Easy Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings.
Juicy chicken breasts cooked to tender perfection in the slow cooker in a rich creamy sauce.
Shortcut dumplings make this deliciously comforting meal effortless for a family favorite everyone will agree on.
Chicken and Dumplings are probably the ultimate comfort food. Tender juicy shredded chicken and soft dumplings in a rich creamy brothy gravy.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings from scratch but having a busy household with kids, I know that sometimes time is short and I don’t have hours to spend cooking a full Sunday dinner from scratch.
This recipe uses a few little short cuts to make it really quick and easy to put together while not skimping on flavor.
The best part about this recipe is that it cooks up in the slow cooker all day long.
That means you can spend about 5 minutes prepping and head on out and run your errands (or go for lunch with your friends which sounds much more fun).
The slow cooker does all of the work but the results are just as amazing as a from scratch recipe (there’s a reason this recipe has a five star rating ★★★★★)!
Quick prep with optimal results is my kind of cookin’.
I use a can of premade biscuits to make the dumplings to make this dish totally effortless.
You’re going to want to roll them extra thin as they do puff up a little while they cook.
If you don’t want to use (or don’t have) canned biscuits, feel free to mix up a batch of your favorite homemade biscuits to create your own dumplings (or use Biscuit Mix).
Once you shred the chicken and stir it back in, your dumplings will break up a little bit but don’t worry; the edges soak up a bit of the sauce making for a perfect bowl of comfort.
While I know not everyone likes vegetables with their chicken and dumplings, I sure do!
I love the addition of frozen veggies for color, flavor and some extra nutrients (plus frozen veggies are pretty effortless).
If veggies in your chicken and dumplings isn’t your thing, feel free to leave them out (but don’t skip the onion, it adds lots of flavor)!
How to Make Perfect Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
As easy as this recipe is, here are a few tips to make sure it turns out perfectly for you!
- This recipe is best made in a 6QT crock pot.
- While this chicken and dumplings recipe uses frozen veggies, they should be defrosted before adding to the slow cooker.
- My biscuits are always perfectly cooked after 60 minutes however some slow cookers may require extra time to cook the biscuits.
- Open the lid as little as possible as the slow cooker can lose heat quickly and this can cause your biscuits to not cook properly.
- Boneless chicken thighs make an excellent addition to this recipe.
- Once the biscuits are cooked through they should still have a soft, slightly doughy dumpling-like texture.
- Depending on the size of your slow cooker, this recipe may not double well. To double this recipe, cook the chicken portion as directed. Additional dumplings can be cooked on the stovetop or baked in the oven as biscuits.
Dairy (such as cream or milk) doesn’t always do well in the slow cooker; it can often separate or curdle so I’ve subbed in condensed soup in this recipe.
Condensed soups make a great addition to crock pot recipes as they tend to hold up very well in the slow cooker (plus they add lots of flavor to this recipe) without the risk of curdling.
Once you try this easy recipe, it’ll quickly become your go to for slow cooker chicken and dumplings.
Ensure your slow cooker is on high and the liquid should be bubbling along the edges when you open the lid to add your vegetables and biscuits.
It’s really important that you open the lid for as little time as possible and that your vegetables are completely defrosted.
Note: Buttermilk, Country or Homestyle Biscuits work best in this recipe. When adding the vegetables/biscuits ensure the lid is left off as little as possible. Leaving the lid off for long periods of time will drastically increase cooking time.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large onion diced
- 10.5 ounces condensed cream of celery soup 1 can
- 10.5 ounces condensed cream of chicken soup 1 can
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- black pepper to taste
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups frozen vegetables or peas and carrots, thawed
- 16.3 ounces refrigerated biscuits 1 can, Buttermilk, Country, or Homestyle
Instructions
- Add onion to 6 qt crock pot and top with chicken breasts.
- In a small bowl, combine cream of celery soup, cream of chicken soup, parsley, poultry seasoning and pepper. Spread over chicken breasts. Top with chicken broth and cook on high 5 hours.
- Approximately 1 hour (I allow 60 - 90 minutes) before serving (after 4 hours of cooking time), roll each biscuit thin and flat. Cut into 4 strips. Add vegetables to the slow cooker and stir. Add biscuit strips on top. Replace lid as quickly as possible.
To Serve
- Remove chicken breasts and slightly shred. Add back into slow cooker and stir (this will break up the dumplings somewhat which is ok). Let cook an additional 10 minutes and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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Can you use frozen chicken? How does that change the time/recipe?
I would suggest thawing them first but other readers have used them directly with no issues! If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
what setting for crockpot and when does broth go in?
As mentioned in step 2, you will want to top the chicken with the broth then cook this recipe on high for 5 hours.
can I cut the chicken into pieces first before adding to crockpot? This would eliminate the need to remove the chicken and add back after cooking. I will use boneless skinless chicken thighs.
I have never tried so I can’t say for sure, but other readers have with good results. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
This recipe is amazing and so flavorful. Instead of the biscuits I made my own drop dumplings and it was delicious everyone in the family went back for seconds.
How long would you cook this with rotisserie chicken?
Hi Lindsay, I have never tried but I think it would turn out delicious. You can skip the step of cooking the chicken and go straight to adding it into the crockpot with the remaining ingredients to heat up. I would love to hear how this turns out for you!
We have to accommodate a dairy allergy in my family, so any sort of “cream of ___” soup isn’t usually possible. Any suggestions for substitutions??
I have only tried this as written so I can’t say for sure how it would work but you could try a dairy free alfredo sauce in place. Let us know how it goes!
Perfect recipe! Cooked beautifully with no adjustments. Biscuits were perfect on top, I used buttermilk biscuits. Great recipe!
I make this recipe often, I do use boneless chicken thighs. I like this recipe because the cream of celery soup really gives it a great taste.
Would not recommend pulling the chicken out to shred AFTER putting biscuit slices in. The whole thing basically turned to mush after stirring the chicken back in.
I’m so grateful for your comment bc I didn’t actually think about this. I’m currently making it for the first time and I’ll definitely cut my chicken up before adding my peas and carrots. Once I cut it up and mid the veggies I’ll add my biscuits. I think the biscuits should be the last step right before eating!! Thanks soooo much for your comment. 🩵
So easy and good
Can you use a rotisserie chicken?
You sure can!
I was looking for a chicken and dumpling recipe that was easy. My friend had a similar recipe, but I couldn’t find it so I came up upon this one which looked as close to what I remember. This turned out amazingly! I use pre-cooked shredded chicken Since we already had that. We topped it with a biscuit mix as the recipe calls for. Just like a chicken pot pie but so much easier. We had this on snowy weekend evening and it was the perfect comfort food. Thank you for sharing!
I have made this recipe so many times, I almost know it by heart! So simply delicious and easy to make. It has become a regular dinner in our house, especially on a chilly, rainy Sunday. Perfect comfort food. Though, I have struggled trying to figure out what to serve with it, bread seems redundent with the dumplings. Usually we just have it by itself.
A salad or a fresh veggie like steamed broccoli is a great addition. With a creamy dish, I love this simple green salad.
Do you have the stove version of this?
We do have this version of chicken and dumplings, along with a delicious chicken and dumpling soup I love!