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! Was wondering, if I were to double the recipe, do I have to double all of the ingredients?
To double the recipe, I would double the ingredients Hana.
I’ve made this many times I just as like 3/4 to one cup broth instead I use Italian seasoning and pepper I use fresh carrots at the beginning with onion add corn at the hour end. Also I cook on high four hours sometimes when in a pinch. I use thighs boneless skinless. I added canned mushrooms before with the corn.
My dumplings didn’t cook fully
So had to keep cooking on longer …
but baked some extras Biscuits but in the oven just in case
I dont understand what happened. I followed this recipe to a T and two hours in to cooking my chicken was already cooked and dried out. Any tips?
I have never had that happen before Brittney. Your chicken breasts could have been considerably smaller than ours if they cooked that quickly. Were they fully covered in the soup while cooking? That helps keep them moist as well.
Can you make this on the stovetop with shredded up rotisserie chicken??
That sounds delicious Kristy, I think it should turn out great!
If I didn’t want to use frozen carrots could I use fresh and if so, when should I add them?
Other readers have made this recipe with fresh carrots with great results Tiffany. They add them at the beginning to ensure they have enough time to fully cook.
Chicken and dumplings look yummy.
I’ve made this now twice and we absolutely love it! I’ve passed on the recipe to friends and family who’ve made it as well. I didn’t have poultry seasoning but I do have cream of chicken soup w added herbs which works just fine. It’s a cold windy day here in the east and this will hit the spot tonight. I may add some asparagus tops I need to use before they go bad. Thank you for a heartwarming recipe!
Sorry, but I was disappointed in this recipe. I followed it to a T and the broth/gravy was not creamy like I expect with chicken and dumplings, it was like chicken soup broth. And, no, I didn’t add water or anything to the soup. It seems like there should have been flour added to thicken the gravy. I have photos if you would like to see them.
Hi Holly just wanted you to know that I made your recipe for “chicken and dumplings “.
In these trying times, I find myself looking for something new to make and working with what I have at home. I had a cut up Rotisserie chicken in the freezer and Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchis (instead of dumplings). I used a whole bag of frozen peas and a 1 lb. bag a cut up carrots. I cooked it in oven for an hour at 350. It was wonderful. Thank you
That sounds so delicious Betty! Glad you were able to improvise and still enjoy this yummy dish.
very easy and soo delicious. Chicken was fork tender and lots of flavor. Will be adding this to my personal recipe book for sure
My family loves this recipe! It is so simple and delicious. A couple changes I’ve made: a little less poultry seasoning, 2 cups frozen peas, 1 bag frozen carrots. I didn’t think there were enough vegetables in the original recipe. But, again, it is DELICIOUS!
Can I use canned crescent rolls instead of biscuits?
I haven’t tried it with crescent rolls but that should work! Let us know how it turns out Christina :)
It worked!
I tried with the canned crescent rolls and they didn’t cook all way.
Hi Leila, you could try leaving them in the slow cooker a little longer to cook fully through, or cut them a bit thinner.
Love this recipe. I too had “soggy” dumplings. All I did was place the insert for the crock pot in a 325* oven for 5-10 minutes and no more soggy dumplings.
Very good recipies!!!!
I love this recipe but if I don’t have a whole hour for the biscuits can I cut the pieces smaller and let them go for about 30 min instead?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. As another option, you could bake them in the oven and stir them into the mixture for about 10 minutes before serving so they soften up.
A nice & easy dish, but the dumplings in the photo don’t look as though they came out of a can. They look homemade.
They are Pillsbury from a can.
I love this recipe! I’ve made it probably 6 times now, and I’ve got one batch in the crock as I type! Thanks so much for the recipe, it’s a delicious staple in my winter recipe rotation!
Delicious and easy!! WIll use this recipe every time!
oh my goodness this was simply amazing!!!