One-Pot Spiced Chicken & Dumplings
Chicken and fluffy sage dumplings in a creamy salsa verde stew with poblanos, cheddar and bacon. A blanket you can eat.
Ingredients
- 6 slicethick-cut baconchopped
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cupchopped celeryfrom 2 stalks
- 2poblano peppersseeded and chopped
- 2shallotsthinly sliced
- 2 tbspfresh thyme leaves
- Fine pink Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lbbonelessskinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 6 cuplow-sodium chicken brothplus more as needed
- 2 cupmilk of your choice
- ¾ cupsalsa verde
- 2 tspbaking powder
- 1 tbspchopped fresh sageplus fresh sage leaves for serving
- 1 cupshredded white cheddar cheese
- Thinly sliced green onionfor serving
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven over medium, cook the bacon, stirring now and then, until crisp and the fat has rendered, 5 to 6 minutes. Move it with a slotted spoon to a paper towel–lined plate. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. Guard that bacon. It has a way of disappearing before dinner.
- With the pot still over medium, stir in ¼ cup of the flour until smooth, then add the celery, poblanos, shallots and thyme with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the flour is worked in and the vegetables start to soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the chicken, broth, 1 cup of the milk and the salsa verde, and season again. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil, then lower to medium-low and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 18 to 20 minutes, adding more broth if needed. Move the chicken to a cutting board and shred it with two forks.
- Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1½ cups flour, the baking powder, sage and a pinch each of salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the remaining 1 cup milk and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. Lumpy batter makes fluffy dumplings. Smooth batter makes hockey pucks.
- Stir the cheddar into the pot, raise the heat to medium and bring it to a gentle boil. Working quickly, drop in heaping tablespoons of dough. Cover and cook until the dumplings are puffy and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Lid on. No peeking. The steam is what puffs them.
- Return the shredded chicken to the pot. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
- Divide among bowls and top with the bacon, sage and green onions.
Kitchen's closed Dumplings drink up the broth overnight. Add a splash of broth when you reheat and they'll forgive you.