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Alton Brown's Chicken and Dropped Dumplings

Alton Brown's recipe written in my own words to include how to make it in the Instant Pot. And I have doubled the dumplings because who doesn't want twice as many dumplings!
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Keyword Alton Brown, Instant Pot, soup
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

For the chicken & broth

  • 4-5 pound whole chicken giblets removed
  • 3 tsp kosher salt
  • 7-9 cups water
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary optional

For the dumplings

Instructions

Cooking the Chicken

  • Place the whole chicken in the Instant Pot. If you have a silicone sling you can put that underneath the chicken.
  • Add water to cover most of the chicken, being careful not to go above the maximum fill line. Add 3 tsp of kosher salt (and dried rosemary if using)
  • Put on the lid and set to sealing. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes.
  • You can do a natural release or manual. If you do manual make sure the steam can go into a open space (not underneath your kitchen cabinets).
  • When cooked enough to handle, carefully remove the chicken to a large plate or platter. Shred and set aside. Toss the skin and bones. Save all the liquid. You can strain it if you want but it's necessary in my opinion.

To make the dumplings

  • Set a frying or sauce pan over high heat. Add ½ cup of the cooking liquid from the chicken along with the butter and 1 tsp of kosher salt.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Once boiling add all the flour at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough comes together.
  • Reduce the heat to low and continue stirring for a couple more minutes or until the dough is in a ball and is no longer really sticky.
  • Place into a large mixing bowl and get out a hand mixer.
  • Using the mixer, mix the dough until it breaks into little balls and has cooled.
  • Add 1 egg at a time and mix it to combine. Make sure it's completely incorporated before adding the next egg.
  • Once you have incorporated the last egg, place the dough into a resalable plastic bag. Cut out a corner to make a piping bag.
  • HIt the saute button on the Instant Pot and bring your broth to a simmer. Squeeze the dough out of the corner of the bag, cutting the dough with kitchen shears at about 1 inch.
  • When you are finished, cook the dumplings for 8 to 10 minutes with the lid back on but not sealed. If the water starts to boil too hard, just hit the keep warm button or turn off the pot.
  • Once the dumplings are cooked through (check one), add in the chicken. Give the chicken a couple minutes to warm up then serve the soup.

Notes

Optional - you can take away half the all purpose flour and replace it with semolina flour
How to make using a traditional pressure cooker
Place the chicken and 3 teaspoons of salt in the pressure cooker. Add water to just cover the chicken without passing the maximum fill line.
Cover and lock the lid. Over high heat, bring the pot to pressure. It should take about 20 minutes.
Then reduce the heat to low so that pot will be barely hissing. Cook for 45 minutes.
Release the pressure according to the device's manual or run under cold water for 5 minutes before attempting to open.
Procced with the instructions to make the dumplings.