Allergen-Free Chicken and Dumplings

I have been cooking a lot lately, due to my allergies and intolerances. I have to cook from scratch because it's difficult to find pre-made products that don't include one of my trigger foods. I also spend a lot of time searching for allergen-free recipes online. It's easy to find gluten-free recipes; not so easy to find recipes that are also egg-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and corn-free. Good thing I'm skilled in recipe adaptation.

I was craving chicken and dumplings this week, and though I searched several web sites, I could not find a recipe that worked for me. Not to be defeated, I frankensteined one together from several different recipes. Amazingly, it turned out to be super delicious! My husband, who has no allergies, thought they were great as well. So, in case someone else like me is frantically searching online for an allergen-free chicken and dumpling recipe, I thought I'd post mine.

This is what they call "southern-style" chicken and dumplings, where the dumplings are more like noodles than biscuits. I didn't know it was southern-style, to be honest, I thought it was the only way to make them until I started looking up recipes. These dumplings will be fairly soft and doughy. I like them that way, but if you don't, you may want to try something different. I wish I had a photo, but we already ate these dumplings up!

Allergen-free Chicken and Dumplings
(gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free, nut-free)

Ingredients:
2 chicken leg quarters or equivalent bone-in chicken
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms
1/4 c. chopped onions
1 tsp. salt or salt to taste
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. ground pepper or pepper to taste
1 1/2 c. gluten-free Bisquick*
1/3 c. coconut oil
about 1 c. water

Instructions:
1. Boil chicken in enough water to cover. Add salt to broth while cooking. This should take about 30 minutes. Chicken is done when it's fork tender and no longer pink inside. Remove chicken and allow to cool.

2. Add mushrooms, onions, pepper, parsley, and thyme to broth. Keep boiling on low heat. Cover pot. You probably want the vegetables to cook for 20 minutes or so. I simmered mine while I de-boned the chicken and made the dumplings, and that worked well.

3. De-bone chicken and add chicken back into pot.

4. To make dumplings, cut coconut oil into Bisquick until small crumbs form and/or you can pinch the mixture together and it sticks. (Use a pastry blender or a fork for this. You could probably also mix it in a food processor, but I don't bother.)

5. Add in water, about 1/4 c. at a time, mixing until the dough sticks together. You want it to be somewhere between crumbly and wet. If you get it too wet, you can always add in more Bisquick. It's going to be more crumbly than a wheat flour dough, however, and that's OK.

6. Knead 4-5 times and roll out between two sheets of wax paper until it is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. You can flour the paper with either Bisquick or another gluten-free flour. Remove top sheet of wax paper and cut dough into 1"x3" strips. I salted my strips at this point. I don't know if that's necessary, but I like salty dumplings.

7. Quickly add the strips to the boiling stew. (A good number of mine broke in two as I was peeling them off the paper, but that didn't hurt anything.) Keep the lid on the pot for 20 minutes while the dumplings cook.

8. Enjoy your delicious, allergen-free chicken and dumplings!

*Always check the ingredients of any baking mixes. I can personally tolerate gluten-free Bisquick, but others may not. If you are unable to use Bisquick, you might try another baking mix. If you use a gluten-free flour instead, make sure to add xanthan gum and baking powder to it.