Nanni Nicky's Chicken & Dumplings
(Morgan’s Version)
For the soup:
- 1 pre-cooked rotisserie chicken (or cooked chicken)
- 6 cups chicken broth (homemade or store-bought)
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 carrots, thinly sliced
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon (chicken)
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- Optional: 4 tbsp milk
- Optional: 2 tbsp flour
For the dumplings:
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp cold butter, grated
- Prepare the chicken & broth:
Remove all the meat from the chicken, chop it, and set it aside.
For extra flavour, simmer the chicken bones with vegetable scraps in water for a few hours. Strain out the solids and return the broth to the pot. (Or use store-bought broth — you’ll need about 6 cups.) - Build your base:
In a separate pan, melt butter over low heat. Add onion, carrots, shallot, garlic, and celery. Cook until soft and fragrant.
Stir in poultry seasoning, garlic powder, Better Than Bouillon, salt, and pepper.
Add this mixture to the broth along with the chopped chicken. Simmer for about an hour for the best flavour, or bring to a boil if you’re short on time. - Optional: Thicken the soup:
Mix milk and flour until smooth, then slowly stir into the soup to thicken. - Make the dumplings:
In a large bowl, whisk together milk and egg. Add flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix in the grated cold butter until just combined. - Cook the dumplings:
Bring the soup to a gentle rolling boil. Drop spoonfuls of dumpling batter into the soup — a favourite step now shared with Finley, who loves helping and watching them rise.
Once the dumplings are in, cover the pot and let them cook for about 10 minutes, until they’re light, fluffy, and cooked through. Avoid lifting the lid too often, as the steam helps them rise.
A little more about this recipe...
This recipe has been passed down through generations in our family — from my grandmother, to my mother, to me. I made it often when Morgan was growing up, and now she’s carrying it forward for her own daughter.
There’s something really special about watching your child take a family recipe and make it their own.
When I made this soup, I always started from scratch — a whole chicken, simmered for hours, just like my mother did before me. Morgan still honours that tradition when she can, but she’s adapted it for busy family life. She’ll often use a rotisserie chicken to save time — and I can’t argue with that, it still tastes like home.
And when she does take the time to boil the bones with vegetable scraps, now with her daughter Finley by her side, it makes me smile — some things are worth holding onto.
