This one’s for you my southern friends: super creamy and ridiculously delicious keto chicken and dumplings!
What’s not to love about this dish: a creamy soup base with tender chicken, tasty low carb vegetables, perfectly spiced, and of course those dumplings! I’m sold! It’s one of those low carb recipes that truly warms you from inside out. Perfect for rainy days — heck, I’d even eat this midsummer! (it’s just that good….)
So gather your low carb shopping list items and get your saucepan ready, it’s keto chicken and dumplings time!
I don’t know if I’ve told you guys this before, but my mom is an incredible cook. Unfortunately, none of her recipes are low carb! So, I try to weave her techniques into my keto recipes in any way possible.
I bring this up because after one cocktail, my mom starts talking with a southern accent, despite the fact that we’re California people, born and raised! Needless to say, she takes a lot of pride in her perfected southern recipes.
So I channeled her in putting together this keto chicken and dumplings recipe based on her traditional version. Hope ya’ll (whoops!) enjoy!
How to Make Keto Chicken and Dumplings
Keto chicken and dumplings is relatively easy to throw together, but it takes some dedicated time in front of the the stove, as with any soup recipe.
Here’s what you need to know:
Browning the chicken thighs.
Browning the chicken thighs isn’t necessary, but makes a huge difference in enhancing the flavors of this dish! The goal here isn’t to cook the chicken through and through — we’re just trying to get a crispy/crunchy edge.
Brown your chicken in small batches so the pan isn’t too crowded — this will steam instead of sear the chicken. Use tongs to remove seared thighs to a plate.
Sauté your vegetables.
Sautéing the low carb vegetables, is another step we’ll take to enhance the flavor tremendously.
First saute the onions and celery, as these take longer to cook. Then add the remaining aromatics (garlic and thyme). I chose not to sauté the carrots before adding them to our keto chicken and dumplings, as I didn’t want to overcrowd the pan, and I find celery and onions are most important to sauté.
Loosening the brown bits.
The brown bits are essentially caramelized meat juices that escaped when we cooked the chicken thighs. They’re considered gold and French cuisine.
That said, if you cooked your chicken too high or for some reason, the chicken stuck to the pan, it’s better to clean the pan then to have burnt pieces accumulating in your sauce. Don’t beat yourself up, I still clean my sauce pan all the time when making sauces!
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Reducing the soup.
As with any of low carb soups, I find the most effective way to reduce keto chicken and dumpling soup is to cook the soup at a steady simmer over a long period of time.
Traditional chicken and dumpling recipes use flour to thicken the soup, however, low carb flours don’t have the same thickening abilities. Instead, the cream cheese will add some thickness to keto soups, and reducing it for a long period of time will work wonders.
Just make sure you get to the soup to a consistency you like before turning off your stove.
Final steps.
Once your keto chicken and dumpling soup has cooked to the consistency you’re looking for, we want to remove our chicken from the pot.
Every time I’ve cooked this recipe the chicken is so tender, it falls apart when I pull it out of the pot! I still remove it to ensure the chicken is cooked all the way through. If your chicken doesn’t fall apart while cooking you keto chicken and dumplings, remove it from your pot and shred it here.
We’ll then add the heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, chicken and fresh parsley back to the keto chicken and dumplings, and cook everything together until the cream cheese melts.
A note about the dumplings.
I tested this keto chicken and dumplings recipe soooo many times, in an effort to get the keto drop dumplings just right!
The dumplings my family and I preferred most we’re larger cauliflower florets — I tried the whole keto chicken and dumplings with almond flour and cheese, and none of us liked it! This combo quickly melted into the pot, resulting in a cheesy broth sans dumplings.
Long story short, cauliflower was the winning results according to the whole fam!
Alternative keto chicken and biscuits:
If you’re counting your NET carbs, you always try making carbquick chicken and dumplings. Or, check out my keto dumplings wrappers for an almond flour alternative — these can also be made into keto dumplings cabbage for a tasty low carb chicken and dumpling casserole!
Storing This Keto Dumplings Soup
As with most keto soups, this keto chicken and dumplings recipe is perfect for low carb meal prep! I love divvy up keto dumplings into individual containers, freezing a few and leaving the rest in the fridge for low carb lunches that week.
Heat up your portioned out keto and dumplings in the stove or microwave.
I also freeze a lot of this keto chicken and dumplings soup. Again, it’s one of those low carb meals I can’t allow to go to waste! When freezing the keto chicken and dumpling soup make sure you leave plenty of room at the top of your container, as items expand when they freeze.
(You don’t want this exploding in your freezer!)
What to Serve With This Low Carb Dumplings Soup?
Looking for some low carb sides to serve with your low carb dumplings? There are plenty of tasty dishes that complements this meal, although I do find it’s extremely satiating on its own! If you’re looking for some ideas, here are a few:
- Smashed Brussel sprouts
- Low carb salads
- Low carb coleslaw
Keto Chicken and Dumplings Soup Variations
As with most low carb recipes there are plenty of ways to adapt this recipe to your low carb eating plan!
If you’re looking to save some carbs, cut down on the keto vegetables used. Onions and carrots are the biggest contributor to the carb count in this recipe — maybe load up on salary instead? Use half the onion? Whatever works with your low-carb meal plan.
For a higher protein variation, swap the cream cheese for low-carb Greek yogurt.
I love adding low carb yogurt to all sorts of recipes, however in this recipe, I prefer the creamy texture cream cheese adds. If Greek yogurt is better for your eating plan, use that instead!
Keto chicken and dumplings recipe
I hope this keto chicken and dumplings recipe brings a little soothing comfort to your home!
Rain or shine, I have a feeling you’re going to love it — let me know what you think in the comments below! What did you serve with it? Did you try meal prepping it?
Keto Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
- 3 Pounds Chicken Thighs boneless, skinless
- 4 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil divided
- 1 Large Onion chopped, yellow
- 2 Celery Ribs sliced 1/4" thick
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic minced
- 1/2 Teaspoons Thyme fresh, leaves only
- 1/4 Cup Sherry dry
- 6 Cups Chicken Broth
- 2 Teaspoons Better than Bouillon Chicken Flavor
- 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 4 Carrots peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 Head Cauliflower
- 3 Tablespoons Parsley fresh, chopped
- 1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 4 Ounces Cream Cheese or low carb Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Heat 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large saucepan over high heat.
- Add chicken thighs (in batches) to brown both sides of the chicken.
- Remove cooked chicken to a plate on the side, and continue cooking remaining pieces.
- Add remaining oil to the saucepan and lower the heat to medium.
- Once oil begins to shimmer, add onion, and celery until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add sherry and stir, loosening the brown bits at the bottom of your saucepan.
- Add the chicken broth, Better Than Bouillon, pepper, carrots, bay leaves and the browned chicken + accumulating juices on the plate.
- Cook uncovered for 1 hours, or until the chicken is tender.
- Meanwhile, cut your cauliflower into dumpling sized florets.
- Add them to your soup after it has cooked for 1 hour. Then, continue to cook the soup uncovered for 1 more hours.
- Remove chicken from saucepan and place on a cutting board.
- Once cooled, shred the chicken into bite sized pieces.
- Remove bay leaves and any fat that is floating in the soup.
- Add chicken back to the saucepan along with the parsley, heavy whipping cream and cream cheese.
- Stir together to combine until cream cheese has melted.
- Remove from heat and divvy into bowls. Top with fresh parsley and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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