A few months ago, someone asked me if I had a recipe for a vegetarian version of Chicken and Dumplings. There are a lot of dishes on my mental list of things to make meatless, but that's one that I never really thought about, mostly because I've never had Chicken and Dumplings before. I forgot about it for a while, then I happened to see a Chicken and Dumplings recipe on Martha Stewart's website and thought maybe I'd give this whole Chicken and Dumplings thing a try. Minus the chicken, of course.
The big honkin' question when you're making a meat-based recipe meatless is, "What will I replace the meat with?" I thought about using seitan, but I decided to go with chickpeas because I remembered that Thrifty Veggie Mama had used them in a vegetarian Chicken and Dumplings recipe too and chickpeas are more readily available than seitan. So we have dealt with the main obstacle!
Making a recipe vegetarian isn't always just about switching out one ingredient for another though. For the Martha Stewart recipe I was adapting, I knew a lot of the flavor would come from the chicken, so I needed to add more flavors to the pot to keep the finished dish from being bland. I usually substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth, but in recipes where the chicken broth is a main component, I will sometimes use vegetarian chicken broth, either from the carton or from bouillon cubes. I decided to do that here; I also took some ideas from a Chicken and Dumplings recipe on Saveur and added white wine, extra thyme, and a bay leaf. The Saveur recipe included bacon too; I liked the idea of adding a little smokiness to the stew, so I included a half teaspoon of smoked paprika. This is enough to give the finished dish a subtle, smoky flavor without it being, "Oh, hey, you added smoked paprika to this!"
Chris and I aren't fans of peas, so I took those out and added a parsnip and red potatoes instead. The chickpea-and-veggie stew is prepared in a big Dutch oven and once it comes to a boil, you drop spoonfuls of dumpling batter onto the top. When you put the lid on the Dutch oven, the dumplings will steam in the pot; 20 minutes later, your veggies are tender, your dumplings are firm and puffy, and you have a big pot of comfort food to keep you warm and full.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 large parsnip, sliced
- 2 small red potatoes, diced
- 3 ribs celery, sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon dried dill weed, or 2 tablespoons fresh dill
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ cup white wine
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas (or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas)
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, parsnip, potatoes, celery, thyme, and bay leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, 5-8 minutes.
- While the veggies are cooking, whisk together ¾ cup flour, baking powder, salt, and dill in a medium bowl. Use a fork to gradually stir in ½ cup of milk. The batter should be slightly thicker than pancake batter and drop easily from a spoon; if it's too thick, add the additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time. Set aside.
- Sprinkle the remaining flour over the veggies and stir to coat; cook for 30 seconds. Pour in the white wine and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add the broth, chickpeas, paprika and salt and pepper to the Dutch oven; bring to a slow boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat to low. Drop the dumpling batter into the pot in heaping tablespoonfuls. You should have enough batter for 8-10 dumplings--be sure to keep them evenly spaced because they'll expand as they cook! Cover the Dutch oven and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the dumplings are firm. Remove the bay leaves before serving and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
Nutrition (estimated per serving)
This post was originally published on February 12, 2014.
Natalie @ Once Upon a Cutting Board says
This is so creative! Even as a meat-eater, I've never had chicken and dumplings either, but I think I'd like a chickpea version better anyways! This is perfect comfort food for the snowy weather everyone seems to be having right now!
Kiersten Frase says
Yes, even in the south we've been getting snow! It actually feels like winter here for once. 🙂
Paula – bell’alimento says
I love your twist on a old classic! Delish!
Emily @SinfulNutrition says
No chicken broth?! I've never heard of such a thing! I will have to keep my eye out for this on my next grocery trip. Being a vegetarian myself, I love finding new ways to adapt classic meat dishes into veggie friendly versions that even the non-believers love. Just found your blog and fell in love! Thanks for sharing!
Kiersten Frase says
Thank you! And yes, you definitely need to find yourself some no chicken broth. 🙂 I make a meatless chicken noodle soup and it's just to the same with regular veggie broth!
Jan says
Broth is available on line at imaginefoods
LisaB says
This was a big hit with my family! Thanks for sharing : )
Kiersten Frase says
Yay! I'm happy to hear it was a hit with your family!
Dee says
delicious! added some rotisserie chicken to satisfy the rest of the family.
Kiersten Frase says
Thanks for your comment--I'm glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Jennie @themessybakerblog says
Oooh, love this soup. Chick peas are such a hearty substitution, and I love that you added white wine and parsnips. Yum!
Alexis @ Hummusapien says
TOO fabulous! When I first saw these, I thought they were matzah balls! This looks oh so comforting for these chilly days. YUM.
Kiersten Frase says
I need to work on a matzoh ball soup next! 😀
Uta says
This soup is just fantastic!
I did not use dill for the dumplings, but 40g of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
And next time i will substitute the parsnips as I do not like their flavour
Kiersten Frase says
Yes, parsnips are not everyone's cup of tea. 🙂 I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Dana says
I love anything with dumplings. The ultimate comfort food. They seem to be the first thing to disappear from the soup. Thanks for sharing and I love your blog. It is a must read!
Kiersten Frase says
Thank you! 🙂
Jamie | Thrifty Veggie Mama says
Looks delicious! I'm a big fan of chickpeas
Kiersten Frase says
Thank you! And thanks for inspiring my recipe too! 🙂
LeeAnn says
Love your blog! This, like everything else I've made from this site, was really tasty. Bonus: it pleased the carnivorous bf, too 🙂
Kiersten Frase says
Thank you for your comment! 🙂 I'm so glad to hear the recipe turned out well for you!
Kira Fix says
For this chickpea and dumpling recipe, you stated that y'all aren't fans of peas (assuming you meant green peas). Can you make generic substitutions (add corn, green beans, green peas, zucchini ~ oh I just got a great idea ~ oven roast veggies!)
Kiersten Frase says
Sure, you can add other vegetables into this too. I'd add any of the veggies you listed right before putting in the dumpling batter. Zucchini could also be added at the beginning, with the onion and carrots.
Erika says
Woowoo!! I definitely tried a vegetarian chicken + dumplings recipe awhile ago that did NOT work out so well...can't wait to give this a try! I like the added flavorings to the stock to make it more flavorful...weak stock was definitely a contributing factor to the failure of my attempt. And yay chickpeas!!
Kiersten Frase says
Yeah, a lot of vegetarian remakes need a little more oomph to them once you take out the meat. 🙂 I hope you like it!
Dominique says
Everyone in my family loved this, even the non-vegetarians 🙂
Kiersten Frase says
I'm happy to hear it was a winner! 🙂
Michelle says
IMan oh man, did this hit the spot on a(nother) super cold Wisconsin day. I left out the parsnip (our store was out) and added extra potato. I did add peas, because they are my jam. And I used the full 4 cups of broth in the No Chicken broth container. My dumplings, sadly, did not look as lovely as yours. I wonder if I added too much milk, because they all kind of conjoined on top of the soup? I just gently sliced them into pieces and the end result was thick, flavorful, hearty and it really warmed us up! Thanks!
Kiersten Frase says
I used to live in Wisconsin, so I know those days well. 🙂 The dumplings do spread out as they cook, so depending on the exact size of your pot/Dutch oven, they can bump into each other a little bit.
Katie says
Made this for what I hope is the last winter freeze. The herbs were a fantastic combination!
I made a couple of alterations to fit my food restrictions: natural balance for butter, whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, extra cup of broth, used skim milk to cut out more cholesterol, added some mushrooms to the veggie mix, and used chickpeas I froze a couple of weeks ago after cooking. I did find the soup a little sweet for my taste, I'm thinking the parsnip might have been a little large.
Kiersten Frase says
The parsnip does add sweetness to the soup, so you may want to either use less next time or omit it altogether.
brittani rael says
My daddy had surgery today and my mom and I whipped this up for him just now, OH MY GOODNESS it was absolutely delicious. My only subs were that I had fresh parsley instead of the dill in the dumplings, also my parents prefer the taste or parsley to dill, a bit more mild... and I also seared some chicken simply with olive oil salt pepper garlic powder and italian seasoning, chopped that up and put it on top of the soup. I absolutely loved this. will be a staple from now on in my house!!!!
Kiersten Frase says
I hope your dad is feeling better! I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Sam says
I don't drink, and usually replace white wine with broth in recipes, but I'm thinking about trying out adding the wine in this recipe because I know it adds flavor depth. However, I know absolutely nothing about wine! I know I will be totally overwhelmed by the wine aisle at the grocery store. Do you have a recommendation for what I should buy? I also don't want it to be too pricey, though I did read that using totally crappy wine will ruin a dish. Thanks in advance!
Kiersten Frase says
Actually, I usually buy a cheap bottle of wine when I'm going to be cooking with it. 🙂 It's the cooking wine that you want to avoid--the kind that's sold near the vinegars and oils. You'll want to use a dry white wine for this, like Sauvignon Blanc.
MaryLundShu says
My sweet man and I loved, loved. LOVED this! I look forward to making many more of your recipes for my vegetarian guy. I did not miss the chicken AT ALL!
Kiersten Frase says
Thank you for your comment--I'm happy to hear it was a hit! 🙂
lena says
Can this be done in the crockpot??
Kiersten Frase says
I haven't tried it in a crockpot, so I can't say how long and at what heat you should cook it at, but I think it would work.
Supriya Rao says
Hi,
thank you very much for this wonderful recipe. I made it for lunch today and it was so easy to made and delicious! My 4 yo daughter named it Clouds Soup 🙂
We loved it, mmm mmm mmm!!
Supriya
Kiersten Frase says
Clouds Soup - I love it! The dumplings are definitely like little clouds floating in the pot. 🙂 I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Sacha-Bea says
Hi there! I've just discovered your website and emailed myself seven recipes so far - I can't wait to give some of these a shot!
I plan to try this recipe out soon and am wondering if you know if gluten free flour will work fine for making the dumplings? I've been cooking with it for the last couple of months and have had various results.
Kiersten Frase says
I don't eat a gluten-free diet, so I don't have much experience working with gluten-free flours. I'd look for a gluten-free dumpling recipe and use that instead of the dumpling recipe here - everything else in this recipe should stay the same, although the cook time may vary slightly depending on the dumpling recipe you're using!
Rhonda says
This recipe was delicious. I didn't add the white wine because I didn't have any and it was still very flavorful. My dumplings seemed very doughy but it was the first time I have attempted to make them. Maybe i made the batter too thick. Even my meat eater husband loved it.
Kiersten Frase says
Dumplings usually are a little doughy. 🙂 I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Leslie says
Yum! I had no idea I liked chick pea's the way I do. I started with hummus then I had them on a salad, yum! I'll have to give this one a try. Happy Sunday!
Grace @ FoodFitnessFreshAir says
I never grew up eating dumplings, but I still consider it a comfort food. There's just something about that doughiness in a hot bowl of soup that gets me. Love this chickpea version, as I don't eat chicken!