Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Fall is finally making it's way to Mississippi. And fall weather mixed with late night football practice pretty much screams for a crock pot meal! I have to be honest and tell you that up until a few weeks ago, I really only ever used my crock pot to make an annual pot roast and to heat up cheese dip for parties. I don't know why, but for some reason the crock pot just never really appealed to me. But with our afternoons being so busy lately, I decided using my crock pot was the only way I was going to be able to feed my family a meal that didn't include frozen chicken nuggets or pizza! I've actually tried quite a few different recipes, and this delicious recipe for Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings has been my favorite by far! 

I searched around for an easy crock pot recipe, and I found this one at BubbleCrumb.com. The thing I liked most about this recipe is that it is very similar to the recipe that my mom uses for her chicken and dumplings, except it uses a few more canned ingredients and a crock pot. I modified the original recipe to make it a little easier and to suit my family. I started with a couple of frozen chicken breast. Actually I threw in two smaller sized chicken breast and about four frozen chicken tenderloins because that is what I had in my freezer.

I added in two cans of cream of chicken soup and then I added enough chicken stock to cover the frozen chicken pieces. 

I gave the cream of chicken soup/stock mixture a little bit of a stir in the crock pot and then added a couple pats of butter and a little sprinkle of some dried parsley, salt, and pepper. 

Then I put the lid on my crock pot and let it go on high for 4-5 hours. The one thing I love about cooking with my crock pot is that it is almost impossible to overcook something. So if you accidentally leave your chicken in the crock pot a little longer it will be fine and still moist and delicious!

After the 4-5 hours is up, I pulled the cooked chicken out of the crock pot and shredded it up with two forks. Then I added the shredded chicken back to the crock pot.

I got my tube of refrigerated biscuits out. I used butter flavored biscuits because that is the kind that my mom always used in her Chicken and Dumplings, but the original recipe calls for Grand's biscuits. Use whatever kind your family prefers, just know that the butter flavored biscuits add a really yummy, buttery flavor that regular biscuits won't. I rolled out my biscuits a little with a cup and then cut each biscuit into four pieces. Next time I'm going to cut them a little smaller to make the cooking time a little shorter and to ensure that the dumplings aren't still gooey when it's time to eat. 

I then dropped my biscuit pieces in a few a time and carefully stirred them into the liquid. At this point, you can also add a little more stock or even a splash of milk if you think you need more liquid. After I added all the dumplings, I let it cook for about another hour on low. The cook time will really depend on how big you cut your dumplings, so keep that in mind. 

Serve up these delicious and easy Chicken and Dumplings with a side of butter beans and maybe even some warm cornbread on a really cold day! These Chicken and Dumplings were a big hit at our house. Henry even said he liked mine better than my mom's, thought Grant said he still prefers Grammie's:)