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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Super easy & delicious! My family doesn’t eat onions so I put diced garlic on the bottom of the crock pot. I also didn’t have poultry seasoning so I used onion powder & garlic powder & of course salt & pepper. Will make again!
Is that 5 hrs on high heat?
Yes, Kevin, in step 2, the instructions say to cook on high heat for 5 hours. Enjoy the recipe!
Absolutely AMAZING!!! I rarely ever post reviews, but this recipe is so easy and has such great flavor!! Thank you so much for posting this! Really glad I gave it a try!
You’re so welcome Sara. Thank you for leaving a comment!
The only thing I did different was homemade biscuits and used thighs (both were suggested in recipe notes). Turned out great. Big hit for the whole family of 6
Thanks very much for this recipe – my family loved it. It was very tasty and so easy – exactly as you described. A well deserved 5 stars.
Thank you Bruce, and you are welcome! So glad your family loves this chicken and dumplings recipe!
Can you cut the chicken breasts into squares before adding them to the recipe?
We’ve only made the recipe as written Beittany. Let us know how it works if you try it!
An even quicker way to do chicken n dumplings is to use a rotisserie chicken, shred it up and add it to the pot!
I was thinking the same thing BUT when do you add it to the pot? Will it overcook or not add as much chicken flavor?
Love love love your recipes ❤
❤️❤️Thank you Terri!
Very yummy and easy!
Absolutely delicious and so easy! I will definitely be making this regularly.
Love your recipes, but I don’t own a crockpot. Is there a way to convert recipes for my pressure cooker?
I haven’t tried this in a pressure cooker yet. That being said, if you have a newer electric pressure cooker (such as Instant Pot or similar) most of them have a “slow cooker” setting on it.
This is literally my favorite meal of all time. I make this every year on my birthday and honestly every time I just need to feel good and have a comfort meal. It turns out perfect every single time without fail and I’ve sent this recipe to everyone I know. THANK YOU FOR THIS RECIPE.
Happy Birthday Sarah! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Holly, I made your recipe this evening and absolutely loved it! Thank you!
You’re so welcome Aimee! Happy you loved it!
I misread recipe & added broth to soup mixture rather than pouring it on top. Should I pour some more broth on top? Is there a reason for not mixing all liquids together?
It should be just fine all mixed together.
It says PARSLEY. Is that Italian PARSLEY, or curly PARSLEY?
I typically use Italian parsley, but either will work in this recipe Karen. Enjoy!
Made this for the first time tonight without the veggies and my husband loved it. It was super easy and delicious. We will be making it again. Thanks!
You’re welcome Lindy, so glad that you and your husband love this dish!
This recipe would be good with two crucial changes! Leave out the poultry seasoning! It ruined it! So gross tasting! Second, never cook chicken breasts on high in a slow cooker unless you want dried out rubbery chicken. 3 hours on low is all you need. I cooked on low for 2 hours, then added the biscuits and cooked 1 hour more on high. This would have been really good but sadly the poultry seasoning ruined it. Next time I’ll stick to just salt and pepper.
This recipe is excellent! It’s easy and delicious also I love the fact that the crock pot does all the cooking !!
I plan on making this tomorrow for this first time. I would like to know if I could use pie crusts instead of biscuits for the dumplings.
I haven’t tried this with pie crusts so I’m not sure how it would work.
I love this recipe so much! Definitely a household favorite! Unfortunately, this time around the market I went to I didn’t have cream of celery. Do you know what a good substitute would be? Cream of mushroom or another cream of chicken ?
Any “cream of” will work!
if I double the recipe do I need to add 8 chicken breasts?
If wanting to double the recipe I would recommend you double the chicken as well. If not, the recipe will still be delicious just a little less hearty!
There is NO liquid left in this at the end of the cooking time. What went wrong? Too many biscuits? I did 8… :(