Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Dumplings is one of our favorite meals, especially when fall and winter come on. We’d developed our own recipe through the years, taking bits and pieces from other recipes we loved. 

When I saw a recipe pop up for Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings, I knew I had to try it. Only…we already had tweaked our recipe to be exactly what we love. So I decided to merge the two in my efforts to make our recipe Instant Pot friendly. 

And it worked! I’ll give the recipe below. But first… 

Honest Instant Pot Recipe Reviews

This recipe isn’t any faster or easier in the Instant Pot than it is cooked our normal method. It’s not harder or slower either though. If you want the novel of doing a meal in the Instant Pot, this works! But doing this in the Instant Pot is not going to save you any extra time or work. 

But cooked in the Instant Pot or not, this is yummy! 

Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings: 

Ingredients for Chicken “soup” part:

• 3 c. chicken broth 
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup 
• 2 large chicken breasts (can use thighs), cut into big bite size chunks
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium to large onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground sage
• 1/4 tsp ground thyme
• 1/8-1/4 tsp of cumin
• 1/4 tsp parsley flakes
• 1/4 tsp basil leaves
• 7 small green onions, chopped
• 3 large carrots (quartered coins) OR 2 cans carrot coins (for this run we used the latter) 
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Optional Ingredients that I totally spaced buying or adding in when I made this in the Instant Pot (it would have tasted better with these obviously, but even without them it tasted gosh darn good!):

• 1 scant tsp. celery seed OR two big handfuls of chopped celery (I forgot to get celery when I went grocery shopping, and didn’t have celery seed, so I left it out and it still tasted good, but it’s super good with it in)
• 3 1/2 tbs unsalted sweet cream butter (totally spaced putting this in)
• 2 oz. cream cheese (again…spaced putting this in…I was tired that night apparently)

Ingredients for Dumplings: 

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. yellow cornmeal
• 1 heaping Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 c. half and half 
• 1 c. milk or 1 c. plus a TBS or two of buttermilk (when we have leftover buttermilk, we always use it in these!)

Directions:

1. Combine broth, soup, chicken chunks, garlic, onion, and spices/herbs (celery seed, sage, thyme, cumin, parsley, and basil) in the Instant Pot. If using raw carrots, add at this point. If using canned carrots, DO NOT add yet. Cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes. Do a quick release of pressure when cooking time is done. 
2. Mix the dumpling ingredients together in a separate bowl and let rest. It will puff up slightly while sitting, which makes for great texture when cooked. 
3. Set the Instant Pot to ‘Saute’. 
4. Add in green onions, canned carrots, bell pepper, and butter. 
5. Simmer until vegetables are nearly done (or all the way done if you like your veggies a little more mushy), add the cream cheese and stir until melted into the soup. 
6. Drop dumpling dough by heaping tablespoon (or fork full-or like we did that night with a serving spoon to get large dumplings) onto top of soup. They will possibly sink a little at first, but as they cook they will rise to the top. 
7. Cover with a glass lid (we just stole one from a different pot since the Instant Pot doesn’t come with a glass lid) and simmer for 6-8 minutes. 
8. Spoon into bowl and devour. 

If you want our non-Instant Pot directions, try this:

1. Combine broth, soup, chicken chunks, garlic, onion, and spices/herbs (celery seed, sage, thyme, cumin, parsley, and basil)
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until chicken is cooked. 
3. Add the butter, vegetables, and salt. Let simmer while you mix up the dumplings. 
4. Simmer until vegetables are nearly done (or all the way done if you like your veggies a little more mushy), add the cream cheese and stir until melted into the soup. 
5. Drop dumpling dough by heaping tablespoon (or fork full) onto top of soup.
6. Cover (leaving the lid cracked) and simmer for 15-20 minutes. 
7. Spoon into bowl and devour.