Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken & Dumplings
This delicious throwback might have you reconsidering your chicken pot pie. This vintage recipe for Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken & Dumplings is the original, and the other’s just a cheap knock off. Serve an old fashioned Southern-style dinner your family will love with this tasty treat.
When you think of Chicken Pot Pie, what comes to mind? Let me guess. Images of creamy chicken and vegetable filling sandwiched between two layers of buttery, flaky pie crust. Am I right?
That is chicken pot pie, but not the version my family’s originally familiar with.
We may call this Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken & Dumplings, but where the recipe originated- Amish country- it’s called Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie.
They wouldn’t even consider a crust, instead their ‘pot pie’ includes thick square noodles. They’re amazing, and a true calling to the card-holing carb lover in all of us.
It all originated from a European, probably English, dish that was essentially throw all our leftovers in a pot. Boil them until they’re a flavor-infused sensation, and then add pastry.
All the best ideas, and use of leftovers. Leading to the best of modern, old school interpretations.
The Pennsylvania Dutch are typically of German descent, sometimes Swiss, and while this dish originated in Europe as a way to stretch leftovers- it was them that began adding the thick slippery noodles to the broth.
They’re also what totally make the dish.
It also explains how our family, who eventually settled in Virginia, shifted to calling it Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken & Dumplings instead of pot pie.
The noodles are what separates it from all the others, and while most people state-side would call them ‘dumplings’ nowadays, they were originally referred to as ‘bott boi’.
Thick, square egg noodles- this really was originally an everything and the kitchen sink style recipes, and the noodles were added to stretch it farther.
A meal after my own heart. Period. Regardless of culture or time period, but I do love knowing where a good dish came from.
THE MAIN STAPLES OF THIS DELICIOUS DINNER?
- Broth
- Potatoes
- Chicken
- Vegetables
Again, super simple- and a great way to stretch the week’s groceries. It was like the original make the most of your money meal, except they stumbled onto something truly great.
This cultural favorite can’t be forgotten, and frankly deserve to be spread out to the masses. People don’t know what they’re missing.
And trust me, this Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken & Dumplings (or pot pie, depending on where you’re from) is something everyone should experience.
A rich broth of chicken is infused with fresh veggie flavor, studded with onion, potato, celery, peas, and carrots.
The noodles are added and boiled to perfection, then the dish is seasoned with salt & pepper, and thickened with a simple corn starch slurry.
Check a page out of your Grandma’s recipe book, and make this Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken & Dumplings for your family. It’s the perfect opportunity to create a new tradition.
Other Recipes You Might Also Enjoy:
- Sour Cream Corn Bread Dumplings
- Tomato Bisque with Cheddar Bay Dumplings
- Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings
If you’ve tried this PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS, or any other recipe on the site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!
Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken & Dumplings
Ingredients
For The Noodle Dough
- 3 cups flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- water, as needed
For The Broth
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups chopped, rotisserie chicken
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 4 potatoes peeled & diced
- 2 cups sweet peas
- 1-2 carrot peeled, and diced
- 2 tsp parsley
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
To Make The Noodle Dough
- Add to a large mixing bowl, the flour, eggs, and salt. Mix together, and add small amounts of water until the dough comes together and forms a ball.
- Flour a counter-top, then roll out the dough on top, until the dough is 1/2" thick. Cut the dough into 1 1/2" squares.
To Make The Broth
- To a stock pot, add the broth, celery, peas, carrots, potatoes, onion, and parsley.
- Bring the mixture to a rolling boil, then add the noodles in one at a time- to prevent sticking. Reduce the mixture to a simmer, and let the noodles cook for 25 minutes, or until tender.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water together until smooth. Stir the slurry into the soup mixture.
- Continue to simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, until thickened (3-5 minutes). When thickened, stir in the chicken. Salt & pepper, the soup- to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe shared at blog parties HERE & HERE.
This looks so delicious and comforting.. Thanks for sharing on Fiesta Friday party!
Oh I love these! These sounds so delicious & tempting that one almost starts drooling. Thanks for sharing this at Fiesta Friday!
I can still see my “Nana” mixing and rolling out the dough and cutting the squares. She was always careful to lay each square into the boiling broth before adding the next. I must say that the better way(but not as quick) is to cook your own chicken, I think the rotisserie chicken changes the flavor of this dish. And in southeaster PA, we always called it chicken pot pie when I was a kid. It is yummy, just the thing to eat during the upcoming snow storm predicted for this weekend.
I do know the recipe goes by different connotations depending on the area- chicken pot pie being one of them. For the thought in central VA, pot pie’s a similar mixture but much thicker and always sandwiched between two layers of pie crusts. I love that this can be simplified with the use of pre cooked chicken, but if you have the time- yes, everything’s always better & a bit more flavorful when made completely from scratch.
4SONSRUS, the one you are talking about much thicker and with pie crust is what my mom used to make . using a fresh chicken and all. I wish I would of paid better attention to my mom making this because now she is gone and I have been craving this sooo much just like you mentioned and I cannot find that exact recipe. 🙁
Chicken pot pie between crusts isn’t even the same as PA Dutch chicken pot pie. I grew up in SE PA and mother made it a lot and taught me how to make it. Potatoes and onions were the only vegetables added – never peas or carrots. I realize every area is different and has different versions but the crusted pot pie is not anything like the regular pot pie. Thanks for letting me spout.
Happy to hear your thoughts Jeanne, but I do feel that I go into detail and differentiate the two. They have common roots after all. And everybody has their own spin on things. I’d love if you could share your family recipe! I very much enjoy learning different takes on things from different regions.
Got bad news for you but this is not Pennsylvania Dutch. PA Dutch dumplings are free-formed and pillowy, not square-cut noodles. This is a southern dumpling recipe.
Matt, I moved from Lancaster a really long time ago, my mother and all the neighbors made the drop dumplings too. It was an art to make an airy biscuit like dumpling. I’m not familiar with the flat noodle version but willing to give it a go. I remember when a wife would introduce a different version of a dish all the women would whisper.
My mom made this every year after Thanksgiving using the left over turkey. I don’t care what you call it- my mom called it pot pie. It tasted just like hers! So good!
I added a rounded teaspoon of poultry seasoning like my Grandma to deepen the flavor and use chicken broth in the noodle making.
Oh my heavens! I cannot wait to give this a go! It sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing it… just in time for Fall weather!
I grew up on chicken pot pie. My family’s recipe is different than yours, and goes back at least 6 generations. Here’s how I was told to make it:when I was 12:
Lard, about the size of a walnut
Flour
Salt
Ice water
Combine lard, flour & salt and work it till the lard coats the flour and it looks crumbly. Begin adding ice water until a dough forms. Not to sticky & not to dry. Let rest for awhile, 30 minutes or so. Should feel silky. Using a bench scraper divide dough so it’s manageable to troll out. Roll dough not to thin & not to thick cut into squares and drip into boiling chicken stock, cook approximately 20 minutes.
When my grandkids were 2 I started letting them roll it out, cut it and help drop it. As you can imagine the shapes were quite interesting. They have all been able to make it since they were 8-10 years old. They know the recipe by heart.
They love it made with ham & beans and cornbread on the side.
Your recipe sounds close to mine. My mom made chicken pot pie and when we would go to church dinners in Williamsport, Pa. they would have this. Also sometimes they would have Chicken and Waffles which was chicken and gravy served over waffles (people couldn’t believe as a child how much I consumed of this). Now when I make the Chicken Pot Pie I use boneless chicken thighs because I think they have more flavor and buy the chicken broth or use Better than Boullion. Glad to see other people like this and know for us Chicken Pot Pie us not with pie crust.
100% agree, not all pot pie includes are crust 🙂