Gluten Free Chicken and Dumplings

Learn how to make delicious, gluten-free chicken and dumplings from scratch, so you can enjoy classic comfort food. Perfect for our friends and family with celiac disease!

If you know me, you probably know that my husband has celiac disease. It was a food allergy I’d only seen one other time before we met, so it felt a little like being thrown into the deep end when I suddenly found myself changing the way I cook.

Almost all of my favorite comfort foods included wheat, and my husband is a fairly picky eater, so I had to learn how to make really good gluten-free substitutes pretty quickly.

Thankfully, we have a lot of gluten-free resources now, so finding gluten free products (like flour blends) to make those delicious gluten free dishes is a lot easier than it was back then.

Ingredients for Gluten Free Chicken and Dumplings

This is going to be very similar to chicken noodle soup – we’re just replacing noodles with dumplings.

• Chicken. It’s nice to use bone-in, skin-on chicken to make a good broth. I used a split chicken breast here, but if you prefer dark meat, chicken thighs or leg quarters are a good choice.
• Bay leaves, thyme, salt, and black pepper for flavor
• Onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and mushrooms for flavor, texture, and nutrition
• Butter for sautéing the vegetables
• Milk and cornstarch to add at the end to thicken and enrich the broth
• Flour, baking powder, salt, egg, and milk to make the dumplings.

What kind of gluten-free flour to use

There are a lot of flour mixes to choose from these days. My favorite throughout the years has been this homemade gluten-free flour blend. Since I can’t find roasted corn flour anymore, I replace it with sweet white sorghum flour.

A lot of folks also like to use my inexpensive gluten-free flour mix version. It is cheaper to make, especially if you have a grain mill, but if I can afford to, I’d rather not use that much rice.

For store-bought mixes, Pillsbury all purpose mix is pretty good, but can be a little gummy if you’re not careful.

I really like Pamela’s baking mix for making gluten free dumplings, as it’s a little less starch heavy. King Arthur’s all purpose gluten-free flour mix is also really good.

What are Dumplings? 

Different cultures have different types of dumplings, but here in the south of the United States, it basically means a cross between biscuit, and egg noodle dough, boiled in broth. 

This is a lot easier than rolling out noodles (though we do love making gluten-free egg noodles!), and less time consuming than cutting butter into biscuit dough. This dumplings recipe is easier than both, and adds some variety to traditional chicken soup. 

Substitutions and changes

There’s a a lot of room to add elements of your favorite chicken soup or stew to this recipe. The main parts that need to stay consistent is the dumpling dough, and the amount of broth so the dumplings have space to cook.

• Change the herbs. I use mainly thyme in this recipe, but there’s no reason you can’t use your favorites. Basil is really good, and so is rosemary.
• Make it dairy-free. Just use more chicken broth to mix your cornstarch in at the end, instead of milk, and use oil instead of butter to sauté your veggies.
• Add different vegetables. You could substitute some of the specified vegetables for things like peas, corn, or other vegetables you like, keeping the overall quantity roughly the same.

How to make gluten free chicken and dumplings

1. Add chicken, bay leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper to an 4 quart pot, and cover with about 6 cups of water
   
2. Bring to a simmer, and cook for about 30-45 minutes until the chicken is tender, and done through
3. Remove from heat, and remove chicken and herbs from the pot. Set chicken aside to cool, and toss herbs. If you prefer, you can strain the broth through a cheesecloth to remove any stray pieces of herb.
4. In a large skillet, melt butter, and add onion, celery, and carrot.
5. Sauce, stirring occasionally until vegetables are somewhat softened, and onions are translucent
   
6. Add garlic and mushrooms, and sauté for another minute
7. While vegetables sauté, debone and chop chicken, and add it back to the broth
8. Add vegetables to the broth, and heat to a simmer
   
9. While soup is heating, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt
10. Make a well in the center and add the egg
11. Whisk egg, then add milk, and stir it all together
    
12. Drop by the tablespoon into simmering broth, stirring now and again as needed to make room for more dumplings
13. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes, until dumplings are done through
    
14. Stir corn start into 1 cup of milk, and stir into soup
15. Stir until soup is thickened
16. Remove from heat and serve

What to do with leftovers

This is actually a great recipe to double or triple for leftovers to reheat for a quick dinner.

Once the soup has cooled, Put it in an airtight container such as one of these rubbermaid containers, or, my favorite, mason jars, and store in the refrigerator for up to five days.

Reheat by putting into a saucepan, and heating over low-to-medium heat, stirring frequently until heated through.

Other recipes you’ll love

• Gluten Free spinach Egg Noodles
• Instant Pot Chicken Soup
• Gluten Free Chicken noodle soup
• Gluten-Free Mac N Cheese (in one pot)
• Gluten-Free Cornbread

 

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