 6-quart Instant Pot inner cooking pot, place the chicken (mine was an even 4 pounds); sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper, marjoram and poultry seasoning. Top with onions, carrots and celery; pour in the water.

2 Put the lid in place and turn the steam valve to Sealing. Plug in the Instant Pot. Press the Pressure Cook key. Leave the indicator lights on High Pressure and Normal temperature, and change the cooking time to 25 minutes.

Note: It took about 25 minutes to come up to pressure and begin the cooking time.

3 When the "It's done" beep sounds and the indicator says "Off," set a kitchen timer for 25 minutes and allow the pressure to release naturally, then do a quick release by turning the steam valve to Venting. 

4 When the float valve drops down, carefully remove the lid. Transfer the chicken to a large plate or bowl and let cool for about 20 minutes. When it's cool enough to handle, use 2 forks to remove the skin and take the meat off the bones. Cut it into bite-size (about 1-inch) pieces.

5 Shake together flour and water until mixture is as smooth as possible; then pour it through a strainer into the stew. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding the additional 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper, if needed; press Saute and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes to thicken. Stir in the chicken.

Note: You can stop right here if you want to and finish the dish tomorrow or the next day. See the Note at the end before proceeding.

6 While stew returns to a simmer, make dumplings. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Drizzle melted butter over flour mixture, stirring with large fork. Stir in milk. Let stand for 5 minutes before scooping onto stew.

7 Stir in the parsley (and a cup of frozen peas, if you like). Spray a #40 scoop (about 1.5 tablespoons) or round measuring tablespoon with cooking spray. Drop level scoops or rounded tablespoons of dough onto simmering stew. Cover and simmer dumplings for 20 minutes, then test one to see if toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If not, cover and simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Note:  Only half the dumplings will fit in the Instant Pot. If you want to cook all the dumplings, you will need to transfer the stew to a wider pot, such as a 5.5-quart Dutch oven. And, if you are not an experienced dumpling maker, you will likely find it easier to do that anyway because cooking the dumplings is a bit tricky in the Instant Pot. You have to go back and forth between Saute and Slow Cook to keep the stew at a simmer. I did it one time, just to see if and how it could be done, and it worked. But I'll do the dumplings on the stovetop next time.

Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon .com and affiliated sites. We are a ThermoWorks affiliate, earning a small commission at no cost to you on purchases made through our links. This helps cover some of the costs of running the blog. Thank you for your support. 

Jean

40 comments:

Thomas "Sully" Sullivan said...

The part of me that knows your exquisite photo is a “picture” of health wants to spoon it all down without thinking while listening to Chopin’s Barcarolle or maybe Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. (The other part of me – the dominant part – wants to slather butter on that dumpling or maybe add some honey, stab the chicken with a fork and barrel-roll it in a sweet spicy mustard, and use the carrots for doorstops.) What can I say? Pass the sugar, please…

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

That sounds delightful, Sully--the music part, that is! But I tell you, you won't need to slather butter on MY dumplings, I put plenty of butter IN them.

Vee said...

Snagged it for my Instant Pot folder at Pinterest. I enjoy a delicious dumpling, yet can not remember the last time I made Chicken and Dumplings...years ago!

Tamago said...

Your chicken and dumplings look so delicious!
I like fluffy dumplings. Definitely on fluffy team :-)

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Vee, thank you so much. Pins are much appreciated. This is so easy--just throw the whole chicken in the Instant Pot, cook it for 25, it falls apart, there you go!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thank you, Tamago! I had to put the cat out while it was cooking; he would have gone crazy over the smell!

TONY said...

Ah Jean. I like good firm dumplings . You describe yours as comfort food. Over herewe think of dumplings and beef stew as a filling Winter dish. Your chicken pieces look good and I like the bright colour of the carrots. The flavour of fresh carrots from the garden is amazing. A healthy filling dish on the whole. Great stuff.

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks, Tony. And you're right, this is especially good in winter, though I've made it at the height of summer as well.

Phil in the Kitchen said...

The comforting feelings delivered by chicken and dumplings are a very welcome idea right now. I heartily approve of your choice of fluffy dumplings and they really do look delicious and extra fluffy. My experience is the opposite of yours - I grew up on the stodgy, solid kind of dumpling (unbelievably dense and heavy in fact) and didn't realise that there were sensible, happy people eating fluffy dumplings until sometime in my teenage years. There seem to be regional variations in types of dumpling around Britain - I'm sure someone must have produced an academic study on the dumplings of Britain at some point.

Lorrie said...

Yummy Chicken and Dumplings. I usually make biscuits rather than dumplings, but these might tempt me. I don't have an instant pot, but it would be easy enough to do on the stove.

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thank you, Phil! I do think I had the best version of every dish growing up. My mother was a phenomenal cook. Thank you for the info about regional variations in dumplings around Britain. I'd like to look into that!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thank you, Lorrie. This chilly not-quite-spring weather is the perfect time to make it!

ellen b. said...

Looks like good comfort soup!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks, Ellen. I could've used a bowl of it today!

Pauline Wiles said...

Goodness. I've reached the ripe old age of (late forties) and I don't think I've ever actually made dumplings. And now I look at your recipe, I think I might even have a different understanding of what a "dumpling" even is, as I'm pretty sure my gran and mum always used to put something called suet in theirs. And now (you see the repercussions of this blog post??) I realize I don't even know what suet is! Jean, my culinary identity is severely shaken and I'm off to investigate...

...OK, I'm back. I now know what suet is, and frankly I wish I didn't. Your recipe looks infinitely preferable! Thank you, as usual, for waking me up to foods I hadn't thought about in ages.

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Oh Pauline, thank you for giving me my first laugh of the day! I'm not a big fan of suet either. In fact, whenever suet is called for, I replace it with unsalted butter. My motto in life: Butter is better!

Angie's Recipes said...

That looks filling and delicious!

Cheryl said...

Oh my goodness . . . such yummy-looking comfort food! Fluffy or flat dumplings? It's complicated because we are a divided house. I prefer fluffy and my husband prefers flat, so I most often make flat (or buy Anne's). But it's okay because . . . well . . . dumplings can't be bad! And he will eat the fluffy ones from time to time. :)

Cheryl said...

P.S. I just read Pauline's comment and I, too, had to run and find out about suet. Yuck.

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks, Angie!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Cheryl, too funny--"a divided house!" Having eaten my English grandmother's and mother's cooking, I can tell you that things made with suet taste just fine, but I just can't deal with it! I have done, but if I have a choice, I'd prefer not to! And butter is sooo good, right?

kitty@ Kitty's Kozy Kitchen said...

Chicken and dumplings is one of my most favorite comfort foods. I have been making it since I was a newlywed, and always the fluffy dumplings, like you, Jean. I haven’t made the dish in my IP, just always in my Dutch oven. It’s good to know the directions for the IP. Happy cooking!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks so much, Kitty. And happy cooking to you as well! I'm still discovering new ways to use my IP, and wondering why I waited so long to get one!

Cocoa and Lavender said...

Soooo comforting, especially these days when all we hear is news to discomfort us...Can’t wait to try it, Jean!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thank you, David. Yes, "news to discomfort us" makes me want comfort food. Please take care and stay well.

Dee | GrammysGrid.com said...

Looks really good! Going to try this one. Would have been a great post for my last themed party (Crock Pot and Instant Pot Recipes). Thanks so much for linking up with me at my #UnlimitedMonthlyLinkParty 10, open March 1 to 26. All entries shared on social media if share buttons installed. My party Bottle – 65 Words Writing Prompt Linkup is open March 10 to 20 if you’d like to join in for fun and creativity!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks, Dee. You'll love it, I'm sure. Sorry I missed that theme, but life gets a bit hectic from time to time!

Dee | GrammysGrid.com said...

It sure does get hectic Jean!

Jeanie said...

This sounds like perfect comfort food. (We couldn't find chicken at 3 stores in London, Ontario! We tried!)

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

OMGoodness, Jeanie, 3 stores! Well, maybe at home it will be easier.

HeartSong Normandie said...

This looks so good. I've been making big vats of chicken soup - food to comfort the body and soul and magical cure all ;) Stay safe and well all.

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Ema, thank you. Big vats of chicken soup is a good idea right now. Be sure to pop some dumplings on top! I'd like to freeze chicken soup in quart jars, but my freezer is too full just now (Is that what they mean by a "first-world problem"?). May you and yours be safe and well, too.

Miz Helen said...

There is really nothing like a pot of Chicken and Dumplings, and your recipe looks amazing, pure comfort! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday,475 your post looks great. Happy St. Patrick's Day and come back to see us soon!
Miz Helen

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks so much, Miz Helen! Love Full Plate Thursday!

Kitchen Riffs said...

I'm on team "both" -- I like both fluffy and flat dumplings! Although I probably make fluffy ones about 90% of the time, so I guess I tilt (heavily) toward team fluffy. :-) Anyway, terrific recipe. Don't have an IP, so I'd just make this in a Dutch oven. :-)

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks, John! And the Dutch oven has a lot more surface area for dumplings!

handmade by amalia said...

This looks amazing, Jean, my idea of comfort food. I'm in the fluffy dumplings camp :-)
Amalia
xo

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Thanks so much, Amalia. We need comfort food right now!

Shelbee on the Edge said...

Jean, this looks so amazing and definitely one of the best comfort foods you can make. My mother always made chicken and dumplings when I was kid. She would do fluffy dumplings just like yours but she never taught me how to make them. She would make flat dropped dumplings for things like beef goulash and chicken paprikash so I know how to make that kind of dumpling. I should try out the fluffy ones now! I pinned this to try. Thanks for sharing and linking up.

Shelbee
www.shelbeeontheedge.com

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Shelbee, thank you so much! And for sharing your own dumpling story. I hope you'll try it soon and think of your mother!