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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Great recipe. Something I realized is this can also be used for the filling in pot pies.
Another little trick for shredding chicken breast, depending on how well you want your chicken shredded, if you want chunky pieces or prefer finely shredded, but for me it’s a lot easier and faster to use my electric hand mixer to shred the chicken. It only takes two or three minutes literally to shred all the chicken that way. I would imagine this would also work great for shredded beef or pork.
Great tip, thank you for sharing!
So good! Any easy, thanks!
Holly, I just made this recipe, slow cooker and chicken dumplings. So easy to make and delicious! Thank you for also submitting nutritional facts too. I’m so happy I found your site, Spendwithpennies! Healthy meals are what I’m looking for and I have several of great ones I’m going to try.
Delicious I made one crockpot for my husband and I. And my son wanted his own so 2 crockpots on countertop
Just sitting down to this….excellent. I used fresh carrots and a couple of potatoes layered over the onion. I prefer summer savoury to poultry seasoning. Absolutely delicious.
Can I use canned crescent rolls? That’s all I have and I am snowed in!
I haven’t tried it but I think it would work fine. Let us know how it goes!
I’m looking forward to making this. I must admit that this is the first time I copied all the text instead of just the ingredients and directions. You made it very enticing with your notes and asides. Thanks!
I am glad you enjoyed the recipe! Let me know how it turns out!
Made this for dinner tonight. Easy and delicious! Will definitely make again
Yay! Enjoy Pamela!
Was all ready to make this tomorrow. Had everything I needed but the 4 chicken breasts. Well the hubby shopper just announced he bought “STRIPS” and not the WHOLE BREASTS! I feel that the strip will cook faster than the whole breasts therefore throwing off my cooking times…CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH THIS, PLEASE???
DEPRESSED IN TEXAS
Many readers have had success with chicken tenders. While I haven’t tried it, I wouldn’t think you would need to change the cooking time.
My husband did the same and bought chicken breast tender strips and it worked out absolutely fine. Having it again for dinner tonight. Yum yum.
Love this recipe!! So easy and worked perfectly. Great for third shift.
I work for a group home that has three very different clients with different tastes and they all loved this recipe
That’s so great to hear Kelly!
Is there any substitution for the cream of celery? Nobody in my household can stand the smell/taste/texture of celery.
Thanks
John, it would work with whichever cream soup you prefer.
What is the serving size in this recipe? I’ve made it several times and it is delicious. We have it at least 2 times and don’t finish the full batch.
Serving size is approximately 2 cups or so
Would the cooking time change if I use chicken tenders instead of breasts?
Many readers have had success with chicken tenders. While I haven’t tried it, I wouldn’t think you would need to change the cooking time.
This is an easy and super delicious recipe. I actually used cream of broccoli soup (because it was what I had on hand) and it was wonderful! When (not if) I make this again, I may play around with the vegetables.
I did not have an onion so I used onion flakes — lots — seemed to work just fine.
Tried this recipe tonight and it was terrific on a cold Midwestern day. I used boneless, skinless thighs that were still a bit frozen when I started and used cream of mushroom instead of cream of celery because I had it on hand. I did add some celery salt to my chicken stock to keep the flavor. Also, I cooked it for about an hour and twenty minutes after adding the biscuits because they were layered and I was afraid they wouldn’t cook completely – they did. Lastly, I held about half the vegetables until I shredded the chicken so they wouldn’t be over cooked. All in all it was a great and easy recipe, I will definitely make it again.
So glad you loved it! Thank you for sharing your tips!
This is a fantastic recipe and I will share it with others and make it again. 5 stars for sure
Mine didn’t come out with any liquid at all. The meat was juicy and the veggies and dumplings were good..but it’s like the soup and broth evaporated or was a packed way into the chicken . That. Was upsetting.
Wonderful meal! Have made it twice now and the rave reviews keep coming. Its my go-to Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings meal. My husband loves the dumplings – and I bake another batch of biscuits to go with this. Making it again today and substituting boneless skinless thighs for the chicken breasts it should taste equally good!
For future reference – you defrost refrigerators, but you THAW frozen food. Defrosting implies frost, the enemy of food in a freezer.
Dictionary definition. See #3:
de·frost
dēˈfrôst/
verb
1. free (the interior of a refrigerator) of accumulated ice, usually by turning it off for a period.
2. (of a refrigerator) become free of accumulated ice in this way.
“she opened the door to let the fridge defrost”
3. thaw (frozen food) before cooking it.
“defrost the turkey slowly”