For as long as I’ve known my husband, chicken and dumplins have been at the top of his list of favorite foods. When we had been dating for about a year, I went with him to visit his hometown and his mom gave me a dumplin lesson. It was a fun little bonding experience, and it’s come in handy because one of the fastest ways to make his day is to make homemade dumplins. I used to be really intimidated by them, but practicing, and using this pretty simple recipe has made them very approachable. This is my mother in law’s grandmother’s recipe, so we are the fourth and fifth generations to use it!

This is a six ingredient recipe- boiled chicken, plus five for the dumplins. I typically double the ingredients each time and make 3 total batches for six times that original recipe. (I told y’all Steven Smith loves chicken and dumplins!)

Start by boiling chicken in water or chicken broth (I used water with a few teaspoons of chicken bouillon) in a large stock pot. While that is cooking, sift together the dry ingredients- flour, salt, and baking powder. Push all the dry ingredients to the sides of the mixing bowl to make a “well” and pour the milk in the center. Melt your shortening and let it cool. Every time I make these, my savant otherwise useless gift is that I can accurately put the solid Crisco in that will melt to the exact right amount.

Once the shortening is cooled a little, mix in with the other four ingredients to make a dough, similar to like a pizza dough consistency. Add in small amounts of flour as you go so it is easier to handle and less sticky. Take this dough and roll it out on a floured surface (I use my clean countertop) until it is about 1/4″ thick. Once it is rolled out, cut the dough into rectangles that are about 1″ wide by 2″ long.

At this point, if you haven’t already, remove your boiled chicken from the pot. Make sure your pot is about three-quarters full with liquid and it is at a low boil. Start dropping the dough rectangles into the pot, stirring as you drop them in.

Let the dumplins steam for about 15 minutes, stirring every so often so they don’t stick and burn on the bottom. The original recipe says to keep them covered, but I’ve never been able to keep them covered without the lid rocking around from the pressure of the steam. During this time, you can mix up another batch to add, or shred your chicken while you wait for these to be ready (I do this in my stand mixer, but shred however you like!). Once you have the amount of dumplins you want ready, add your chicken back in and let it all cook together for about 10 minutes. Then dish up a big bowl, add some cracked black pepper and enjoy!