Chicken and Dumplings

This post’s main product of pastured chicken was provided as a sample by Cars and Cows Farm in Pemeta, Oklahoma. Opinions of the product are my own.

Y’all. I feel like an official Oklahoman now. This chicken & dumpling recipe has everything I love about Cracker Barrel’s chicken & dumplings. What’s not to love? Salty broth with squishy dumplings?? Now THAT sounds like a food I could eat every day. Seriously. With half a chicken, we even generously fed 4!

Today when I went to work, it was dark. And cold. A colleague said that he’s looking forward to Daylight Savings, but I also don’t like coming home from work in the dark! I made this on one of the first days that it started to feel a little chilly, and I can tell that it definitely will not be the last time! It warmed our stomachs and hearts both.

I’m proud to say that this is also my first experience with pastured chicken. Raising chickens in a pasture environment ensures that they are permitted to “be a chicken” and “do what chickens do.” I received mine from a gracious Chris Kyger, of Cars and Cows Farm. They raise pastured chickens, turkeys, egg chickens, pigs and cows (and are starting to look into goats!). If you’re interested in nabbing a chicken or even a turkey for the holidays, you can contact the Kygers either through their Facebook page or their website and see if any are still unspoken for! I promise, it’s worth it!

All of my co-workers told me that once I had this fresh chicken, there’d be no going back to store-bought chicken…And how right they were! This chicken was incredible. I can’t wait to use the other half in another recipe, so keep your eyes out for that! My grandmas both said that they used to eat fresh chicken (they both grew up on farms in Oklahoma), but that they never had to kill the chicken themselves – Mama always did it. It encouraged me that I was still getting an authentic experience without having to do the butchering!

Have you ever eaten a FRESH chicken? Did your parents? Grandparents? What’s your favorite cold-weather food?

5 from 1 vote

Print

Chicken and Dumplings

Servings 4

Author 918 Plate

Ingredients

• 6 C. water
• 1/2 pastured chicken bone in, skin on
• 2 T. butter
• 1 t. salt
• 1/4 t. sage
• ½ t. baking soda
• 1 ½ C. flour
• ½ t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• less than ½ C. water
• 1 egg
• parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Place chicken in a large stock pot and fill with water until all chicken is underwater by about a half-inch.
2. Add in butter, salt and sage.
3. Bring water to a boil, and then turn heat to low. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
4. Remove chicken parts from broth to cool.
5. Once cool, remove chicken from the bones and skin.
6. Mix up dumpling dough by combining all the remaining dry ingredients.
7. Stir in vegetable oil and egg.
8. Add water until the dough texture is flexible, but not too sticky.
9. Roll out on a floured surface, and cut into rectangles.
10. Bring broth to a boil again, and drop in dumpling rectangles.
11. Stir in chicken again, and wait until it thickens.
12. Serve hot and enJOY!