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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Could you cut up the chicken breasts into cubes before putting in the crock pot?
I think that would work just fine, I have only tried it as written.
Have you ever made this and then refrigerated it? I need to make this tonight for a dinner tomorrow around 4pm. I was wondering if you’ve made it before and then reheated it the next day in the crockpot. Thanks in advance!
I apologize for the late reply. I have reheated this recipe but not in the slow cooker. It does reheat well.
I am planning to make this over the weekend to have for dinners all week. I am a single gal and typicall ymake large batch recipes for meal prep. If i make this accordning to plan, will the biscuits get extremely soggy as it sits in the fridge over the course of the week? Thinking of using slightly less broth…. any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!
The biscuits are soft from the broth (not crisp). You could also cook the biscuits separately and combine them when reheating if you’d prefer.
The broth creates the sauce which is great served over the biscuits. Enjoy!
I have a 5 qt. crockpot and was wondering if you knew how much I should cut this recipe down?
This looks great, do the leftovers freeze well?
I haven’t tried freezing this but many readers have successfully frozen this recipe.
Hi Holly, Desperate to make this, but I get stuck on the dumpling part of the recipe. Here in Australia, I don’t seem to be able to find a similar type of brand (or type), plus me being male doesn’t help either.
I have looked at making fresh dumplings but am not sure how or when you would add them to the slow cooker? Also, could noodles of some type be substituted to make this process easier for me? Cheers!
I have a recipe here that uses homemade dumplings but I haven’t tried them in the slow cooker before.
One reader had let me know that she’d used gnocchi with great results so that might be worth a try! Another option would be fresh egg noodles if you have access to them (not dried egg noodles) which take about 60-90 minutes in the slow cooker.
Thanks Holly, I will give your dumplings recipe a try.
Do you think I can do 7 hours on low and get the same or similar results? I am trying to cook it overnight and not have to wake up at 3:30am to finish the last hour steps 5:30am seems a little more reasonable with my schedule lol. Maybe turn it to high for the last hour? Just picking your brain, let me know what you think.
I haven’t tried it Dez, but it could work! Let us know how it goes!
This recipe came out so good that I made it TWICE this week! The first time – I followed the recipe exactly and loved it. The second time – I doubled the cream of chicken & celery and used an entire 32 oz carton of chicken broth to get a really broth-y soup, and again it was delicious. Perfect recipe for this cold front that just blew in!
So glad you loved it Amy! Thank you for your tip!
Not sure why this recipe calls for 2 cups of broth…should be way less than that. This came out as a soup not how the video or pictures makes it look if you use this much.
2 cups is exactly what was used in the photo and the video of this recipe. If you watch at 0:23 in the video you can see it’s a 2 cup liquid measuring cup filled with broth.
I used 2 cups of broth and mine turned out the exact consistency shown in the video and pictures. Was not at all soupy.
Absolutely, positively delicious! We were fighting over seconds! I will say it was torture waiting for it to be done….the whole house smelled heavenly! It was so easy! I used dried parsley and 3 large chicken breasts. I also slightly flattened the biscuits and used kitchen shears to cut them into fourths.
We have soup Sunday’s during the football season and this is now officially in the rotation!
Thank you!
I’m so glad your family loved this as much as mine Michele!
I rolled mine out with a pastry roller and used a pizza cutter to swiftly cut into strips.
I am so happy that I found this recipe! It is so easy to make and is delicious :) I only use 2 chicken breast because I thought 4 was too much. Sometimes I use dried parsley if I don’t have fresh. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes :)
I’m making this now but I cut the chicken in cubes before starting the crock pot. Should I adjust cooking time to less than 5 hours?
I can’t say for sure as I’ve only made it as written. Let us know how it goes!
This recipe is going into the saved folder! I made it exactly as written. After dinner, I couldn’t wait for lunch so I could eat more of it. Amazing!
I’m so glad you loved it!
I have made this a hundred times it’s delicious. I have never used frozen chicken though and I have looked and looked for a comment on frozen chicken, will I be able to do this and just increase cooking time?
While I haven’t made it with frozen chicken, I’m sure it would work just fine! The increase in cook time will be very minimal, maybe an extra hour. Let us know how it goes!
I saw in an earlier comment that gnocchi would work. When would you add it in and for how long would you let it cook in the crock pot?
I haven’t tried it but I’d think it would take about 30 minutes or so! Let us know how it goes.
Thank you so much for your quick reply…..we will definently let you know how it goes.
I have made recipes with gnocchi in the crock pot before. The results were inconsistent, so I always pre-cook the gnocchi on the stovetop. Only takes a few minutes, but worth the extra effort!
Hello, I would love to make this but in less time. Could you give me any advice in what i can do to make it faster? I am planning on cutting up the chicken breast. Thank you!
I’ve only made this as written, you could try it on the stovetop. Let us know how it goes.
What if you forget to thaw vegetables?
I suggest that you run them under water to make sure they are defrosted before adding them in. Otherwise this may impact the cooking time.
Lovely and delicious recipe. Can I use vegetable broth on it?
I’m sure that would work just fine.
Just made this! Didn’t have the poultry seasoning so used Adobe seasoning. My house smells amazing. Just waiting the last 30 mins. Biscuits don’t seem to be rising. But smells amazing.
Im planning on making this before I leave for work, I work a 6-7 hour shift and no one will be home so start it a few hours in or take it off early and add the biscuits, do you have any recommendations or an approximate cooking time I could do on low while I’m gone all day?
This recipe should be cooked for 5 hours on high, or 8-10 hours on low!
My slow cooker had the chicken done at 180 degrees after only 6 hours on low!
Is the 640 calories per serving or for the entire dish?
Nutritional information is per serving.
Do you know how much is considered one serving? One cup? Or more maybe?
Serving size is approximately 2 cups or so. Enjoy Jenna!