Comfort food, plain and simple. This variation on chicken and dumplings is an AIP-friendly version of a dish that I grew up eating throughout my childhood in Wisconsin, especially during the busy school year. It was usually made from scratch, always with homemade dumplings and usually a creamy dairy-based sauce, though sometimes a can of “cream of something” soup was used to streamline preparation a bit.
AIP cooking shortcuts
Ah, that soup can! Such a wonderful shortcut for moms in the era of my childhood! We never ate it as soup, but yet it was a pantry staple and could be used in so many different ways to pull a meal of humble ingredients together into something we kids would happily eat.
Unfortunately, no canned soup shortcuts are available if you are gluten intolerant and also need to avoid dairy and other processed ingredients as we do on the autoimmune protocol (AIP). But there are other ways you can make meal time easier, especially if you plan ahead and utilize your freezer and/or break your preparation steps up into separate days.
I frequently work with my individual nutritional therapy and coaching clients to brainstorm ways they can simplify their mealtimes, sometimes focusing on a specific recipe such as this one to provide the basis of our conversation. First, I ask them them to read the whole recipe (a good habit to have no matter what), noticing all the steps and which ones will end up being hands-off so you can be taking a break or doing something else.
Then, I have them identify the places where they could stop completely in the recipe and refrigerate or freeze what you’ve done as part of an advance meal prep day and then finish on serving day.
Finally, I ask them to notice where they could substitute ingredients for something already prepped in order to make the entire process faster and easier.
The result? With this chicken and dumplings recipe, we might end up with a list of possibilities that includes:
- While the chicken is simmering in step 2, I’ll have 90 minutes to do something else and then again in step 14 when the casserole goes in the oven, I’ll have 40 minutes free. If I make this on my weekend meal prep day, I could be working on some other dish during that time. Or, if my energy is low, I can take long breaks.
- I could cook the chicken one day (steps 1-3) and make the casserole the day I want to serve it. Or I could even make the entire base of the casserole through step 10, stick that in the refrigerator or freezer to add the dumplings and bake it on serving day.
- I could skip cooking the chicken entirely and instead use a compliant grocery store rotisserie chicken and some store bought bone broth in place of the cooking liquid in step 7.
- I could use pre-diced onions and baby carrots to save chopping time, or I could use frozen vegetables.
I hope that gives you some ideas for making a complex dish such as this one less daunting. If you don’t want to go through all that effort with every recipe you make, may I suggest letting the AIP coaches and bloggers do some of the work for you by downloading one or both of our timesaving collaborative ebooks!
Make your purchase this month (August 2019) and you’ll get BOTH books for the price of one! Learn more about each book by clicking on the name or image below.
30 Minute Meals for the Paleo AIP
Freezer Cooking for the Paleo AIP
You may also like my ebook, The Meal Prep Method, which includes more meal planning instruction and a detailed done-for-you meal plan, with shopping lists and recipes.
Notes on AIP ingredients
You should be able to find most of these ingredients in a well-stocked grocery store, but if not, consider purchasing from ShopAIP. It’s an online store run by a fellow AIPer who understands exactly what we need and studies the ingredients and contacts manufacturers to make sure everything she stocks is 100% compliant with the elimination phase of the protocol, which means you save time by not having to worry about that yourself!
AIP Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
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Chicken and Herb Dumpling Hot Dish (AIP)
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Description
You might call it a casserole, but it’s “hot dish” where I grew up! No matter what you call it, these chicken and dumplings are pure comfort food, made AIP-compliant!
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- salt
- apple cider vinegar
- 2 bay leaves
- water
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 inch coins
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- 1/4 cup cassava flour
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme (divided)
- 2 teaspoons dried sage (divided)
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup lard or palm shortening
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- In large pot or Dutch oven, place chicken, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, bay leaves, and enough water to cover the chicken completely.
- Bring to low boil, then reduce to simmer and cover. Cook for 90 minutes.
- Remove chicken and allow it to cool enough that you can easily handle it.
- Discard the bay leaves and reserve 4 cups of the cooking water for this recipe. Save the remaining cooking water to be used as a broth in other recipes.
- Remove meat from the chicken carcass and chop or shred into bite sized pieces.
- Heat coconut oil in now empty pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, or until onions have become translucent and carrots are beginning to soften. Add cassava flour and cook until it has browned slightly, another 2-3 minutes, stirring the whole time.
- Add 4 cups of reserved cooking liquid and cook until sauce is thick and slightly reduced and carrots are quite soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add 1 teaspoon thyme and 1 teaspoon sage. Add cooked chicken.
- Taste and salt as desired.
- Pour into a 2-3 quart casserole dish.
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- In a medium bowl, mix coconut flour, arrowroot starch, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, lard or palm shortening, water, and 1 teaspoon thyme, 1 teaspoon sage, garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar. Use your hands to need into a thick batter.
- Form batter into 15-18 small dumplings, dropping them onto the top of the hot chicken mixture as you go. A scoop like the kind you would use for cookie making works well, or just use a tablespoon.
- Place in oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until filling is bubbling and dumplings are cooked through and slightly browned on top.
- Serve hot.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: American
A version of this recipe, with freezer-friendly modifications, first appeared in Freezer Cooking for the Paleo AIP in October 2017.
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25 replies on “Chicken and Herb Dumplings Hot Dish (AIP)”
I’m writing regarding your Olive Oil Apple Cake with Maple Buttercream
I was so hungry for dessert and excited to try this recipe.
However, mine didn’t turn out at all like your picture. It was a gummy mess.
I’d include a picture if I could in this comment box.
Do you have any ideas what might have gone wrong?
What brand of cassava flour did you use? Unfortunately, they are not interchangeable. I make and test all my recipes exclusively with Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour.
[…] Chicken and Herb Dumplings Hot Dish from Gutsy By Nature *Jaime is the queen of hot dish style comfort food! […]
I cannot thank you enough for this recipe. It turns out perfectly every time and my family enjoys it too.
OMG! This tastes exactly like chicken and dumplings! YUM!
Thank you! I’m so glad you like it!
Can’t find where to rate this, but I would have given it 5 stars!
After boiling my chicken and leaving it to simmer, it’s not completely cooked. Should I cook it longer before assembling the dish or will it finish cooking in the oven with everything else?
Thanks!
To be safe, I would probably let it simmer long enough to be completely cooked before assembling the dish. Sorry that happened to you… Perhaps “simmer” on my stovetop is more intense than on yours!
I substituted cassava flour for almond flour and I used corn starch instead of arrowroot starch. That being said step #7 the sauce did not thicken and step #12, 1 cup of water made the dumpling mixture way to running and I had to add a lot more starch and flour. What am I doing wrong?
The casserole was awesome and I’ll definately make it again, tastes like chicken and dressing.
Unfortunately, you can’t just substitute one flour or starch for another and expect it to turn out the same way. The cassava flour is the key to making the sauce thick here; almond flour will not do that. The dumpling mixture didn’t work for you because corn starch and arrowroot are not interchangeable either. Corn starch doesn’t work well as a flour; it is good for thickening things but not for something like this.
Delicious!!
Not usually a coconut flour fan…but I trusted your recipe and those dumplings were the perfect fluffy with a slight chew delicious!
Straightforward to make and delicious to enjoy on a cold snowy evening.
This was a delicious, winter-time recipe. We substituted 2 large organic chicken breasts we cooked on the stovetop and also used homemade bone broth. The dumplings and blended flavors were great. Thank you for the recipe.
Since I didn’t have a whole chicken, I threw about 2 lbs of frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs into the Instant Pot for 15 minutes with a cup of broth, some salt, a d garlic powder. So good – chicken came out perfect anD with almost 4 c of liquid to use with the casserole. I’ve also used leftover turkey and bone broth. Just a great family recipe!
I was wondering about the chicken. So 2lbs was good yes? I have an instant pot.
The first time I made this it turned out perfect, and I just added the dumplings to the thickened soup and put a lid on it – they set up really well! The last two times I’ve tried to make the dumplings, they are not working, I used the whole cup of water the second time and it was too too much. I used 1/2 cup this time and it was still too much. Maybe my coconut flour is old? The cassava flour is not in the dumplings with the coconut flour correct? I thought maybe I put it in the dumplings the first time since it is above the dumpling ingredients – it would be helpful to list list the dumpling ingredients below the heading “Dumplings”. Love the flavor and am anxious to get the dumplings right again!
I’m not sure… I don’t think coconut flour gets old, but different brands could behave differently. The dumplings are meant to be pretty “wet” when formed. It really should be too soft to manage with your hands, as an example.
[…] Chicken and Herb Dumplings Hot Dish, Gutsy by Nature […]
I made this dish following direction exactly. When I added the warm water, it was a runny soup. I added more coconut flour and arrowroot until I had a dough. The dumplings were not soft and fluffy. Any suggestions?
this looks like a great replacement recipe for old dishes I am missing.
This looks amazing! AND I can eat it.
Is there anything I can try to be subbed for the coconut flour? We can’t do coconut.
This is delicious! Wondering if leftovers can be frozen?
Thanks
Yes! In fact, the original version of the recipe was made for a freezer-friendly cookbook.
This is delicious! Can leftovers be frozen?