This recipe for Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings hits a home run in terms of flavor, comfort, and ease! Made with tender chicken and homemade dumplings enveloped in a rich broth studded with carrots and potatoes, this Instant Pot Chicken Breast Recipe is easy enough to prepare on a chilly evening.
Chicken and Dumplings is a comfort food recipe that is near and dear to my heart. Not only is it absolutely delicious, but it is tied to precious childhood memories, straight from my Papa's kitchen. Just like his recipes for baked beans, pot roast, and chicken pot pie, chicken and dumplings delivers comforting flavors with simple ingredients.
Reasons to Make Instant Pot Chicken & Dumplings
- From-Scratch Comfort Food. Instead of using canned biscuits, this hearty soup is made with homemade dumplings. They are easy to make and elevate the flavor of Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings two-fold.
- Easy Enough for a Weeknight Dinner. I took my Papa's recipe for Chicken and Dumplings and adapted it to become an Instant Pot Recipe that is ready in just over 30 minutes.
- Stick-To-Your-Ribs Comfort Food. Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings is rich, creamy, and insanely satisfying.
Notes On Ingredients
- Chicken: Either boneless, skinless chicken breasts or boneless, skinless chicken thighs work in this recipe.
- White Wine: To add an incredible depth of flavor to this recipe, I add a bit of dry white wine. You want to use a good quality dry wine such as a Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, or Riesling. If you would rather not cook with alcohol, simply use additional chicken stock in place of the wine.
- Chicken Stock: Use low-sodium store-bought or homemade chicken stock, instant pot chicken stock, bone broth, or broth.
- Seasoned Salt: My papa always used seasoned salt for a little bit of oomph to the chicken and dumplings. I always keep homemade seasoned salt on hand, but if you don't have it on hand, feel free to replace it with a mixture of ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika.
- Fresh Thyme: If you don't have fresh thyme, dried thyme leaves, not ground thyme, will work to flavor the soup.
- Heavy Cream: To finish the chicken stew with a rich, creamy finish, I recommend adding in heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk. I have even used skim milk in a bind, and while not as rich tasting, it was still delicious.
- Homemade Dumplings: To make dumplings, you need flour, baking powder, milk, and butter. While you certainly can use canned refrigerated biscuits, homemade dumplings are so easy to make and they taste so much better.
Equipment Needed
- Instant Pot: This recipe works with either a 6-quart Instant Pot or an 8-quart Instant Pot. If you are using a 3-quart Instant Pot, it is best to cut the recipe in half but leave the cooking time the same.
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
The following tips are provided to help you achieve perfect results. You will find the detailed instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step One: Saute Chicken
Just like all good soup recipes, Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings starts by sauteeing chicken with onions and celery. This adds a few minutes of prep time to the overall recipe, but the results are well worth it.
Step Two: Deglaze the Inner Pot
It is crucial to deglaze the pan any time you use the saute function. This is the process of using liquid to scrape up the browned bits that may be on the bottom of the inner pot and will help to prevent a burn notice from occurring. For this recipe, I use white wine to add flavor to the chicken soup, but you can certainly replace the wine with additional chicken stock.
Step Three: Layer Ingredients
Once the inner pot has been deglazed, you want to add in the chicken stock, seasonings, potatoes, and carrots.
Step Four: Make Dumplings
At this point, you want to make the dumplings OR cut up refrigerated biscuit dough into 1-inch cubes. But let me remind you again, homemade dumplings are going to be superior in flavor and texture and take only minutes to make.
Step Five: Add Dumplings
Before pressure cooking, you want to add your dumplings or biscuit dough to the soup. The homemade dumpling dough is a bit sticky, so I find this is easiest to do using a mini cookie scoop, or two soup spoons.
Step Six: Pressure Cook
This chicken stew cooks FAST--in just five minutes. But it is crucial to allow for pressure to release naturally once the pressure cooking is complete. This simply means to leave your instant pot alone (the keep warm can be on) for at least 15 minutes. This will ensure the chicken and dumplings stay tender AND that you won't have a huge mess to clean up by forcing a quick release which will cause hot liquid to spew all over your kitchen.
Step Seven: Finish Chicken Stew
To help thicken up the chicken and dumplings and finish the stew with a rich, luxurious finish, I love to add heavy cream. I also add frozen peas for a pop of fresh flavor. Both are completely optional, but do help to make this the best chicken and dumplings!
Step Eight: Serve
At this point, the chicken and dumplings are ready to be served and enjoyed.
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
Looking for more Instant Pot Soup Recipes? You will love Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup, Instant Pot Minestrone Soup, or one of the following recipes.
- Instant Pot French Onion Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Orzo Soup
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup
- Instant Pot Potato Soup
- Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup
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I hope you enjoy a bowl or two of this Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings and be sure to leave a comment or review below if you gave this recipe a try.
Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings with Homemade Dumplings
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion minced
- 2 stalks celery finely chopped
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or thighs cubed in 1-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ cup dry white wine optional
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 3 large carrots peeled and cut into slices
- 3 russet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes (about 3 loosely packed cups)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ½ cup heavy cream or whole milk
Homemade Dumplings
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- ¾ cup milk
Instructions
Homemade Dumplings
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in the milk and melted butter. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture just comes together. Set aside to add to the chicken soup.
Chicken and Dumpling Soup
- Turn the Instant Pot on by hitting the SAUTE button. Add the oil to the inner pot and let it heat. Once heated, add onions, celery, and chicken to the inner pot and saute until the chicken is seared and the onions have softened, 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds, just to toast the garlic.
- Add the wine (or ½ cup of the chicken broth if not using wine) to the inner pot and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the inner pot. Let the wine cook off for 1-2 minutes and then hit CANCEL to turn off the saute function on the instant pot.
- Add the broth, carrots, potatoes, bay leaf, thyme, seasoned salt, and pepper to the inner pot and stir to evenly combine all the ingredients.
- Drop the homemade dumpling dough into the soup by about 1 tablespoon portion. Once all the dumplings have been portioned out into the soup, gently submerge the dumplings into the liquid, by gently pushing them down, just to cover, into the chicken broth mixture.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and be sure the venting knob is sealed. Press "Pressure Cook" or "Manual" and set to cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally for at least 15 minutes. Then carefully release any remaining pressure and open the lid of the instant pot.
- Hit “Cancel” and then “Saute.” Add in the heavy cream and peas and stir. While stirring, look for the bay leaf and thyme springs and remove them from the soup. Let the soup simmer for 3-5 minutes or until warmed through and slightly thickened. Serve immediately.
Randall
Made this for supper this evening. Mixed up the last step and added the peas and milk before the pressure cook. With that in mind it came out great the soup was thick and I didn't have to simmer it. By the way the dumpling were great and took the place of crusty bread or buns
Waiting to see how it taste the second day.
Kristen Chidsey
Thanks for sharing, Randall! I am happy to hear you were still able to enjoy the soup despite adding the milk too early.
Jack Montgomery
Everything in the chicken and dumpling recipe was wonderful except the dumplings. They were way too dense, not light and fluffy like moms from my childhood. How to lighten them up?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Jack! I am sorry the dumplings weren't to your satisfaction. It may have been that you used too much flour or overmixed the dough. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup, and be sure to just lightly combine until fully moistened. That should help 🙂 And as recipe directs, let pressure release for 15 minutes.
Jennifr kay Taylor
amazing, our fav
Julie
For those that are Gluten Free, I use Namaste Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend when needing flour...works in everything.
Secondly, is the chicken precooked? It looks like it, but can't really tell and nothing is said about raw or cooked chicken.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Julie! This is raw chicken that was cubed and sauteed with the veggies prior to pressure cooking the soup.
Cassidy
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it. We’re a gluten free family and I’ve never had great success with my own gf dumplings- do you think it would change the cook time at all if I used diced potatoes in place of dumplings?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Cassidy! I would leave the cooking time the same 🙂 Enjoy! Gluten-free dumplings are hard to get right. The extra starch the gf flour releases into the soup can be a bit problematic.
LuAnn
This was so simple and delicious! I've always been intimidated about making dumplings, but this worked beautifully. Even my fussy eaters enjoyed it. Thank you, Kristen!!
Kristen Chidsey
Wonderful! I love hearing you all enjoyed the stew and found the dumplings to be easy to make. Thanks for sharing, LuAnn.
Stacy
This meal was delicious and so easy to follow! Nice comfort food to have on a chilly, rainy night. I will definitely be making this one again.
Kristen Chidsey
Fabulous! I love hearing you enjoyed Stacy! Thanks for sharing!
Leah
These were so good.... made tonight and omitted the oil, celery and potatoes but doubled the veggies and used an entire can of biscuits. Crowd was pleased and produced empty bowls twice.
Kristen Chidsey
Thanks for sharing Leah! I love hearing you enjoyed this comfort food 🙂
Carol
Delicious! Consistency of the sauce was great, similar to that of a chicken pot pie. The dumplings did turn out more firm than fluffy, but they were tasty nonetheless. The veggies were the perfect level of doneness, still bright in color, with carrots tender and potatoes just beginning to break down a bit to thicken the sauce. Thank you!
Sasha Carter
New to the Instant Pot and your recipes I have tried so far are easy to follow. I first cooked a whole chicken in the Instant Pot. Then made broth with the bones and veggie scraps. Then used the chicken and broth to make the chicken and dumplings. So yummy! I used sweet potato and potato, and no peas. The dumplings did turn brown because my broth was dark, but still awesome.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Sasha! I am so glad you have found my recipes easy to follow and tasty--that is exactly what my goal was in creating them!