Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken thighs (can substitute drumsticks or a whole fryer)
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced (save the juiced halves to use as well)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 3 cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp thyme
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons shortening
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- salt & pepper to taste
- lemon juice to taste (from the lemon you juiced)
Preparation
Step 1
1. Add chicken, water, salt, pepper, and bay leaf, to stockpot; toss in the juiced halves of the lemon. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat, simmering until chicken is cooked. (Anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on what size chicken/chicken pieces you use).
2. Combine flour, salt and shortening in a small bowl; cut shortening into the flour with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture begins to clump into a rough dough. Add milk; use pastry cutter to finish mixing the dumpling dough. It should be slightly sticky. Set aside.
3. Once chicken is cooked, remove chicken and bay leaf from the stockpot; debone the chicken and discard bones and skin as well as the bay leaf. Chop the cooked chicken. Allow the chicken stock in the stockpot to cool; skim the fat off the top.
4. To the chicken stock, add the cooked chicken, the carrots, celery, onion, and thyme. Add more salt and pepper to taste as well as additional lemon juice to taste; I like my chicken and dumplings to have a rich lemon flavor to complement the thyme. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for twenty minutes or until vegetables are cooked and soft.
5. Remove lid; add dumpling dough by the spoonful to the mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes with the lid off; cover pot and finish simmering for another 15 minutes for the dumplings to fully cook.
6. Eat and be warm & happy!
If you don’t have thyme in the pantry, you can substitute tarragon or basil or any other herb that complements the zing of the lemon juice.
Note that if you refrigerate the leftovers…assuming you have leftovers…you’ll need to add a little extra chicken stock or water when you warm up your next bowl. The dumplings absorb quite a bit of the original broth when you refrigerate this.
For those of you who swear by your slow cooker, you can adapt this recipe by using cooked chicken and prepared chicken stock. Allow the veggies, spices, and chicken to simmer in the slow cooker during the day then add the dumplings about 30-40 minutes before serving.