For Deb Freeman, a Richmond, Virginia-based food writer and historian, few dishes are as comforting as chicken and dumplings. “I very clearly remember watching my nana make the pastry,” says Freeman. Her grandmother would tear a brown paper bag to cover the kitchen table and use an iced tea glass to roll out the pastry, cut it into strips and plop it into the pot with the vegetables and stock. "I remember being so amazed by that process, thinking, ‘How did flour and water become all this?’” Freeman recalls.

Chicken and dumplings is a hearty stew of slow-cooked chicken and homemade biscuit dough beloved by generations of cooks. Variations abound. Some people simmer an entire bird until it breaks down; others create a rib-sticking meal out of a singular bone-in chicken leg. The pastry might consist of little more than flour and fat or be seasoned with a spice rack’s worth of flavor. Dumplings can be rolled and stirred into slow-simmering broth or dropped atop its surface to steam. There might be vegetables and aromatics like carrots and onions in the pot, too.

“It’s not trendy, it’s not a 'foodie’ dish,” says Freeman. “The ingredients aren’t too expensive, and if you make it in big quantities, it can feed a whole family.”

Inherited recipes for chicken and dumplings often require hours of simmering to build flavor and texture, but many modern cooks have less time to spend fussing at their stovetop. Emily Weinberger, recipe developer at Food Network, says that her secret ingredient to easy chicken and dumplings is store-bought potato flakes.

Why Store-Bought Potato Flakes Are a Smart Chicken and Dumplings Shortcut

One hallmark of chicken and dumplings is its hearty but never heavy texture, which many cooks create by using a roux. The basis of French béchamel and many Japanese curries, a roux is made from equal-parts flour and fat such as butter or neutral oil. When heated and stirred together, the fat coats the granules of the starch to form a paste-like consistency. The trick is to avoid burning the fat while the flour cooks until fully combined. Once the roux reaches its desired color and consistency, cooks add a liquid-like water or broth to turn it into a silky stew like chicken and dumplings.

Weinberger’s swap works because potato flakes and all-purpose flour have a similarly starchy makeup: dehydrated potatoes consist of approximately 65% starch, and commercial all-purpose flour is circa 70% starch. Unlike flour, which can clump or separate as it cooks, potato flakes require no added fat or slow cooking to create the broth. They’re sometimes labeled “instant mashed potatoes” because they dissolve into liquid almost immediately.

“They thicken the broth the way a roux would, but they’re gluten-free and take way less time and fewer ingredients,” Weinberger explains.

How to Make Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Weinberger’s recipe starts by softening carrots, celery, onions and garlic, then covering with white wine and reducing for flavor before adding quick-cooking chicken thighs, broth and potato flakes. The pot simmers for 15 to 20 minutes—the perfect amount of time to make pastry out of more potato flakes, gluten-free flour, garlic powder, milk and olive oil—then she stirs in cream, frozen peas, parsley and the dumplings.

The entire dish requires less than an hour of active cooking, and it’s a favorite in Weinberger’s family. “We love having chicken and dumplings on the weekends, but this version is so much faster and allows us to have it during the week as well,” she says. She especially likes to serve it to her kids during the colder months. “The broth is so flavorful, and they don’t even realize they are eating vegetables at the same time.”

This time-saving trick makes an old-fashioned favorite more accessible, too. “It’s a tribute to the longstanding, iconic nature of chicken and dumplings that the dish can be adapted in so many ways by so many people,” says Freeman. “This dish can be anything to anyone." Whether your household is gluten-free, on a budget, eager for a hearty meal without a lot of time or all the above, there’s always a way to get chicken and dumplings on the table.

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