This is a super fast version of the tried and true Southern recipe. I’ve cheated a little……what, I’m not opposed to cheating when needed, and in this case cheating is good.
First add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large stock pot or dutch oven.
Add one medium chopped onion and cook over moderate heat until the onion becomes transparent and soft.
Toss in 1 teaspoon of thyme.
And one teaspoon of kosher salt, followed by….
1/2 teaspoon of pepper.
Next add one finely chopped clove of garlic.
My garlic has some onion mixed in because my assistant got a little chop happy.
Stir in the garlic and let it cook with the onions for a few seconds. Don’t burn the garlic or it will make the dish bitter.
Pour in 32 ounces of low sodium chicken broth.
Next toss in some frozen chicken tenderloins. I know adding frozen chicken seems weird, but we’re saving time and cheating……remember?
I added 10 chicken tenderloins. You can add a few more of a few less if you like.
Let the chicken simmer at a high simmer for about 15 minutes or until done through-out.
Once the chicken is done, remove it and cut it into bite size pieces.Then put it aside until needed.
Here comes the cheating easy part of these chicken and dumplings.
Grab 5 flour tortillas and stack them one on top of the other. Get a sharp knife, or pizza cutter and slice the tortillas into pieces.
Bring your chicken broth up to a gentle boil and add the tortillas.
Pour in 3/4 cup of cream, and gentle stir. Don’t stir so hard that you break all the pieces of tortilla.
Add 1 tablespoon of butter. Yes, you do need to add the butter, it adds to the depth of flavor, plus butter is GOOD. Butter’s your friend.
Allow the tortillas to gently boil for about 10 minutes. They’ll become soft and well, dumpling-y. They will also perfectly thicken the sauce. No need for a roux here.
Once you’ve reached your perfect desired saucy thickness add the chicken back in for a few minutes until it’s nice and warm.
In less than 30 minutes total, you’ve made a wonderful family meal that everyone’s gonna love.
You’d be hard pressed to call and order a pizza and have it delivered in that amount of time. Plus you’ll be a kitchen goddess, that is until it’s time to do the dishes, then you’re back to being good old mom.
Enjoy!
the wanna be country girl – Caroline
Hi, I made this for an early Thanksgiving party, and it turned out really awesome. My grandfather made something similar to this, and I was trying to recreate it. After making your recipe I found out from my mother that his didn’t even include chicken! Hehe. You can see a picture of how mine looked here. I accidentally used too much cream (a whole cup) because I was a fool and didn’t measure it, assuming the carton I got was one cup when it actually contained two. To make up for that, I added extra chicken broth. In the end I think mine was a bit too rich/heavy and probably a bit too salty (really, though, can anything be too salty?) because of the extra broth, but I really enjoyed it. I want to try it again with the correct amounts.
The Wanna Be Country Girl Reply:
November 23rd, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Wow Keegan your chicken and dumplings look wonderful! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them, and you’re right, no such thing as too salty or too creamy. Happy Thanksgiving!!!
~Caroline
Oh my! This recipe looks and sounds so yummy and I love that it is so quick too! I’m making this tomorrow. Thank you for sharing!
What a great idea! I thought my chicken and dumplings was the kinda easy, cheat version…but this is even better!
That’s how I make my dumplings, too! Everyone ALWAYS talks about how good they are and how much time I must have put into them. I’ve never been brave enough to reveal the secret. Oops! I think I just did!