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
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Is it possible to cook on low for 8 hours then drop the biscuits in turn to high for an hour?
I want to try and find things i can leave to cook while i am gone at work.
I have only made this recipe as written. I do think the chicken would be fine on low however the temperature of the liquid will not be high when you initially add the biscuits in so they may take longer to cook.
I use frozen to semi-frozen meat and set a timer to plug the crockpot into to kick on and start cooking later. Works great…. meat starts to thaw while sealed inside crockpot and then cooks in time to enjoy when I get home from work.
That’s BRILLIANT!!!
Great recipes!
Thank you!!
They all look so good.
Thank you Sandra!
That chicken and dumplings is great!!
Thank you!
Love this recipe, how many,calories dose this,have. I am a diabetic thats,why I ask. But it looks,dang good
Looks yummy
I could have missed it some how but as I am making this is it on high or low? Can’t wait to taste it!
Never mind…I saw high…sorry!
This recipe is cooked on high.
Can this recipe be cooked on low? Thinking of setting up in the morning and prepping it when I come back from work (8-9 hours) is it possible to do?
I haven’t tried it but several readers have successfully cooked it on low. Please let us know how it works out for you!
Could this recipe be cooked on low for a longer amount of time though?
I would suggest about 8 hours on low. Your biscuits may take longer to cook as the slow cooker will be at a lower temperature.
Possibly bump it up up to high when you put the veggies and biscuit pieces in??
Also, do you think using bpmwless chicken thighs would make a big difference in cooking time??
I would cook it the same amount of time with chicken thighs.
What is “poultry seasoning”?
Poultry seasoning is a spice blend found in the spice aisle (or online at Amazon) or you can make it yourself!
You can make your own blend of poultry seasoning:
2 tsp sage, 1 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp margarine, 3/4 tsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp nutmeg,1/2 tsp black pepper
Diana,
I think that should be 1 tsp MARJORAM, NOT MARGARINE, Your PC must have self-corrected wrong!
HA!! I was wondering!!
this would be fine if you already had the spices but if you go out and buy full bottles of all these spices is expensive where a small bottle of poultry seasoning is more intelligent
Does the recipe call for four chicken breast “halves” or four entire breasts? Four entire breasts seems like a lot to me but I haven’t made the dish yet so I just want to make sure. The total weight of the breasts is 3.5 lbs.
This recipe uses chicken breast halves.
Please fix your ingredients list. the list just says breasts, not halves. I now have all 4 in there and will have to remove part of it later because I didn’t read comments until after I put it in for awhile. I’ve got to imagine a few others have done this. :)
This looks yummy! What are canned biscuits? I’m in the UK and we don’t have these.
Canned biscuits are similar to a scone dough. You could substitute your favorite dough or even gnocchi.
Looks like something I could fix, as the daughter and son in law want let me cook. Look good.
I’m glad you think so! Let me know when you give the recipe a try. I guarantee your family will love it! :)
This will be in my crockpot tomorrow morning!
That’s awesome, Teresa! I hope they turn out wonderful :)
How big of cans are the cream of chicken and celery?
They are 10.5 oz each.
Do I add the water in campells cream of chicken and celery? Silly? Please lmk
You do not need to add water to the soups, use them straight out of the can.
Holly, great recipe!!! I hope you’re not pulling out your hair. The way you wrote the recipe does explain how to cook it. It’s not difficult to figure out. I look forward to more dinner ideas :)
Thank you Lynne, enjoy. :)
I tried to make it but the biscits stayed doughie im gonna try to leave the biscits out for an hour so they dry out then try to cook them again if you cook the checken for six hours it will fall apart its self
Another hour and now it’s done and yummy! I think the veggies changed the temp too much when I added them.
I think you are supposed to thaw them out first.
For clarification, is the total cooking time 5 or 6 hours? (So step 3 is at hour 4 or 5?)
The total cooking time for this recipe is 5 hours. After 3.5-4 hours cooking time you will add the vegetables and biscuits.
I am cooking this now (smells delicious!), but I see a discrepancy in the time. On the video I watched, it said cook for 4 hours, then add biscuits and cook and additional hour. This instructions say cook for 5 hours, then add the busciuts and cook another hour. ??? Help!
They are the same. In the video it says to cook for 4 hours, add biscuits and cook for 1 hour more (total 5 hours).
In the recipe in step 2 it says cook for 5 hours. In step 3, one hour before serving (which would be at the 4 hour mark) add the biscuits and continue cooking for the final hour. (Total 5 hours)
What is wrong with these girls. Please slow down and read every line. :)
Just printed recipe. Gonna definitely make this one. We are casserole, slow cooker meal lovers and I love a crock pot meal. Looks simple and delicious.
Enjoy Cindy! We love this recipe!
Wonderful recipes inexpensive and heakthy
Thank you Shirley!
Would love 2 make this ..need what kind of seasonings now much broth what brand of bisque. COULD pleas send me the recipes 4 this 1?thank u so much.
You can find the recipe and full ingredients list above.
Holly,
Do you think I could use gnocchi as my dumplings? I always keep gnocchi
In my pantry as we eat several homemade soups that I put gnocchi in.
Absolutely, I haven’t tried it but I know other readers that have and have said its amazing! Please let us know how it works out!
I will be trying these recipes. The chicken and dumplings look yummy.
It’s one of our favorites Melissa! :)
In regards to the crock pot chicken and dumplings recipe … I am a little confused about the cooking time. Is it cook for 4 hours on high then add biscuit strips and veggies; then cook for another hour; then shred chicken and cook another 10 minutes???
That is correct.
Glad to know I was not the only one confused by the recipe…
Thanks for explaining it so well.
I should have read the comments first….this is going to be over cooked now *sigh*
I hope it turns out ok
Omg… I just over cooked mine too!!! Video says 4 hours and then add biscuits and veggies for an hour! Printed recipe says 5 hours and then add veggies and biscuits! Well …we will see!!! How did yours taste????
The recipe states 5 hours… you do add the biscuits/veggies for the last hour however both are for a total of 5 hours. Hope that helps.
I shredded my chicken already now waiting to add my veggies and biscuits for the last hour.
Looks good
Thank you Jill!
Jill, I married right out of high school. I asked my Mom for some recipes, and she told me about making dumpling from biscuits . So when I tried, I dropped the whole biscuits into the sauce. Of course, they swelled up and ran over the pan. I’m 75 years old now and my family still laughs about it. Thank you for sharing. Amanda
LOL! Those are some of the best memories! :)
Love the comments! They are helpful as well…..i made this dish exactly like your instructions and came out soooo delish! My fam loved it!! Thank you for posting! I am making again today and wantedto add chopped potatoes also…fo i add those at 4th hour with other veggies or earlier?
I’m so glad you loved it Carol!
So add chopped potatoes at what point?
I haven’t tried this with potatoes however if you do try it I would suggest adding them in the beginning so they have a chance to cook completely.
Do you set the crock pot on high or low?
This recipe is cooked on high.
What if you are cooking it al day
Keeping the lid off increases cooking time not DECREAse
I added a few mushrooms and some crumbled cooked bacon and celery along with fresh carrots and peas to the cooker with the soup…cooking now!
When I add the biscuits and wait for the results…I will post!
Tried it tonight, mighty fine lady!! Thanks
Yay! Happy to hear that you loved this recipe Thomas!
I can’t seem to get signed in to order the recipe speacil. I know I’m using my right email and password.i don’t have a PayPal or PayPal credit but I do have a visa account.
Hi Patsy, if you’re referring to the Meal Planner, selecting PayPal credit will allow you to pay by credit card without a PayPal account. Hope that helps.