Chicken Stew with Dumplings in the Crock Pot
on Jan 07, 2021, Updated Jun 28, 2024
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Chicken Stew with Dumplings is a hearty slow cooker meal that is the epitome of comfort food. Prep in the morning and enjoy the perfect meal on a cold winter night.
Get ready to warm yourself up with a cozy bowl of Chicken Stew with Dumplings made right in your slow cooker. This hearty dish is perfect for chilly nights when you need something comforting and satisfying.
The combination of tender chicken, flavorful vegetables, and fluffy dumplings is sure to be a hit with your family. It can be a complete meal on its own or serve it with a simple chef salad and some apple crumble.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The best part about this recipe is that it’s easy to prepare.
- It is a one-pot wonder – no sides or additional cooking or prep needed.
- The slow cooker does most of the heavy lifting.
Recipe Ingredients
- Veggies: Carrots, celery, onion, peas, and garlic – just the classic basics.
- Chicken thighs: A wonderful cut of meat for the crockpot because it doesn’t dry out and they are affordable.
- Fresh rosemary and thyme: Fresh herbs are best because they brighten up slow cooker meals.
- Butter, milk, and cream: These make the stew thick and creamy.
- Simple dumpling ingredients: You will need flour, baking powder, salt, fresh rosemary and thyme, whole milk, and melted butter.
How to Make Chicken Stew with Dumplings
- Step #1. Put the vegetables, garlic, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of chicken broth into the slow cooker.
- Step #2. Whisk together the ¼ cup chicken broth with the cornstarch and then add that to the slow cooker.
- Step #3. Place the chicken thighs on top of everything in the slow cooker and put the rosemary, thyme, and butter on top of the chicken.
- Step #4. Let the slow cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
- Step #5. When the stew is done, shred the chicken, add the heavy cream, milk, and peas.
- Step #6. Make the dumpling dough and then drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto the stew. Cook for an additional hour on high.
Recipe FAQs
They are usually done in an hour. Open the lid as little as possible to check on them because the slow cooker will lose heat quickly and your dumplings might not turn out as well.
Make sure to place the dumpling dough on top of the stew mixture and do not stir them.
You may have overmixed the dough – that will lead to dense and tough dumplings.
You could customize this stew with your favorite veggies, such as sweet potatoes, parsnips, or green beans. Be sure to keep the vegetables roughly the same amount as the recipe so you don’t throw off the amount of liquid needed.
Expert Tips
- Mix up the dumpling dough while the stew is cooking to save yourself a bit of time when it’s time to add them to the stew.
- After you drop in the dumpling dough, just leave the dumplings on top of the stew. Do not stir them in. They will cook just right on top.
- If you want to make this stew gluten-free, use a one-to-one gluten-free flour blend for the dumpling dough. Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Baking Company both make good blends.
More One Pot Recipes to Consider
From Scratch Recipes
Beef Noodle Soup
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Chicken Wild Rice Soup
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Tomato Basil Soup
Recipes by Cook Time
Vegetable Soup
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Chicken Stew with Dumplings in the Crock Pot
Ingredients
For the Chicken Stew:
- 1 cup small-dice carrots
- ⅓ cup small-dice celery
- ½ cup small-dice yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup white wine or chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 5 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup frozen peas
For the Dumplings:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
- 1 teaspoon thyme, minced
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and chicken broth in a slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and chicken broth. Add mixture to the slow cooker.
- Lay chicken thighs on top of vegetables and broth.
- Add rosemary, thyme, and butter on top of the chicken.
- Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
- Make the dumplings while the stew is cooking. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, rosemary, and thyme. Add milk and melted butter and stir until combined and a loose dough has formed.
- When the stew finished cooking, remove chicken thighs. Shred chicken and add it back to the slow cooker.
- Stir in the heavy cream, milk, and peas to the slow cooker.
- Drop rounded tablespoons of the dumpling dough onto the stew, placing it evenly over the top. Cook the dumplings for an additional hour on high.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- The dumplings will look damp on the edges, but will be cooked all the way through on the inside.
- Keep the lid on your slow cooker while the dumplings are cooking because you want to keep the heat in to properly cook the dumplings.
- Chicken thighs are the best cut of meat for this recipe. If you substitute chicken breasts, your stew won’t have the same flavor and the meat may be more dry.
- This recipe is from Rustic Farmhouse Slow Cooker.
This sounds amazing! We keep kosher which means we don’t mix meat and dairy. Do you think this would be good with coconut milk?
I think it would work great!
The Kosher/dairy free version came out great!! I substituted coconut milk for the milk and cream, olive oil for the butter and I used 3/4 cup whole wheat flour because that was what I had on hand. It was so so good! Thanks Melissa!
Wonderful! Thank you so much for letting us know what worked!
Hey, it’s me again 😉 This recipe has become one of my favorites (still with the dairy free version)!! I was planning on making it tonight (good comfort food since my kids are in quarantine) but after 2 hours I realized my slow cooker wasn’t plugged in! I’m transferring it to the stovetop because I want it to be ready in time for my kids to have for dinner. Any tips?
How’d it turn out?? You for sure can do it on the stove top!