Easy Chicken and Dumplings Casserole

I love baking and cooking for my family, but baking is definitely my favorite thing. Just look at all the recipes here at Musings. LOTS of baking. And while that’s delicious and fun and all, I’ve decided to branch out a bit and share some of our favorite meals with ya’ll. 

And one of our favorite family meals is this Chicken and Dumplings Casserole. I’ve been making this dish for so long, I can’t even remember where I found the recipe.

Chicken and Dumplings Casserole is easy to make (it’s not scary with dropping biscuits over the stove like some dumpling recipes can be) and it’s loaded with chicken and veggies in a tasty sauce seasoned with basil. The fluffy homemade biscuits add the perfect touch to this favorite family meal.

 The veggies are baked right into this dish so (sometimes,) the kids don’t even realize they’re eating peas. Of course that’s no guarantee, since we all know kids can be tricky. But it works on my kids! (Sometimes…)

Ingredients:

Plus a chicken bouillon cube and 2 cups biscuit mix – try this quick and easy homemade baking mix recipe!

You’ll need about 3-4 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken (white or brown meat – your preference.) 

One nice thing about this recipe is that you can use more or less chicken, depending on your preference. If our budget is tight, I’ll make this casserole using just 2 chicken breasts while substituting extra veggies and it’s still just as delicious.

Optional: you can add carrots too – freshly chopped or a bag of frozen peas and carrots from the store. Just remember to decrease the amount of peas accordingly. 

The dumplings part is so easy; just combine the biscuit mix, 1 tablespoon basil, and 2/3 cup milk:

Drop the biscuits on top of the chicken mixture:

The casserole will need to bake for about 40 minutes total.

One of the best things about this meal is that the ingredients are pretty common. They’re all things I typically keep on hand in my kitchen anyways, so it’s not hard to put this Chicken and Dumplings Casserole together on short notice. 

Chicken and Dumplings Casserole

This tasty casserole is loaded with chicken and veggies in a savory sauce seasoned with basil. The homemade biscuits add the perfect touch to this favorite family meal.

• Author: Erika Bragdon
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic*
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2–1 teaspoon pepper (to taste)
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 16 ounces frozen green peas or peas and carrots**
• 3–4 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken

DUMPLINGS

• 2 cups homemade biscuit mix
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 2/3 cup milk

Instructions

1. If you haven’t already, cook your chicken. I prefer to saute it as this only takes a few minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Set the chicken aside and saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter until tender in a large saucepan. Whisk in the flour, sugar, salt, basil, and pepper. Once combined, add the chicken bouillon cube and slowly add the chicken broth, whisking as you do. Bring to a boil and cook and stir for 1 minute. Reduce the heat and add the peas. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring almost constantly. Stir in the chicken. Pour into a greased 9x13x2″ dish.
4. DUMPLINGS
5. Combine the biscuit mix and basil in a bowl. Stir in the milk until moistened. If the biscuit mix is still try, you can add another tablespoon of milk.
6. Drop spoonfuls of biscuit mix evenly over the chicken mixture, about 12 dumplings.
7. Bake, uncovered for 30 minutes. Cover and bake for 10 minutes more or until the dumplings are slightly browned and down.

Notes

*I experimented with the garlic, pepper, and basil quantities quite a bit before I came up with this combination. I think it works really well and my family loves it, however feel free to add more or less of any of these per your preference.
**16 ounces of peas (or peas and carrots) is a lot of veggies. I prefer to use this much because it bulks up the recipe and I don’t have to use quite as much chicken, saving money. However, you may want to use less (10-12 ounces).

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 8
• Calories: 469
• Sugar: 12g
• Sodium: 1238mg
• Fat: 19g
• Saturated Fat: 9g
• Unsaturated Fat: 9g
• Carbohydrates: 45g
• Fiber: 6g
• Protein: 29g
• Cholesterol: 85mg

 Don’t you want to try it today?