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Mom's Chicken and Dumplings

A simmered chicken thigh stew with onion, paprika, and flour‑egg dumplings.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Mom's Chicken and Dumplings

Time90 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Saute onions in butter in a stock pot or Dutch oven until tender.

  2. Add water until the pot is about one-third full.

  3. Add chicken thighs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika.

  4. Ensure the water covers the chicken; if not, add more until it just covers.

  5. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 90 minutes.

Make the dumplings

  1. While the chicken cooks, make the dumplings: mix flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in a medium bowl until combined.

  2. Make a well in the center and drop in the egg and about one-quarter cup water.

  3. Stir and add more water tablespoon by tablespoon until the dough is sticky and just leaves the side of the bowl.

  4. In a separate large pot, bring water to a boil.

  5. Drop the dumpling mixture by the teaspoon into the boiling water.

  6. If the dumpling mix is too sticky to drop from the spoon, dip the spoon into the boiling water; the dumpling should slide right off.

  7. When the dumplings start floating on top, remove them with a slotted spoon or drain them.

  8. Reduce the heat if necessary to see when they are floating.

Finish and serve

  1. About 30 minutes before the chicken is done, add the dumplings to the pot with the chicken.

  2. After 30 minutes, the dish should be ready.

  3. The chicken should be tender enough to fall off the bone, and the dumplings should thicken the sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

973Calories
52 gProtein
35 gFat
108 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Dumplingnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Chicken + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  3. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken thighs
Provide rich flavor and tender meat that becomes moist after long simmering.
All-purpose flour
Forms the dumpling dough and, as it cooks, thickens the broth around it.
Egg
Binds the dumpling dough and adds richness and structure to the dumplings.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they soften in butter.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor to the onions at the start of the braise.

The step that matters

Add dumplings about 30 minutes before the chicken is done. Dumplings cook through in the simmering broth; adding them too early can make them gummy and overcooked, while adding them too late leaves them raw in the center.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, garlic, pepper, flour, egg):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, garlic, pepper, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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