Name: Chicken and Dumplings (Easy)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 2 large chicken breasts, (cooked and shredded (about 4 cups) (Rotisserie chicken would work perfectly in this recipe!)); 8 cups water; 4 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Chicken; 4 tablespoons salted butter; 4 carrots, (cut in half lengthwise and then diced (about 3 cups)); 4 celery stalks, (diced (about 2 cups)); 2 small yellow onions, (diced finely (about 2 cups)); ½ cup flour; 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 2 cups bisquick; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; ⅔ cup milk

Chicken and dumplings might be a dish you’ve eaten your whole life and never once made yourself. You know a good bowl when you taste it. But you’ve just always let someone else make it.

I make mine with a rotisserie chicken and a box of Bisquick, and it all comes together in one pot. You get the tender dumplings you’re hoping for when the ladle comes around, with plenty of chicken and savory broth to make a proper supper of it.

A bowl of Chicken and Dumplings features tender chunks of chicken, fluffy dumplings, carrots, and a savory broth. A spoon lifts chicken from the bowl, inviting you to enjoy this comforting Chicken and Dumplings Recipe. Nearby, a napkin and wooden spice bowls complete the cozy setting.

Start With A Fresh Box Of Bisquick

The leavening in Bisquick makes the dumplings rise, but it loses strength when the box has been open for a while. Check the date before you start. If yours has been sitting in the cupboard since last winter, open a new box for this recipe.

Old mix can leave you with flat dumplings instead of puffy ones. The frustrating part is that you won’t see the difference until you take the lid off.

A close-up of a pot filled with Chicken and Dumplings, featuring tender chicken, fluffy dumplings, carrots, celery, and Italian seasoning in a savory broth. A wooden spoon scoops up a perfect bite of this comforting Chicken and Dumplings recipe—complete with dumpling, chicken, and vegetables. — A fresh box gives you dumplings that dome up and hold their shape on top of the broth. If yours come out flat instead of puffy, the date on the box is the first thing I’d check.

Pick A Wide Pot With A Lid

Dumplings cook on the surface of the broth, so they need room across the top of the pot. A tall, narrow pot might hold just as much soup, but it gives you less room for the dumplings.

Use the widest pot you have that still has a lid. Leave space between the scoops as you add them. The dumplings swell as they cook, and any that are touching when they go in will stick together.

Get The Broth Simmering Before You Mix The Batter

You’re looking for bubbles breaking around the edges while the middle barely moves.

A hard boil can break the dumplings apart before they’ve had a chance to set. If the broth isn’t simmering, they won’t cook through.

Get it there while the chicken warms through, and keep it there while you mix the batter.

Stir Just Until The Dry Mix Disappears

The batter will be thick and paste-like. It won’t look smooth, and trying to stir it smooth is what can make the dumplings dense.

A glass bowl with rough, partially mixed dough sits on a white marble surface, ready to be transformed into delicious dumplings for your favorite Chicken and Dumplings Recipe. — Once you can’t see any dry mix, stop stirring the biscuit batter.

Let the bowl sit for a minute or two before you start scooping. The batter firms up as it sits, which helps it hold its shape on the spoon.

Recipe Testing (Last Update Sept 2026)

This recipe was originally developed and photographed in 2017. To ensure it still meets my strict standards, it has been re-tested by Pam in 2024, by Teresia in May 2026, and by my independent recipe tester in January and twice again in July 2026.

The July round settled the size of the dumplings, and the number you get from one batch.

I had the recipe tester use a small 2 teaspoon cookie scoop and fill it somewhere between two and three teaspoons rather than leveling it off. That gave 22 to 24 dumplings from the two cups of Bisquick, and it’s the size in this recipe now.

A spoon holds up a portion of sticky, unbaked dough from a large white mixing bowl on a granite countertop—just the beginning steps in preparing a comforting Chicken and Dumplings recipe.

A metal spoon and two small metal scoops with black handles rest on a speckled countertop. One scoop contains a beige dough-like mixture for Chicken and Dumplings; the spoon also has a bit of the mixture on it, ready to be added to your favorite Chicken and Dumplings Recipe.

They finish a little bigger than bite size, small enough that you get one in most spoonfuls.

Keep The Lid On For The First 15 Minutes

Once the last dumpling is in, cover the pot. The steam helps cook the dumplings, and every time you lift the lid, you let that steam escape.

The lid also holds in heat. When my recipe tester made this in July, she found that the gentle simmer became an active boil once she covered the pot. Check after the first minute and lower the heat if it’s boiling too hard. Then leave the lid on for the rest of the 15 minutes.

If you do peek partway through, the tops will still look pale and wet. They can look a long way from done at this stage, but that doesn’t mean anything has gone wrong.

A white pot filled with a classic Chicken and Dumplings Recipe sits on a marble counter. A wooden spoon rests inside, and chopped vegetables and dumplings are visible in the savory broth.

Cut One Open To Check The Middle

After 15 minutes, turn each dumpling over and cook for another two or three minutes with the lid off. Lift one out and cut it in half.

A small dumpling coated in savory broth, reminiscent of a classic Chicken and Dumplings Recipe, sits on a white plate next to a fork and knife on a granite countertop.

A dumpling cut in half sits on a white plate, covered in a light, translucent sauce—reminiscent of classic Chicken and Dumplings. The inside of the dumpling appears soft and fluffy. The plate rests on a dark, speckled countertop.

The inside should look like a biscuit all the way through, with no wet, glossy patch in the center. If the middle still has that wet patch, put the lid back on and cook for another five minutes. Mine come out tender in the middle but hold together when I scoop them out.

Add A Splash Of Broth When You Reheat

The dumplings keep taking up broth while they sit, so what went into the fridge as soup comes out the next day closer to stew.

Keep it in an airtight container for three to four days. Stir in a splash of broth or water before you reheat, then warm it gently on the stove or in short bursts in the microwave. The dumplings are already cooked through, so you’re only bringing the heat back, and they’ll go soft on you if you push it.

Freeze The Soup Before The Dumplings Go In

Dumplings deflate in the freezer and come back gummy, so the finished pot is the one thing here that doesn’t keep.

Freeze the soup on its own instead. Cool it, divide it into containers and it’ll keep for up to two months. When you want it, thaw it, bring it back to a simmer, and mix a fresh batch of dumplings then.