I’ve always figured that my daughter was my true kindred spirit. But when I mentioned that I had chicken gizzards in the freezer, I was shocked to hear that she wanted a mess o’ dumplings — chicken and dumplings, that is … with gizzards as the main.
Truth is, one can add anything to dumplings. I heard not so long ago that my father was raised on dumplings made of everything from squirrel to anything that flew overhead or crawled across the front porch.
Fortunately, I’ve only been treated to my mamaw’s civilized version of this dish … the one made with chicken. But she didn’t always make everything from scratch. In fact, Mamaw discovered cooking with canned biscuits long before those trite recipe magazines started showing up on the checkout racks at grocery stores.
That in mind, and tired from a full day of doing my PR thing under my belt, I made my own version of the ‘canned biscuit’ chicken and dumplings. They were delicious. And lightning fast — even cooked in Jimmy Rockford, where elbow room is at a premium. Mamaw was way ahead of her time in faking a dish that tastes like it was made from scratch. I implore you to do the same. Your taste buds will thank you.
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Weeknight Chicken & Dumplings
Chicken & Dumplings like Mamaw made back in the day — in about 30 minutes.
- 12 oz - Canned biscuits
- 3 qts - Chicken stock
- 1 cup - All-purpose flour
- 1 TB - Black pepper
- 1 TB - Kosher salt, plus more to taste if necessary
- 4 cups - Cooked deboned chicken (rotisserie)
- In a large Dutch oven or small stockpot, bring the stock to a light boil.
- While the stock is warming, on a heavily floured surface, roll each biscuit to about 3-4 inches in diameter.
- Slice each flattened biscuit into 4-5 dumplings.
- When stock begins to boil, dredge dumplings individually in flour and carefully drop (slide) into the stock, gently stirring after adding each 4-5 pieces. ~ Make sure stock returns to a boil before adding the next batch.
- When all dumplings have been added, cook uncovered until no dumplings are floating and stock has thickened/reduced somewhat.
- Serve in bowls topped with chicken.
- Season additionally as desired.