Chicken & Vegetable Dumpling Soup

 

We are in the midst of Winter Storm Ion here in Southern Michigan.  The kids are home from school today (and we've received confirmation of the same for tomorrow) and Steve is home from work.  Our last twenty-four hours have consisted of an insane amount of snow shoveling, driveway plowing, stockpiling wood inside of the house for our wood stove, curling up under blankets watching t.v. in the living room and listening to the wind howl outside of our windows.  We did our grocery shopping three days ago - in preparation for possibly being home bound for several days.

I picked up everything needed to try out this Chicken & Vegetable Dumpling Soup recipe.  We love Chicken and Dumplings in our house.  I wanted to use those same flavors and ingredients, but turn the recipe into a soup. 

I adore this recipe because sour cream is used in the dumplings.  It brings such a wonderful tanginess to the biscuits.  Also, they cook up especially light and fluffy.  Know, however, that these are not your typical, traditional dumplings - they are definitely different in texture.  If you have a dumpling recipe that you prefer, I'm sure you could substitute it for these if you don't like or don't have sour cream on hand. 

This totally warmed our bellies (and souls) today as we endure wind chill temps hovering in the negative twenties.  I used homemade chicken stock, but a good-quality store-bought stock/broth would be fine.  And, this is a great recipe for taking advantage of leftover chicken or even a store-bought rotisserie chicken.


Ingredients:

FOR THE SOUP -

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 - 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 onion, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
10 cups chicken stock/broth
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
1/4 cup frozen peas (optional)

FOR THE DUMPLINGS -

2 cups flour
4 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dried sage (optional)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup whole milk

Directions:

Sauté the carrots, celery, onion and garlic in the olive oil in a large stock pot set over medium-low heat just until veggies are becoming tender.  Sprinkle in the salt, dried thyme and pepper.  Increase heat to medium-high and add in the stock.

In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup of flour with the cold water until no lumps remain.  Once stock and vegetable mixture is boiling, whisk in the flour and water mixture.  Allow to come to a boil again.

Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients of the dumplings in a medium mixing bowl.  Add in the sour cream and milk.  Stir to just combine.  It is okay if there are still some lumps remaining.  Set aside.

Add in the shredded chicken and peas (is using) to the soup.  Allow soup to return to a boil.

NOTE:  At this point, you'll want to taste the soup.  You can adjust salt and pepper amounts as needed.  If you'd like a stronger chicken flavor, add in one or two bouillon cubes (or chicken soup base).

Drop the dumpling mix by teaspoonful into the soup.  Reduce heat to a simmer.  Lid the pot and allow dumplings to simmer in the soup for about ten minutes.  Remove lid, gently stir dumplings to mix them into the soup a bit.  Continue simmering for 5 - 10 minutes uncovered while soup thickens a little.

Turn heat off.  Allow soup to "rest" for a few minutes, then serve in bowls.

Adapted from Easy.Everyday.Eats.