Bobby Flay Chicken Dumpling Soup is an easy winter dinner made with shredded chicken, pearl barley and tender egg dumplings, ready in roughly one hour. That makes it a warm make ahead soup for Sunday dinner, potluck night or a cold weeknight, since one pot feeds a crowd of eight.
The dumplings are a pate a choux, so the flour goes into the boiled milk and butter off the heat. Then you stir until the dough leaves the pan sides and add the eggs one at a time, since adding them together loosens the dough.
Most chicken and dumpling recipes thicken the pot with a roux, while this one leans on pearl barley for body. That barley keeps the broth clear and a little chewy rather than gravy thick, so the egg dumplings stay light against it.
Bobby Flay Chicken Dumpling Soup
Course: SoupCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalA hearty one pot supper from the FoodNation with Bobby Flay kitchen, where vegetables sweat in oil before broth, barley and pulled chicken go in. Then spoonfuls of choux style dough poach on the surface until they float, so eight to ten bowls come off one pot.
Ingredients
- For the Soup:
2 to 3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 stalk celery, diced
Meat from 1 chicken, cooked and shredded
4 to 6 cups chicken broth
1 cup fresh cut green beans
1 cup pearl barley
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
- For the Dumplings:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
Directions
- Sweat the vegetables: In a small amount of cooking oil, sweat the onion, carrots and celery.
- Build the soup: Add the chicken, broth, green beans, barley, celery salt, parsley and bay leaves.
- Simmer the barley: Simmer until the barley is tender, about 30 minutes.
- Boil the milk and butter: Bring the milk and butter to a boil, then add the salt and nutmeg.
- Make the dough: Remove from the heat and immediately add the flour, stirring until the dough leaves the sides of the pan.
- Add the eggs: Incorporate the eggs, 1 at a time, forming a sticky dough.
- Season and poach: Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper, add spoon sized balls of dumpling dough and simmer until the dumplings rise.
FAQs
Can I use rotisserie chicken instead of cooking a whole chicken?
Yes, and one large rotisserie bird gives you close to four cups of pulled meat, which is what a cooked whole chicken yields here. Pull the skin off first, because it turns soft and rubbery in broth. Save the bones for stock, since they will sharpen the broth in a future batch.
Why did my dumplings dissolve into the soup?
Either the dough was too wet or the pot was at a hard boil, and both break the spoonfuls apart. Keep the surface at a bare simmer with slow bubbles, so the dumplings set before they can loosen. If the dough slides off the spoon, stir in a tablespoon more flour and test one dumpling first.
Can I swap the pearl barley for something else?
Pearl barley is what gives this soup its body, though small pasta, orzo or white rice all work if you add them later. Barley needs about thirty minutes, while orzo and rice finish in roughly twelve, so time them separately. For a gluten free pot, use rice and thicken the broth with a cornstarch slurry.
How do I store and reheat the leftovers?
Cool the soup quickly and refrigerate it for up to four days, though the barley will drink broth as it sits. Add a splash of stock or water when reheating on the stovetop, since the pot tightens overnight. Freeze the soup without dumplings if you can, because they turn spongy after thawing.
What does the nutmeg do in the dumpling dough?
Half a teaspoon of nutmeg is small enough to read as warmth rather than spice, so it lifts the plain flour and egg dough. Grate it fresh if you can, because preground nutmeg fades fast in an open jar. Leave it out and the dumplings taste flat against the savory chicken broth.
