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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I made chicken and dumplings for the very first time and could not be more pleased with how it turned out thanks to this recipe!! Hubby loved it, it was very easy, and my house is still standing lol! Thank you so much Holly for sharing this recipe!
This was so easy to make and oh so delicious.
Excited to make
Enjoy John!
This was a good recipe! But next time I will leave out the onions. I also used frozen dumplings and it turned out good! Makes a lot for 2 ppl.
I made this, but I changed it up. I put a 16oz frozen package of thawed onion, green and red peppers in the bottom of the crock pot, I’m not a fan of peas and carrots. layered 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (halved) used 2 cans of cream of chicken, and 2 cans of cream of celery. add the spices and poured 4 cups of chicken broth on top. not the low sodium stuff. 1:20mins before the 5 hour mark I took the chicken out and shredded it and put it back in. I used something called sheet dough. flattened it out and cut it into squares, then added it to the pot. basically I doubled the recipe. It turned out fantastic! If I do it over I will use biscuit dough because the sheet dough has broken up into very small pieces in the leftoveres. (still good though). Loved it! my house smelled amazing, and it tasted wonderful! Very easy to make.
I am looking forward to trying this out tomorrow. Sounds delicious and easy enough… Especially for a non-cooking person like me. Now I read through the comments and I don’t understand where the confusion about cooking time is…. Total cooking time comes out to 5 hours on high; 4 hours with the chicken and soups and seasonings and then you add the veggies and biscuits at the last hour. Simple enough, ya? Thanks for the recipe!!
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Hello, I’ve been cooking the biscuits for over an hour and it doesn’t seem to be cooking at all
Very same thing is happening to me! Not a fan
What if I baked the biscuits first? Then dropped them in?
You could certainly prepare it that way.
Have you ever tried adding a bay leaf? I usually add a bay leaf to my from scratch recipe. This is my first time doing chicken and dumplings this way. Any thoughts on adding the bay leaf, or does the poultry seasoning replace it? If you were going to add a bay leaf when would you throw it in, the beginning….with the veggies or half way through? In my from scratch recipe you throw it in at the beginning and take it out later…. everything’s in and it’s cooking we will see how it turns out. I have a very old fashioned picky family. While they love the family recipe passed down over 150 years it’s a pain. I’m going to see if they will accept this, worried it’s not going to taste right without the bay leaf…
I haven’t tried it with bay leaf but I do think it would add great flavor. I would add it at the beginning and then remove it when you are going to shred the chicken.
When do you add the broth? I read the directions a few times but it’s very possible I missed it. Mom brain :-)
It is added in step 2. :)
In the crockpot now! Can you add canned peas if you don’t have frozen veggies?
Sure you can, I’d add them at the very end so they don’t get mushy.
Excited to see how this turns out! It’s in the slow cooker.
I gotta ask: has anyone tried this on low? And for how long? My 8 hr days don’t allow for 5-hr high slow cooks.
Thanks!
Hi Irene I cooked this on low and it was great, haven’t made it in months-will be making it next week
This was delicious! I’ll be making this a lot, especially in the colder months when I crave comfort food like this! I didn’t have poultry seasoning so I used 1/2 tsp each of dried thyme and ground sage. It turned out great. Lots of rich, savory notes. I cooked mine on low for about 8 hours, then added the biscuits and turned up to high for about 60-90 minutes. Turned out perfect. This was very easy to make.
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe Sara!
I mis-read recipe and shredded chicken at 4 hours….will that mess my chicken up?
It should work just fine.
My entire family LOVED this recipe. Great winter home cooking comfort!
Bought a store made rotisserie chicken . Cheap can of biscuits and the soups and a can of vegall made this recipe in about 3 hours in crock then add the biscuits cut in strips and it’s perfect ..I cut back on the onion a lot because I like to have a piece of raw onion with mine ..will definitely make again super easy
Excellent recipe. This is my first crock pot recipe ever and it turned out amazing. I followed the instructions precisely and the results were phenomenal. Thank you very much!
Made this for dinner this evening! Everyone loved it! Changed the recipe a little, I’m allergic to onions but can have dehydrated onions. So I replaced the Lg Onion with 1 pack of Lipton Onion Soup Mix, stirring it in with the soup mixture. It was delicious!!! Will definitely make again?
This recipe was very disappointing. I followed the recipe exactly & I was expecting it to be creamy & it was VERY liquidy like chicken noodle soup. Wont make this recipe again.
Chicken and noodles is generally soupy, if you watch the video you can see the texture as it should be.
I just made this tonight and it was awesome!!! The husband and the mother-in-law loved it as well! I was surprised how easy it was to make, and the chicken just fell apart when I took it out to shred it! So damn good!! I can’t wait to make it again!