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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Instead of having to prepare biscuits you can use dumpling strips which are found in the freezer section in most supermarkets. All you do with these is just drop them in and they come out great. They taste great too. I like using these because they are flat and thin (I hate fat globs of dumplings)! They would probably require a little less cooking time too.
Do you think you could use Cresent roll dough?
Is it a totally bad thing if I already threw my peas and carrots and biscuit in already?
I’m not sure how much cooking time you have left but if it’s a long time, the biscuits could potentially overcook.
Not sure what poultry seasoning is. Is there a substitute? Thanks. Gonna make this tomorrow.
Poultry seasoning is a spice blend which should be readily available in the spice aisle (or bulk area if you would just like to purchase a little bit). I do make it at home combining the following:
4 teaspoons ground sage, 3 teaspoons ground thyme, 1 teaspoon ground marjoram, 2 teaspoon ground rosemary, 1⁄8 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon white pepper
This was a hit with my family. Great recipe.
So glad they loved it Jean!
My husband made this for dinner the other night and it is so yummy! Perfect meal for chilly days! It also heats up really well for lunches.
I’m so glad you loved it Staci! I agree, it reheats really well!!
Made it last night. It was amazing! Definitely going to add into the crockpot rotation this winter.
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe, Melanie. It’s one of my favorites!
What I feel you shred the chicken and add back BEFORE adding dumplings to avoid breaking them up?
I made the Crock pot Chicken and Dumplings and it was a hit! Very tasty!
So glad you enjoyed it Christine!
When I was a child, I watched my mother cook dumplings. She made a soft biscuit dough, and instead of rolling it out , she put spoonfuls of the dough in the bubbling liquid. She didn’t like the boiled chicken, but put dumplings in things like butterbeans, gumbo soup,. Etc. Gerri
Yum, those are definitely some of the very best memories.
BTW type recipes are super easy and tasty!!qquestion regarding chicken and dumplings
How long to cook if I used left over already cooked chicken
I would just cook the chicken about an hour before adding the dumplings to blend the flavors. (And an additional hour after adding them).
In the crockpot only another hour to go, smells yummy. Thanks for the great recipe.
I made this last night! Only, I did it a quick way. (Since I didn’t have time to do the slow cooker method). I used all the recommended ingredients, but I substituted a COOKED rotisserie chicken that I bought from the store. I shredded the chicken…sautéed the onion. Then I put everything in a large pot, except the biscuits. I simmered it for 25 minutes and added the biscuits…cooked it another hour…and bam! Delicious!
Leftovers tonight! (I am definitely going to make some of your other recipes!)
Keep them coming! Sabrina
Sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing Sabrina!
thank you..i just asked a question about precooked chicken…i am going to follow what u did..
Hi Holly!
This looks AMAZING! 1 question – can I replace the cream of celery soup with another cream of chicken or cream of mushroom? We are strictly organic and having a tough time finding an organic cream of celery version.
Thanks so much!!
I think two cream of chicken would work great in this recipe. (You may like to add a little bit of chopped celery in with the onion to add the celery flavor). Enjoy!
Great recipe. A few changes I made to make it easier – I use frozen chicken tenderloins and cream of mushroom soup (instead of cream of celery). I also used a frozen bag of carrots, celery and onion mixture instead of mixed vegetables. I don’t have time to chop an onion. LOL! I also shredded the chicken in the crock pot before I added the biscuits and veggies for that final hour of cooking. Yummy, yummy! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
So glad you loved it Stacy! Thank you for sharing your ideas, the mixed veggies with onion would be great in this recipe!
The recipe is in the crockpot cooking . I will give feedback after we eat tonight ! Looks yummy already
Enjoy Lisa!
can the chicken be precooked and if so at what point would you add everything togther?
For the biscuits, do you cut each of the 8 biscuits into 4 strips? Do you lay them on top of chicken mixture or stir in? Thanks!!
Yes, each biscuit is cut into 4 strips. I gently stir them in (although they will still float).
I only have a 4 quart crock pot. It looks like I have room for the dumplings but don’t know if they will cook properly. Should I cook half of them separately in some boiling chicken stock?
I have only tried this as written so I can’t say for sure. They definitely do puff up in the crock pot. If you cook them completely in the 4 qt slow cooker, you may need to stir part way and/or add a little bit of additional cooking time.
How did it go with the 4 quart crock pot?? Deciding whether to cut the recipe in half or not.
I need to cook this for a total of 80 people. Do you think it can be cooked in a roaster too? I have three roasters that are bigger than my slow cookers. Please advise. The servings say 4 but I am going to serve over potatoes. I am assuming I can get 6-8 servings. Thoughts?
I’m sorry, I have only tried this recipe as written so I can’t say for sure. You may like to try a smaller portion in a roaster to see how it works out for you.
Can this be done using a pressure cooker to speed it up?
I’m sorry, I have only tried this recipe as written so I can’t say for sure. I’d love to hear how it works out for you if you do try it!
Good food
These recipes look so good, I would love to get them