After a day of apple-picking I find myself in a creative furry with apple pies, muffins, and especially savory chicken and dumplings. I love how much this recipe tastes and feels like “fall.” With flavorful rotisserie chicken, seasonal apples, and fluffy dumplings, and deep savory broth, this bowl of “fall” is warm and comforting. If the weather drizzly, or the evening air is brisk, this is the recipe!
As I write about this recipe I am already planning to make it again this week. I absolutely love this one and its perfect for this time of year when the weather is brisk and I have an abundance of apples. Putting apples in chicken soup is a slam dunk, a perfect sweet-savory play, and adding the dumplings makes the broth creamy and hearty.
Many years ago I made a version of chicken and dumplings from the Pioneer Woman. She used this same ratio of flour to cornmeal and I loved the way the cornmeal added flavor and texture. I decided I wanted a denser dumpling that was slightly less savory so I played with it and found that butter, apple cider vinegar, and a little less baking powder hit the note I was searching for. Anytime I use baking powder, I look for what acid will react with it. Milk has enough, but I decided that since I was working in the apple realm already, apple cider vinegar was an excellent addition.
Recipes are like that. They start with one concept, then over time evolve based on the ingredients available in the panty, the ingredients in season, personal preference, and creativity. Sometimes I discover something entirely new and inspiring because I leaned into what I had on hand, substituting more than one ingredient. Many people love celery in their chicken soup, whereas I opted for celery salt—something I find to be mouthwateringly delicious. Not everyone has tried apples as a savory meal ingredient—try it! Let your ingredients speak and watch how they bounce off other flavors and create entirely new or unexpected flavor profiles. Try new things. You could even add potatoes, or maybe another veggie like spinach—experiment! And before you know it you might have something special that is your own take on a classic.
Ingredients
1 whole rotisserie chicken, bones removed, drippings reserved
1 onion, diced
4 carrots, sliced
3 apples, diced into 1" pieces
4-5 sprigs of thyme
1 small bunch parsley
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 tsp celery salt
1 fresh bay leaf, or 2 dried
8 cups chicken broth
1/4 white wine
juice of 1/2 lemon
Neutral oil for sauteing
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cold butter, diced
1 1/8 c milk
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
plenty of salt
plent of black pepper
Directions
Begin by sauteing onion in neutral oil in a large dutch oven or pot on medium heat. Add a generous pinch of celery salt to season the onions. Slowly add carrots as you slice them, and then add another pinch of celery salt. Sprinkle in some black pepper too.
After a few minutes, add garlic and saute for 1 minute, just until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine and then reduce.
Tie a small bunch of parsley (some leaves reserved) and 4 sprigs of thyme together with a bit of twine and toss into pan. Also add the bay leaf.
Then add 8 cups of broth, the drippings from the rotisserie chicken (we’ll add the meat later), and dijon. Stir.
Once bubbling, add apples. and turn to a simmer. Then prepare your dumpling batter:
Mix dry ingredients of flour, cornmeal, baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.
Dice cold butter into small cubes and rub into flour with your fingertips until evenly crumbly and distributed. Don’t take too much time on this, just make sure there aren’t any huge clumps of butter.
Add milk and apple cider vinegar and stir until a batter forms.
Using an ice cream scoop, drop spoonfuls of batter into soup, allowing for a little space between each dumpling. The dumplings will float. Cover soup with a lid and steam for about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, remove dumplings from pot with a slotted spoon. Then add in rotisserie chicken meat and stir. Return dumplings gently to the pot and let everything warm for another 5 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, then serve:
Spoon 1-3 dumplings (depending on size) into a bowl, then ladle broth, veggies, apples, and chicken on top. Add freshly chopped parsley leaves and enjoy. Autumn in a bowl.
