Chicken and Dumplings with Butter

Serves 6 in about 6 hours. The slow cooker brings ribs celery and flour together.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 3 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless (about 1 ½ lbs)
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon sage (rubbed, dried)
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 4" sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon parsley, dried
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup*
• 2 ½ cups chicken broth, low sodium
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Method

1. Tip in the onion, celery, and carrots to the crock, then lay the chicken breasts on top.
2. Stir in the garlic, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, rosemary, and parsley.
3. In a mixing bowl, stir together the chicken soup and broth, then pour it over the chicken and seasonings.
4. Set the lid on and cook on High for 2-3 hours, or until the chicken is 165°F internal temperature.
5. While chicken is cooking, prepare the dumplings so you have them ready. See instructions in Notes below.
6. Try to keep the lid on as much as possible while doing the next steps.
7. After 3 hours on High, take out the chicken and shred or dice it. keep it nearby.
8. Stir flour and butter together thoroughly and stir into the soup mixture in the crock. Tip in the chicken meat back in and stir again.
9. Stir in the dumplings.Homemade: Drop heaping teaspoonfuls into the broth (not too large as they need to cook through, and they expand).Biscuits: Add the sliced or whole biscuits into the broth and gently stir to distribute them, or leave them on top (they will cook better on top if they are not rolled flat. Flat ones can be stirred in).
10. Replace the lid and cook another 60 to 90 minutes, or until dumplings are done.
11. For the canned biscuits use 1 jumbo tube of 6 biscuits. You can leave them whole, or cut them into smaller pieces.
12. Or roll each one flat and cut into 6 equal slices (you can cut those strips in half if you want smaller dumplings). Do this to all 6 biscuits and keep it nearby in a bowl.
13. Mix in the milk (and chives, if using) and combine, until just moistened. keep it nearby.

More slow cooker ideas are in the slow cooker collection.