Go Back
Southern Chicken and Dumplings with Rolled Flat Slicks

Chicken And Dumplings

This is the real Southern version: a whole bone-in bird simmered down into a gelatin-rich broth, then flat strips of soft dough rolled thin and dropped in with their dusting flour, which thickens everything into a silky gravy. No cream, no canned soup, no biscuit dough. Just chicken, flour, and patience, with a slightly chewy dumpling that holds its bite.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 25 minutes
Servings: 6 People
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Calories: 595
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 whole stewing hen or bone-in chicken 3 to 4 lb, skin on
  • 3 quarts cold water enough to cover the bird by 1 inch
  • 1 large yellow onion peeled and halved
  • 3 ribs celery cut into large pieces
  • 1 large carrot optional, cut into chunks
  • 1 whole bay leaf
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme optional
  • 2 tsp salt for the stock, plus more to taste
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour soft Southern flour such as White Lily if you can get it, plus more for rolling
  • 1.5 tsp salt for the dumpling dough
  • 6 tbsp shortening, lard, or cold butter cut into small pieces
  • 0.75 cup ice water or whole milk plus a splash more if needed
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley optional, to finish

Equipment

  • 1 large heavy stockpot or Dutch oven at least 6 quart
  • 1 fine mesh strainer
  • 1 Rolling Pin
  • 1 pizza cutter or sharp knife for cutting the dumpling strips
  • 1 Large mixing bowl
  • 1 ladle or shallow spoon for skimming fat

Method
 

  1. Rinse the chicken and put it in a large heavy pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf, thyme, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Pour in enough cold water to cover the bird by about 1 inch, roughly 3 quarts.
  2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then drop the heat to a bare simmer. Skim off the gray foam that rises in the first 10 minutes. Cover partially and simmer 1 hour 15 minutes for a young chicken, or up to 2 hours for a stewing hen, until the meat pulls away from the bone with no resistance.
  3. Lift the chicken out onto a sheet pan and let it cool until you can handle it. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and discard the vegetables and herbs. Skim most of the fat off the surface with a shallow spoon, leaving a thin golden slick for flavor.
  4. Return the broth to the pot. You want about 10 cups. Taste it and salt it hard, until it tastes slightly too seasoned on its own. The dumplings will pull that salt right out. Add more black pepper too.
  5. Pull the chicken meat off the bones in large pieces, discarding skin, bones, and cartilage. Keep the meat covered at room temperature while you make the dumplings.
  6. Whisk the 3 cups flour and 1.5 teaspoons salt in a large bowl. Add the shortening and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse meal with a few pea-sized bits left.
  7. Pour in the ice water or milk and stir with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms and pulls together. Add a tablespoon more liquid only if dry patches remain. Do not knead it. Overworking the dough makes tough, rubbery dumplings.
  8. Press the dough into a flat disc, cover with a towel, and let it rest 15 minutes. This relaxes the gluten and makes rolling far easier.
  9. Flour your work surface generously. Roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick, flouring the top as needed. With a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut it into strips about 1 inch wide and 2 inches long. Leave the dusting flour on them, that flour is what thickens the gravy.
  10. Bring the seasoned broth to a gentle boil. Drop the dumpling strips in one at a time, separating them as you go so they do not stick in a clump. Add them all before the first ones set.
  11. Simmer uncovered 15 to 20 minutes, nudging the pot with a gentle stir only two or three times so the dumplings do not stick to the bottom. Never let it reach a hard rolling boil or the dumplings will break apart. The broth will thicken into a loose gravy that coats a spoon.
  12. Slide the pulled chicken back in, fold it through gently, and simmer 5 minutes more just to heat it through.
  13. Take the pot off the heat and let it stand, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes. The dumplings finish swelling and the gravy tightens to its final body. Taste once more for salt and pepper.
  14. Ladle into warm shallow bowls, scatter parsley over the top if using, and serve immediately with plenty of black pepper at the table.

Notes

  • Serve with buttermilk cornbread, collard or turnip greens cooked with pork, green beans, or sliced tomatoes, and keep hot sauce and a pepper mill on the table.
  • Self-rising flour gives tender, puffier dumplings. All-purpose gives the denser, al dente slick that Tennessee and Alabama cooks prefer. Do not use both leaveners.
  • Do not knead the dough. Mix it only until it holds together, or the dumplings turn rubbery.
  • Season the broth more aggressively than tastes right. The flour dumplings absorb a surprising amount of salt.
  • Keep the pot at a lazy simmer and stir rarely with a gentle hand. A hard boil shreds the dumplings.
  • Leftovers thicken into a near-casserole overnight. Loosen with a splash of broth or water over low heat; it does not freeze well.
  • Dark meat is your friend here. Skip boneless breast entirely, it dries out and gives no body to the broth.