The best healthy homemade chicken and dumpling soup. Made from scratch whole wheat dumplings and loads of rotisserie chicken. It is quick, easy and truly comfort in a bowl.
It’s snowing here today and the kiddos are home from school. We love a good snow day… but that ‘Polar Vortex’ that we had the other week was no joke. Did you guys get record low temperatures from it? There were some days where we stayed well below 0 degrees and I know there were some states that got it worse than us. I feel for those who live in the Chicago area, you all got hit hard! We were craving comfort all week long. You know, comfy clothes, lots of hot coffee, and comfort food! This healthy chicken and dumpling soup hit the spot!
This soup screams comfort. It is filled with chicken, dumplings, and veggies. No need for condensed soups here! I love using rotisserie chicken in this soup for three reasons. 1. convenience and it helps cut down the cooking time, 2. I love having white and dark meat in the soup, and 3. I save the bones to make my own bone broth for future recipes. You can use any precooked chicken or raw chicken breast or thighs (you will need to adjust the cooking time if you use raw chicken) in place of the rotisserie chicken.
The dumplings are lightened up by using cottage cheese and egg whites. A lot of the traditional, old fashion dumplings call for shortening, butter, and/or heavy cream. We don’t need those ingredients to get amazing dumplings. Plus, the cottage cheese and egg whites give us some added protein. I use white whole wheat flour to keep it whole grain. These dumplings are more like the biscuit type versus the dumplings that are thin and flat. The dumplings have a nice chew to it and are perfect in the soup! It is kid and picky husband approved 😉 The Hubs says that it doesn’t taste “healthy” and it’s so comforting. It will continue to be on our meal rotation, especially during the winter months! Y’all stay warm out there!
Healthy Chicken and Dumplings Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
- 2 celery ribs diced
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
Dumpling
- 2 large egg whites
- ½ cup cottage cheese small curds
- ¼ cup milk any kind
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven or pot, add oil and heat on medium heat. Once the oil has heated, add the celery, onion, carrots, and garlic. Cook for 5-7 minutes, until onions are translucent.
- Add the salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf. Stir to combine. Add the broth and bring it to a simmer.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl mix the egg whites, cottage cheese, and milk, until combined. Add the flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley. Mix until combined, do not over mix as this can make the dumplings too dense.
- Add the shredded chicken to the simmering chicken broth.
- Drop a heaping tablespoon full of the dumpling batter at a time into the simmering soup broth. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the dumplings are cooked all the way (use the toothpick test to see if it comes out clean). *Do not lift the lid during the initial 15 minutes of cooking. The dumplings need the steam in the pot to cook properly.
- Remove bay leaf, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve!