Chicken soup. The ultimate comfort food. Who doesn’t love it?
Chickens, I guess.
When my last experience with dumplings was less than stellar, I vowed to show what a good dumpling is. After the boasting, and mocking of said previous dumplings, I had to be sure mine were good.
I used Small Town Woman’s recipe as my inspiration, with some adaptations.
In my kitchen, no recipe is ever exactly the same.
In fact, most of the time I’m making it up as I go along.
This recipe was inspired by: the need to show up inferior dumplings, and the desire to use stuff up out of the fridge
JD’s Chicken and Dump-it-all-in Soup
“These dumplings are way better than mine” – Kyle
Prep Time
30-60 minutes
Cook Time
~1 hour
Serves
≧2
Equipment
- 1 large pot
- A stirring implement such as a wooden spoon
- Smaller scooping implements for tasting (spoons recommended)
- 1 stovetop or alternative heat source
- Medium mixing bowl
- Amateur Advice: always get a bigger bowl than you think you need
- Knives for chopping, etc.
Ingredients
for Soup:
- a big blob of olive oil
- a few green onions, chopped, just the green bits. Save the ends to grow in your window herb garden
- a jalapeno, chopped
- a withered serrano pepper, chopped
- a couple long carrots, chopping into moons and half moons
- ~1.5 Cups leftover pork juice/brine/broth
- yogurt container with frozen broth in it
- fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary from the window herbs
- Some raisins
- 1 small containers worth of Chaeban feta brine
- some baby spinach, chopped
- The vacuum packed chicken breasts from the freezer
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
for Dumplings based on Small Town Woman’s recipe:
- 1 cup flour (I used Cloud 9 gluten free 1:1 substitute)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- The rest of that mostly used block of butter
- Leftover chopped green onions from Easter
- The rest of the container of sour cream left over from making Sheldo’s delightful coffee cake
- The chunks of soft feta that were left in the Chaeban container
If for some reason you don’t have
the exact leftovers in my fridge you can substitute
different vegetables, broth options,
and cheese choices to your liking.
OR!
For measurements and a grocery gambit
jump to the recipe at the end of the post
~8 bits to a bucking good soup!
Casual Counsel: It’s always best to prep all your ingredients before if you want to be efficient. I like to weave tasks together. But I recommend the mise en place for less misery.
Start with soup
1
Aromatics activate! ⋆｡°✩
In the large pot on the stove, heat the olive oil on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until it’s hot¹.
↪Toss in the chopped peppers and stir em around
↪Chop the carrots while peppers cook and maybe even brown a little. Stir the peppers
↪ Chop the green onions if you didn’t already
↪Add the chopped green onions and stir it all
Let this cook a little while picking herbs
2
MORE FLAVOR
Spend too long picking herbs from the window garden and almost burn the onions and peppers. Stir some more.
↪ Toss in the carrots and stir ’em up!
↪ Add a splash of lime juice and a blob more of olive oil.
↪ Stir ’em around, coating everything and scraping any burnt bits off the bottom.
↪ Add the herbs and stir ’em around.
Cook for a minute or so
3
It’s broth time, baby,
↪ Add the pork broth
↪ Add the frozen chicken broth
↪Add the feta brine if using
↪ You can throw in the raisins now, or at any point through step 7. The sooner you add them the plumper they shall be ⋆｡°✩
↪ Cover pot with lid until the liquid starts bubbling (if bubbling before you’re ready for step 7: stir it, replace the lid, turn down the heat slightly so it continues to gently bubble)
Downtime is for dumplings
4
Mission critical crumb making
Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in mixing bowl.
↪ Using your hands if you can stand it, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like course crumbs. A pastry cutter works acceptably too.
4.5
Also cook the chicken if you didn’t already!
I accidentally mostly cooked it by defrosting it in the microwave inside the vacuum seal bag.²
Toss in a heated frying pan with some olive oil and paprika until it finished cooking. Break it up with an implement such as a spatula or flipper
5
Dough ballin’
Add the chopped green onions, they can just hang out for a sec
↪Plop in the cheese, and scrape the rest of the sour cream container into the bowl.
↪Mix ’em up until a cohesive dough ball forms
Let that bask in its glory for a sec while you throw other stuff in the pot first
Soup the second
6
Add almost everything
Taste the soup! Does it need more salt or better? Add it now
↪Chop the spinach if you didn’t already
↪Add spinach to pot
↪Last chance for raisins. Do it they’re delicious ⋆｡°✩
↪ Add the chicken
If you feel like there isn’t enough liquid, now is the time to add it.
↪Cover and bring back up to simmering
7
Drop the dumps
Roll the dumplings into ~1 inch balls and drop them in the simmering soup
↪Cover and let dumplings cook for ~11-14 minutes. Can check for doneness by cutting one in half to see if they’re fluffy or squidgy.
Congratulations!
8
Soup ‘sup
Ladle into big bowls and eat with big spoons for best results. Careful buddy, it’s hot.
Refrigerate the leftovers if you want to eat them later.
- 1it’ll sizzle
- 2unrecommended
Nutritional information:
Exact information will depend on your specific ingredients and quantities.
This has so many vegetables and they’re filled with healthy alphabets like vitamins like K, B, C. Plus iron, calcium, and more! Carrots have beta-carotine which is like the next version of carrots.
Chicken and cheese add protein for fullness and yum. And the dumplings are so buttery and delightful you wont even notice how much nutrition you’re getting!
Query:
Can’t I just throw everything in at once!?
You can! (mostly!) It won’t be as tasty because adding ingredients at specific moments builds layers of flavor and texture. Either way, make sure to get the soup a’bubblin’ before dumping in the dumplings.
Recipe Legend
~
about, approximately. If you use a little less or a little more, the end result will not significantly change.
≧
greater than or equal to; before or up to
∓
plus or minus; add or subtract for variance
ml
millilitres
oz
fluid ounces; ~70ml
tsp
teaspoon; ~5ml
tbsp
tablespoon; ~15ml
cup
~250ml, 8 oz
JD’s Chicken and Dump-it-all-in Soup
“These dumplings are way better than mine” – Kyle
Prep Time
30-60 minutes
Cook Time
~1 hour
Serves
≧2
Equipment
- 1 large pot
- A stirring implement such as a wooden spoon
- Smaller scooping implements for tasting (spoons recommended)
- 1 stovetop or alternative heat source
- Medium mixing bowl
- Amateur Advice: always get a bigger bowl than you think you need
- Knives for chopping, etc.
Ingredients
for Soup:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 large green onions, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, chopped
- 1 Serrano pepper, chopped
- 2 long carrots, chopping into moons and half moons
- ~6 cups chicken broth
- ~2 tsp each fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary (or dried in a pinch)
- ~1/4 cup raisins
- ~3/4 cup or 1 small containers worth Chaeban feta brine (or your favorite brand)
- 2 cups baby spinach, chopped
- 2 chicken breasts or 4 chicken thighs
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
for Dumplings based on Small Town Woman’s recipe:
- 1 cup flour (I used Cloud 9 gluten free 1:1 substitute)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- ~1/4 cup butter
- ~1 tbsp chopped green onions
- ~1/2 cup sour cream (use the rest of the container to make Sheldo’s delightful coffee cake)
- 1/4 cup (soft) feta
If for some reason you don’t have
the exact leftovers in my fridge you can substitute
different vegetables, broth options,
and cheese choices to your liking.
OR!
For suggestions in lieu of measurements,
jump to the recipe at the beginning of the post
~8 bits to a bucking good soup!
Casual Counsel: It’s always best to prep all your ingredients before if you want to be efficient. I like to weave tasks together. But I recommend the mise en place for less misery.
Start with soup
1
Aromatics activate! ⋆｡°✩
In the large pot on the stove, heat the olive oil on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until it’s hot¹.
↪Toss in the chopped peppers and stir em around
↪Chop the carrots while peppers cook and maybe even brown a little. Stir the peppers
↪ Chop the green onions if you didn’t already
↪Add the chopped green onions and stir it all
Let this cook a little while picking herbs
2
MORE FLAVOR
Spend too long picking herbs from the window garden and almost burn the onions and peppers. Stir some more.
↪ Toss in the carrots and stir ’em up!
↪ Add a splash of lime juice and a blob more of olive oil.
↪ Stir ’em around, coating everything and scraping any burnt bits off the bottom.
↪ Add the herbs and stir ’em around.
Cook for a minute or so
3
It’s broth time, baby,
↪ Add the pork broth
↪ Add the frozen chicken broth
↪Add the feta brine if using
↪ You can throw in the raisins now, or at any point through step 7. The sooner you add them the plumper they shall be ⋆｡°✩
↪ Cover pot with lid until the liquid starts bubbling (if bubbling before you’re ready for step 7: stir it, replace the lid, turn down the heat slightly so it continues to gently bubble)
Downtime is for dumplings
4
Mission critical crumb making
Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in mixing bowl.
↪ Using your hands if you can stand it, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like course crumbs. A pastry cutter works acceptably too.
4.5
Also cook the chicken if you didn’t already!
I accidentally mostly cooked it by defrosting it in the microwave inside the vacuum seal bag.²
Toss in a heated frying pan with some olive oil and paprika until it finished cooking. Break it up with an implement such as a spatula or flipper
5
Dough ballin’
Add the chopped green onions, they can just hang out for a sec
↪Plop in the cheese, and scrape the rest of the sour cream container into the bowl.
↪Mix ’em up until a cohesive dough ball forms
Let that bask in its glory for a sec while you throw other stuff in the pot first
Soup the second
6
Add almost everything
Taste the soup! Does it need more salt or better? Add it now
↪Chop the spinach if you didn’t already
↪Add spinach to pot
↪Last chance for raisins. Do it they’re delicious ⋆｡°✩
↪ Add the chicken
If you feel like there isn’t enough liquid, now is the time to add it.
↪Cover and bring back up to simmering
7
Drop the dumps
Roll the dumplings into ~1 inch balls and drop them in the simmering soup
↪Cover and let dumplings cook for ~11-14 minutes. Can check for doneness by cutting one in half to see if they’re fluffy or squidgy.
Congratulations!
8
Soup ‘sup
Ladle into big bowls and eat with big spoons for best results. Careful buddy, it’s hot.
Refrigerate the leftovers if you want to eat them later.
- 1it’ll sizzle
- 2unrecommended
Nutritional information:
Exact information will depend on your specific ingredients and quantities.
This has so many vegetables and they’re filled with healthy alphabets like vitamins like K, B, C. Plus iron, calcium, and more! Carrots have beta-carotine which is like the next version of carrots.
Chicken and cheese add protein for fullness and yum. And the dumplings are so buttery and delightful you wont even notice how much nutrition you’re getting!
Searching to simply savor the succulent simmering?
Credits to: Nightcafe; Healthline.com; Small Town Woman