When the weather turns cold, chicken and dumplings is the dinner everyone wants. My shortcut is rotisserie chicken and Bisquick, with familiar ingredients that stretch into a generous meal without a long shopping list. I call it one of my cheapest family dinners, although grocery prices naturally vary.
Some Instant Pot recipes use just 8 minutes on High Pressure and a 10-minute natural release. That isn't the entire cooking time, though. The fluffy dumplings still need their own gentle simmer, just like the ones many of us remember from the Bisquick box.
Easy Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
Servings: Approximately 6
Total time: Approximately 50–60 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups shredded, cooked rotisserie chicken
- 2 cups Original Bisquick mix
- ⅔ cup milk
Instructions
- Sauté the vegetables. Melt butter in the Instant Pot. Add onion, carrots, and celery, cooking for approximately 5 minutes.
- Add the broth. Stir in chicken broth, thyme, and pepper. Scrape the bottom of the pot.
- Pressure cook. Secure the lid and cook on High Pressure for 8 minutes, followed by a 10-minute natural release. Carefully vent remaining pressure.
- Add the chicken. Stir in shredded rotisserie chicken. Select Sauté and bring everything to a boil, heating the chicken thoroughly to 165°F.
- Prepare the dumplings. Mix Bisquick and milk until a soft dough forms. Drop spoonfuls onto the boiling stew without submerging them.
- Finish cooking. Reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, then cover with a regular lid for another 10 minutes. Check that the centers are no longer doughy.
Instant Pot cooking times vary between recipes. Some use 8 minutes under pressure, while others use 12 minutes with a 5–10-minute release.
The pressure-cooking stage doesn't include pressurizing or cooking the dumplings.
Why Chicken and Dumplings Is an Old-Fashioned Favorite
Chicken and dumplings has roots across the Southern United States, Midwest, and French Canada.
Traditionally, cooks simmered chicken in water and used the resulting broth to cook dumplings.
Despite its reputation as a Depression-era dinner, the dish appeared much earlier, dating back nearly 200 years to the 1800s.
Mary Randolph included a meat-and-dumpling dish in The Virginia Housewife in 1836, while Marion Cabell Tyree published stewed chicken and dumplings in 1879.
Our grandmothers were making a dish that already had generations of history behind it!
Why Bisquick Makes This Dinner So Easy
Bisquick was conceived in 1930 and launched in 1931, after General Mills executive Carl Smith encountered freshly made biscuits aboard a train.
Those familiar box dumplings have been appearing in American kitchens and advertisements for more than 70 years.
Betty Crocker's Bisquick dumplings are a two-ingredient dough, made with 2 cups Bisquick and ⅔ cup milk.
Drop the dough into boiling stew, cook uncovered for 10 minutes, then covered for another 10.
No rolling pin, no complicated dough, and hardly any cleanup. What's not to love?
Why Rotisserie Chicken Is the Perfect Weeknight Shortcut
Using cooked chicken saves time and gives leftovers another purpose.
Instead of pressure cooking raw poultry, you add the shredded chicken after the vegetables have cooked.
If you're starting with raw chicken, the USDA recommends an internal temperature of 165°F, checked in the thickest breast and innermost thigh and wing.
And if you've already got leftover rotisserie chicken, you're already halfway to having dinner!
How to Store Chicken and Dumplings Safely
Follow the USDA's leftover storage guidelines:
- Refrigerate within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F.
- Keep your refrigerator at 40°F or below and freezer at 0°F or below.
- Store cooked leftovers for 3–4 days refrigerated or 3–4 months frozen for best quality.
- Reheat thoroughly to 165°F.
Properly stored rotisserie chicken also keeps 3–4 days refrigerated, counted from its original cooking date.
Freezing is possible, although dumplings may lose their fluffy texture.
The Weeknight Dinner Worth Remembering
Pressure cook the vegetables and broth, stir in rotisserie chicken, and finish with those familiar Bisquick dumplings.
Remember to refrigerate leftovers promptly and eat them within 3–4 days.
It's the kind of dinner that reminds me of Grandma's kitchen, without spending the whole afternoon cooking!
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