Month-of-Few Ingredients: Dumpling the Chicken Soup

I loved the simplicity of this Chicken Dumpling Soup the first time I came across it from one of my favorite cooks, a Valley of the Sun celebrity here in the Phoenix metro area. Jan D’Atri is a wonderful cook and a very creative recipe developer and modifier. Check her out for some spectacular foods made easy.

Another thing I liked about the soup was the spaetzle, a German-style “dumpling” that isn’t in balls of dough, but strings of it. Pre-DH, waaaay pre-DH, I used to make a mushroom broth with spaetzle that I had forgotten about. Gotta recall what I did. I know I served it with beef roulades.

When I make chicken soup with or without dumplings, I usually, I cook down chicken parts I threw in the freezer after eating roast chicken. I do this so I have some chunks of chicken floating around in my chicken and dumpling soup. I also put in carrots, celery, onion to flavor it up a bit more. And it takes hours.

When you need a tasty chicken soup faster than that, say for someone who is down with the sniffles, this will fill the bill. In keeping with the theme this month, you can see this recipe has four ingredients (plus salt). If you wanted to expand it by adding some leftover chicken or some of that peas and carrots side dish in the fridge, feel free to do so. But here is the unadulterated version, as Jan presented it.

I served this for lunch recently with a toasted cheese sandwich and some fruit. I modified the original recipe by adding green onions for color and flavor.

Dumpling the Chicken Soup (6-8 servings)

2 quarts chicken broth (homemade or canned)

3 large eggs

¾ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon water

Put chicken broth on stove in a medium pan and heat on medium high. Bring to boil then lower heat to a simmer.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until yolks and whites are fully incorporated.

Add in flour and salt. Continue whisking vigorously to remove all lumps.

Add water and mix again.

Hold bowl at an angle over the simmering broth. Using a teaspoon, drizzle batter into the broth creating long, skinny strings of dumplings. Quickly use all batter.

Simmer for 20-30 minutes (do a taste test on a dumpling) and serve immediately.

NOTE:

You can also scoop spoonfuls of batter into the simmering broth in globs to make gnocchi-like dumplings. For this method, dip small spoon in hot broth, then scoop up batter and put the spoon back into the broth so the dumpling drops off. Repeat until all batter gone.

DH’s Rating: 3 ½  Tongues Up “It’s good, but I’d like some chicken in it. And it’s blander than you usually make.” He's right.

If you liked this recipe, I’d really appreciate you spreading the word on your social media outlets. Here are some pre-made Twitter and Facebook posts you can use or modify.

Twitter: Easiest #recipe for Chicken Dumpling Soup you’ll ever find. Check out the post by @good2tweat at http://bit.ly/2kH5kIx

Facebook: Need a chicken soup really fast? This four-ingredient chicken and dumpling soup to the rescue! On Sharon Arthur Moore’s blog, Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time at http://bit.ly/2kH5kIx