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These Cracker Barrel dumplings are soft, tender, and swimming in a buttery Chicken Gravy that tastes just like the restaurant side dish. The dough comes together with simple pantry ingredients, and there’s no fancy technique required. You’re going to love how cozy and comforting they are.
Why You’ll Love It
- Soft, tender dumplings — simple dough cooks into the signature slippery, comforting texture.
- Easy pantry ingredients — flour, milk, oil, butter, and chicken soup base are all you need.
- Comforting side dish — a cozy alternative to potatoes or a full casserole.
- Freezer-friendly — freeze the uncooked dumplings for an easy future meal.
Ingredient Notes
Use regular all-purpose flour here. Nothing special. I have tried using a fancy unbleached flour because it was what I had open, and it worked fine, but honestly I don’t notice enough difference to make a speech about it.
The chicken soup base matters because it gives both the cooking liquid and the finished sauce that savory restaurant-style flavor. Better Than Bouillon is usually what I have in the refrigerator, though any chicken soup base will do. The original approach mentions bouillon cubes as an option, and those are fine too—just make sure they dissolve completely in the boiling water before the dumplings go in. Nobody wants to bite into a salty little cube. Lord knows I have done it.
Vegetable oil keeps the dumpling dough tender. I would not swap in olive oil unless it is very mild, because this is one of those recipes where you want the flavor to stay plain and homey. Plain is not an insult.
The tiny bit of sugar in the sauce does not make it sweet. It just rounds out the salty chicken flavor. Leave it in. I know it sounds odd.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling—I always scatter a little extra around because the dough can be a touch sticky
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 quarts water, for boiling
- 2 teaspoons chicken soup base
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- Salt, to taste
- 3 to 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour—I usually begin with 3, then go to 4 if I want a thicker sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons chicken soup base
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup dumpling cooking liquid, reserved from the pot
- Pepper, to taste
Instructions
In a mixing bowl, combine the 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, 1 cup milk, and vegetable oil. Stir it all together until you have a soft dough. Turn it out onto a well-floured surface and knead it just four or five times. That’s it. Don’t stand there working it like you’re mad at it. I did that once and wound up with dumplings that had the texture of little throw pillows.
Roll the dough out to about 1/8-inch thick. Thin is what you want. Not paper-thin, because then you’ll be scraping bits of dough off the counter and using words your mother wouldn’t appreciate, but close. Cut the dough into rectangles about 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches. They do not have to be identical. Mine never are. The uneven ones are the cook’s reward, supposedly.
In a large saucepan, bring the 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons chicken soup base to a boil. Stir until the soup base dissolves. Add the dumplings carefully, a handful at a time if your pot is crowded. Give them a gentle stir so they don’t all decide to marry each other at the bottom of the pan.
Cook the dumplings until they float up toward the top of the pot and are just about done, roughly the 10-minute cooking window overall. Keep an eye on them. They’re not difficult, but they can go from tender to a little too soft if you wander away to fold towels. Ask me how I know. Use a strainer or slotted spoon to lift the cooked dumplings into a bowl. Reserve the cooking liquid—at least 1/2 cup, and up to 3/4 cup for the sauce.
While the dumplings cook, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt and the 3 to 4 tablespoons flour. Stir until it thickens into a smooth paste. It will look a little like the beginning of gravy, because that’s essentially where we’re headed.
Stir the sugar into the 1 cup milk. Add the milk mixture to the butter-and-flour mixture a little at a time, whisking constantly. I mean constantly. This is not the moment to check the mail or see why the dog is barking at absolutely nothing again. Keep whisking until the sauce is thick and smooth.
Take the sauce off the heat and gently fold in the cooked dumplings. Add the 2 teaspoons chicken soup base and then Slowly stir in 1/2 cup of the reserved dumpling cooking liquid. Put the pan back over low heat and let everything simmer gently until blended. If it seems thicker than you like, add more of that cooking liquid, up to 3/4 cup total. Finish with plenty of pepper. Taste before adding more salt—the soup base can be plenty salty all by itself.
Variations
If you want chicken and dumplings, you certainly can add cooked chicken to the finished sauce and dumplings. Shredded rotisserie chicken makes that especially easy, though then you’ve turned a humble side dish into dinner and people start expecting vegetables. Extra black pepper and a little more chicken broth flavor work well, while the recipe is also delicious just as written.
I tried adding chopped parsley once because I had company coming and wanted them to look prettier. They tasted fine, but they no longer had that plain Cracker Barrel-style look I was after. Pretty food is overrated sometimes. A plate of beige dumplings can be exactly what the day calls for.
You could make the dough ahead, roll and cut it, then freeze the uncooked pieces on a tray lined with freezer paper for a couple of hours. Once they’re firm, transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag and keep them frozen for later. Cook them straight from frozen in the seasoned boiling water. That’s the theory, anyway. The one time I did it, somebody shoved a bag of frozen peas on top of them and half the dumplings froze into one large, tragic dumpling continent. Keep the tray level.
Storage & Reheating
Leftovers keep in the refrigerator for about three days in a covered container. The sauce thickens quite a bit overnight—don’t panic. It is supposed to do that, though I always forget and briefly assume I ruined everything.
Reheat the dumplings gently in a saucepan over low heat with a splash of milk or a little chicken broth if you have it. You can use water in a pinch, but milk brings back that creamy texture better. Stir carefully so you don’t break the dumplings apart. The microwave works too, but do it in short bursts and stir between them. Microwaved dumplings have a way of becoming molten in the middle while the bowl stays oddly cold. Modern technology, supposedly.
Final Notes
These are not dainty little dumplings, and they aren’t trying to be. They’re soft and comforting and a little old-fashioned—the sort of thing you scoop onto a plate without measuring and then go back for another spoonful while you’re “just cleaning up.”
The smell fills the kitchen with something warm and comforting.
Not in a sad way. Well… maybe a little. But then somebody calls asking if there’s any left, and there usually isn’t.
Cracker Barrel Dumplings
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and rolling
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 quarts water for boiling
- 2 teaspoons chicken soup base
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 to 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour use 4 tablespoons for a thicker sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons chicken soup base
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup reserved dumpling cooking liquid reserved from the pot
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, 1 cup milk, and vegetable oil, then stir until a soft dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead it just four or five times so the dumplings stay tender.
- Roll the dough out to about 1/8-inch thick, then cut it into rectangles about 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches.
- In a large saucepan, bring the 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons chicken soup base to a boil, stirring until the soup base dissolves, then carefully add the dumplings and stir gently so they do not stick together.
- Cook the dumplings until they float toward the top and are just about done, about 10 minutes overall, then lift them into a bowl with a strainer or slotted spoon and reserve at least 1/2 cup and up to 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
- While the dumplings cook, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add a pinch of salt and the 3 to 4 tablespoons flour, and stir until the mixture thickens into a smooth paste.
- Stir the sugar into the 1 cup milk, then add the milk mixture to the butter-and-flour mixture a little at a time, whisking constantly until the sauce is thick and smooth.
- Remove the sauce from the heat, gently fold in the cooked dumplings, add the 2 teaspoons chicken soup base, and slowly stir in 1/2 cup of the reserved dumpling cooking liquid.
- Return the pan to low heat and simmer gently until blended, adding more reserved cooking liquid up to 3/4 cup total if the sauce is too thick, then finish with plenty of pepper and taste before adding more salt.