Gluten Free Chicken and Dumplings

Gluten free chicken and dumplings is a savory blend of aromatic vegetables, chicken, a simple white sauce and just the right spices. With fluffy dumplings cooked right in the soup!

I put gluten free chicken and dumplings dinners into a very important category. No matter which way I make it, everyone in my family loves it because it hits all the right notes. It's hearty, flavorful, and filling, and, much like its more formal cousin gluten free chicken pot pie, just smells like home.

Why I love this gluten free chicken and dumplings recipe

For the most classic variety of chicken and dumpling soup, the best gluten free dumplings are fluffy, airy rounds that are soft to the center. They’re simple to mix up and place on top of the aromatic filling that’s made on the stovetop.

The raw dumpling mixture is scooped on top of the cooked filling and then finished in the oven. The soup starts with a mirepoix, or a sauteed mixture of diced aromatic vegetables like carrots, celery, and onion cooked in some sort of fat.

The chicken in this gf dumplings recipe is cooked separately, but of course, it can be made ahead of time. I have also made this dish with gluten free rotisserie chicken and I thought it was delicious. My very spoiled children thought I was committing some sort of mortal sin.

Key ingredients

You'll need one set of ingredients to make the chicken, which is just baked in the oven in olive oil with some spices. Another set is for the cream soup with vegetables, to which you add the chicken. Finally, you'll make the raw dumpling batter, and cook that in the soup.

Here are some important notes about the main ingredients in all of these portions of the recipe:

• Chicken – Since this is a recipe for chicken and dumplings, of course we'll need some cooked chicken as part of the finished dish. If you'd like to make the slow cooker variety according to the notes below, the chicken cooks right along with the other ingredients. Otherwise, we cook the chicken separately in the oven. It can even be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until you're ready to finish the dish.
• Veggies – The classic vegetables you expect to find in chicken and dumplings are onions, celery, and carrots. Together, they make up the 3 vegetable aromatic blend referred to as mirepoix, which is sometimes available, already chopped for you, in the grocery store. It's a real luxury if you're willing to spend a few extra dollars.
• Extra virgin olive oil – We use olive oil to cook the chicken breast and to sauté the vegetables, adding flavor as they cook.
• Butter – To create the creamy base that you expect in chicken and dumplings, we need to thicken the chicken stock with a roux, which begins with butter that we melt in the pan.
• Gluten free flour – To complete the roux that thickens the soup, we cook a simple gum free gluten free flour blend in the melted butter. Avoid a gf flour blend with xanthan gum, which will create a gummy mess. You'll need a classic all purpose gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, though, to make the biscuits or the dumpling batter. You can add 1/4 cup cornstarch to the flour blend to make lighter dumplings, or just use more of your all purpose blend.
• Chicken stock – Choose a brand of chicken stock that has plenty of flavor, since it's the most plentiful ingredient in your soup. I rarely make my own chicken stock, since it just takes too long and Pacific chicken broth is so delicious.
• Milk – To create a creamy soup, we'll use whole milk or half-and-half. Be sure to use something with fat, or your soup will miss that richness. For the dumplings, use milk, not half and half, or the batter will be too thick.
• Eggs – we use eggs in the dumplings that cook in the soup to add structure, rise, and richness.
• Baking powder – The dumplings rise using double-acting baking powder. Make sure yours is fresh by checking the date on the container.
• Spices – The classic spices in this sort of recipe are those in Herbs de Provence, but you can make your own blend using a combination of 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary, 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, and 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley. Of course, you'll also need salt and ground black pepper.

How to make gluten free chicken and dumplings

If you're making your dish with the traditional fluffy, free-form gluten free dumplings recipe, you're going to be amazed at how easy it is to mix up the batter. It's a thick but soft mixture of blended gluten free flours, baking powder, salt, eggs, and milk that you'll mix up in a bowl, and scoop mounds into hot liquid with a spring-loaded ice cream scoop to cook in moments. Be careful, though, as the dumplings expand quite a lot in the liquid!

Cook the vegetables and make the roux

• In a stock pot that is at least 6 quarts, place all of the vegetables (chopped carrots, onion, and celery), plus salt and pepper, and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender.
• Push the cooked vegetables to the side, and melt the butter in the pan.
• Add the first gluten free flour mixture (without xanthan gum, and whisk to combine.
• Let cook until thickened, whisking occasionally. This is the roux that will thicken the soup.

Finish the soup

• To the roux with the vegetables, add chicken stock, milk, and herbs de Provence. You could also use poultry seasoning if you prefer the flavor or that's all you have on hand.
• Whisk together, and bring to a simmer.
• Cook, whisking from time to time to prevent clumping, until the mixture starts to thicken (8 to 10 minutes).
• Add cooked chicken and stir to combine. The soup itself is complete. Keep it simmering on low.

Make the dumpling mixture

• In a large bowl, whisk together a gluten free flour blend (with xanthan gum), baking powder and salt.
• Add milk and 2 beaten eggs, and mix to combine.
• The mixture will be very thick.

Cook the dumplings in the soup

• Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, scoop the dumpling mixture into the lightly-simmering soup.
• Stir after adding every few dumplings so they don't stick. You also want to cover them in the soup.
• Cover and cook, lifting the cover to stir occasionally, for about 20 minutes.
• When they're cooked all the way through, the dumplings will be just under twice their original size. A toothpick will come out clean when you insert it into the center of each dumpling.
• Serve hot! I like to serve the soup with chopped fresh parsley, for a fresh taste.

Expert tips

Check ingredient labels carefully

Check and double check to make sure that your two packaged elements (chicken stock and dried herbs) are safely gluten free. Gluten can be hiding in chicken stock if it contains any wheat, which can sometimes be used as a thickener. Most modern packaged gluten free chicken stocks, like Kitchen Basics and Pacific brands, are safe (but this could change over time, so check for yourself!).

Use an ice cream scooper

To shape the dumpling dough into proper portions and without the mess of just using a spoon, use a medium-size spring-loaded ice cream scoop. The spring-loaded sweeping arm will help you release the dough easily and cleanly into the pot.

Checking the dumplings for doneness

Make sure your dumplings or biscuits are cooked all the way through to the center by inserting a toothpick into the center. It should pass all the way through without any additional resistance, and come out clean.

Shortcuts for a quick gluten free dinner

There are, indeed, a few steps to getting it done. Chicken needs to be cooked and diced or shredded, vegetables cooked, and dumplings made. But most of those steps can be made or shortcut even days ahead of time.

If you're making a variety with gluten free biscuit dough instead of fluffy dumplings, shape the dough into rounds and store them in your freezer.

In place of fresh chopped and cooked carrots and celery, you can add vegetables like frozen peas and frozen carrots without defrosting them, right to the hot soup at the end when the dish is in its final round of cooking. They will defrost almost instantly.

The chicken can be made a couple of days ahead, and refrigerated (or even replaced with a GF rotisserie chicken). The vegetables can even be cooked and refrigerated for a couple days.

Then all that’s left is to make the super simple roux-based soup, mix up the easy dumpling batter if you're not using biscuits, and bake the casserole-style varieties. If I make the chicken and veg ahead of time, this is actually a quick and easy weeknight dinner.

How to store leftover gluten free chicken and biscuits

If you've made the classic style recipe with the fluffy, scooped dumplings, they should be eaten within a few hours of being cooked. Otherwise, they will continue to dissolve, slowly, into the liquid surrounding them.

How to reheat GF chicken and dumplings

If you've made the whole dish a couple of hours ahead of the time you plan to serve it, including cooking the dumplings in the liquid, remove the chicken and refrigerate since it's not safe to leave it out. Then, cover the rest of the soup and store it at room temperature. Then, add the chicken back in and reheat the soup gently at the lowest temperature possible.

Can I freeze gluten free chicken and dumplings?

Freezing a creamy casserole like this can change the texture of the dumplings, but the soup/stew can be frozen, and fresh dumplings added later.

Recipe variations

Over the years, I’ve made so many varieties of this meal and kept them separated here on the blog. But I use these methods in a mix-and-match way in my own kitchen.

I thought you might like to see everything together in one place, with varying levels of ease and difficulty. Mix and match at will!

Classic Chicken and Dumplings Casserole (finished in the oven)

To make the most classic variety of chicken and dumplings, the dumplings are fluffy, airy rounds that are soft to the center. They're simple to mix up and place on top of the aromatic filling that's made on the stovetop.

Transfer the soup prepared according to the recipe instructions to a large 9-inch x 13-inch casserole dish. Scoop the raw dumpling mixture is scooped on top of the cooked filling and then finished in the oven. Bake at 375°F for about 20 minutes, or until the dumplings are cooked all the way through (a toothpick should come out clean) and are browned in spots on top.

The soup starts with a mirepoix, or a sauteed mixture of diced aromatic vegetables like carrots, celery, and onion cooked in some sort of fat, same as below.

The chicken in this recipe is cooked separately, but of course, it can be made ahead of time. I have also made this dish with gluten free rotisserie chicken and I thought it was delicious. My very spoiled children thought I was committing some sort of mortal sin.

Tater Tot Chicken and Dumplings Casserole

If you love the idea of making a chicken and dumplings casserole but are tight on time or just want a fun twist, replace the dumplings with tater tots.

Like in all of the varieties except the slow cooker one, cook the vegetables in olive oil to help them release and develop their flavor. You really could use any sort of fat you like, though.

Olive oil is a healthy fat, and I always have it on hand. But of course, if you wanted to be truly decadent, you could saute some pancetta or bacon and then cook the vegetables in the rendered fat.

Place the soup mixture in a large 9-inch x 13-inch casserole dish. There's no need to defrost the tater tots. Just arrange them on top in a single layer on top of the filling, and bake at 375°F for about 15 minutes, or until the tots are crispy and golden and the filling is bubbling.

Quick Stovetop Chicken and Dumplings with shortcuts

If you want to get a jump on chicken and dumplings, the quickest way is to make and freeze layered gluten free biscuits. Use those instead of the dumplings recipe below. If you have another favorite gluten free biscuit recipe, use that.

The other shortcut I recommend is making your own condensed cream of chicken soup. They even sell gluten free condensed soups now, too (Pacific brand is gluten free). If you have frozen biscuit rounds and GF condensed cream of chicken soup on hand, plus some chicken stock, you are so close to making chicken and dumplings.

You'll still need to cook the chicken separately according to the recipe instructions below, but that takes mere minutes and can also be made ahead of time. Simply cook the chicken, shred or chop it, and refrigerate it for up to 2 days.

This version encourages make-ahead, of course, since you'll need frozen biscuit dough. But you could also make it with the same dumplings from the casserole recipe below.

Make the recipe in the same manner, but replace the soup mixture with the cream of chicken soup recipe, and thin it with 1 cup of chicken stock. Cook biscuit rounds in the soup or the dumplings as described in the recipe below.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

The final method is in the slow cooker, and it's the easiest yet especially since you cook the chicken right along with the vegetables in the liquid.

Grease the liner of a 6 quart slow cooker, and add the soup ingredients to it with some variations. You'll cook the raw chicken in the slow cooker, right in the soup. In place of 1 1/2 cups of milk like in the recipe below, you'll use 3 cups of milk, the carrots, celery and chopped onion as directed below, plus 9 ounces of peeled and shredded russet potatoes.

Add the chicken breasts, and stir to separate the breasts from one another. In a 2 cup measuring cup, add 1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk and mix in the 1/4 cup (70 grams) gum-free gluten free flour blend from below. Pour into the slow cooker, and mix to combine.

Cover the slow cooker and set to low. Cook for 5 to 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through and the vegetables are very tender.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker, shred it with two forks and set it aside. Using an immersion blender, puree the rest of the soup ingredients in the slow cooker.

If you'd like to make this using frozen biscuit wedges, prepare layered biscuits according to the recipe instructions. Slice each chilled biscuit round into 8 wedges. You can make this weeks ahead of time and freeze the wedges until you're ready to use them.

Turn the slow cooker to “high” and add the frozen biscuit wedges to the soup. Mix gently to combine. Cover the slow cooker and allow to cook until the biscuits are cooked through (between 30 minutes and 1 hour on “high,” depending upon your slow cooker). Add the shredded chicken, stir to combine and serve hot.

Like the quick variety above, you can also replace the biscuit dough with the same dumplings mixture as the classic soup recipe, and cook in the same manner.

Gluten free dumpling soup: substitutions

The main additional allergens in this recipe for gluten free dumplings are dairy in the form of milk, butter and cream, and eggs (in the dumplings). I haven’t tried making chicken and dumplings with any of these substitutions, but here are my best guesses for how to make it happen.

Gluten free, egg free chicken and dumplings

For an egg-free variety, instead of dumplings in the recipe, try our gluten free biscuits. They’re light and flaky, and they’ll work great. Prepare the layered variety according to the recipe instructions, slice each biscuit round into 8 equal wedges, and cook like you would the dumplings in the soup.

Gluten free, dairy free chicken and dumplings

Making the soup portions dairy-free requires a bit more finesse. In place of butter to make the roux that mixes with flour for the casserole varieties, try using Earth Balance buttery sticks or Melt or Miyoko's Creamery brand vegan butter.

You can buy dairy-free evaporated milk these days. I imagine it works quite well, although if it’s coconut milk-based, it may add some coconut flavor. For the regular milk, try unsweetened almond milk.

I haven’t made my homemade cream of chicken soup dairy-free, but that is only required for the slow cooker variety. A recipe like this has so many available modifications built right in, so there’s definitely a way!

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