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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So easy, quick and family loved it!
Can you cook on low for 8 hrs & get the same effect?
While I haven’t tried it, many readers have cooked this one on low for 7-8 hours successfully. You may need extra time for the dumplings or I might suggest baking them and adding them to the broth 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
This recipe was good but when I made it, there wasn’t much liquid left by the time it was all done cooking and it was all kind of dry. Nothing like the video and pictures of yours and I followed the recipe exactly. I would like to make it again but would you recommend adding more condensed soup or chicken broth?
Oh no, I haven’t had that issue but you could definitely add some extra chicken broth to help it stay moist.
I made this dinner tonight but I changed it a little, I did not make it in the crockpot, I made it on my stove top. I browned the chicken breasts for 3 minutes and each side, than I browned the onions, added the chicken breasts on top of them, than mixed all of the soups,spices and chicken broth together. I added no extra salt and used a 30% less sodium chicken broth, I did not find it too salty. I was reading the comments and was prepared to add a little bit of water if I had to. I also cooked the biscuits in the oven as I was reading the comments and a lot of people were complaining that that biscuits weren’t cooking and were still very doughy after a few hours, that sounds like to me that I will not like the consistency of those dumplings, so o baked the biscuits instead. My older daughter kept on going mmmmmmmmmm!! Thank you so very much for the recipe! 10/10 I will make again.
I don’t have cream of celery at home, could cream of mushroom be an okay sub?
Absolutely! Enjoy Anne!
I’ve never care for these because I couldn’t get passed the doughy and uncooked taste of the biscuits. But I decided to try this recipe and the only thing I did different was cook my biscuits in the air fryer they were golden brown on the bottom. I put them in the crockpot for the last hour. My family and I loved it. My son said I need to make this more often.
did you flatten and cut them before the air fryer?
So easy and so good! One of my families new favorite meals!
When do you add broth?
Hi Diane, if you scroll down to the recipe at the bottom of the post, the recipe card indicates that the broth is added in step 2. I hope that helps!
Absolutely delicious!
This could be served in restaurants,its soooo good!!!
As a single dad,its super ez to toss together in the morning,and by the rime my son and I get in,theres a crockpot of deliciousness awaiting us!!
Is there a way I can make a freezer meal out of this?
I haven’t tried freezing this recipe (before biscuits) however many readers have had success freezing this recipe. Let us know how it goes if you try it!
I plan on making this today but realized I didn’t have any condensed soup can I use cornstarch and water would that have the same outcome?
I have only made this recipe as written so I can’t say for sure Heather, but I worry it would lack flavor that way.
Can I roll the biscuts into little balls instead like actual dumplings? Will they cook the same?
The biscuits need to be rolled thin to cook properly so I don’t know if little balls would work Angela. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
thats good to know that the recipe can be reduced. Did you cook it in a smaller Croc Pot?
For optimal cooking your slow cooker should be between one-half and two-thirds full. So depending on how much you are reducing the recipe you may need to use a smaller crock pot to accommodate that.
I try this with 4 pounds of chicken. did not go well. I am looking to redo this in my crotch pot. then add the dumplings
For this recipe we use 4 chicken breasts which would weigh between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds. If using that much chicken you would need to double this recipe and it may require a larger crockpot to accommodate it. I hope that helps!
My go to!
This recipe was so easy and really delicious!
Any idea how leftovers will reheat next day?
This recipe reaheats well!
Fun fact: you can half this, have a great meal & 2 lunches afterwards! Cooked it with 2 breast’s & half everything else. Put it on high for 1 1/2 hours, then biscuits & veggies, came out perfectly for 2 people! Definitely in our comfort food rotation.
Very good recipe. My entire family cleaned their plate plates!! This one is going in the recipe box!
I put the biscuits in for a hour and a half and they still weren’t done. any suggestions?
The texture of the biscuits should not be the same as a biscuit, the texture will be more like a soft dumpling — tender and a bit wet.! They cook right in the broth and soak up the flavor as they steam. If they were quite doughy, I’d recommend keeping the slow cooker on high and letting them cook longer. Each time you open the slow cooker, it releases heat and can take quite a while to come back up to temperature so when checking, I’d recommend to check them quickly.
They all look very good, I’m a chicken and dumplings person bad, so I’m going to try yours out.