It all started when my friend Wendy mentioned Chicken and Sourdough Dumplings. “Oh, now THAT I’ve got to see!” I figured it would be PERFECT, as it blends two of my favorites: chicken and sourdough!

Except…well, the dumplings were a nightmare to prepare (although they tasted good), and they looked just awful!

(I promise…I’m not throwing my friend under the bus here! 😁 She got the recipe from someone else and hadn’t tried it yet. So I told her I’d work it up a bit and send it back in a better form.)

Ugly Dumplings WOULD be par for the course for me, by the way. My dear niece says, “Nana’s food always TASTES good, but it looks TERRIBLE!” (Isn’t she sweet?) Funny thing is, it was a recipe just like this she was referring to! I had made a Chicken Stew with Biscuits for a church picnic, but I must have been out of white flour or something, so I made them whole grain…and they looked awful…and almost no one took any! Gotta love when that happens. So ever since then, she’s teased me about “Nana and her Chicken Pot Biscuit.”

But as I worked to improve this sourdough dumpling recipe, the more I realized how much flexibility we’ve got here at our fingertips!

Hence the idea of “Choose Your Own Adventure Chicken Stew”!

After all, the difference between stew and pot pie is the amount of broth. The difference between a cut biscuit and a drop biscuit is the amount of liquid. The difference between ordinary biscuits / dumplings and sourdough biscuits / dumplings is (obviously) the addition or subtraction of sourdough.

So grab a Collins Cluckery Chicken HERE and choose your adventure!

By the way, I did everything I could NOT to make this confusing! Then I thought back to the Choose Your Own Adventure books I enjoyed as a teen, and realized slightly confusing is the name of the game… “If Ann opens the creaking door, turn back to page 93.” “If Ann turns and runs to the old barn, turn to page 172.”

SIDE NOTE: I need to move on from this project before I turn INTO a dumpling! Most of these recipes are old classics around our house and didn’t require anything other than getting typed out. But those SOURDOUGH dumplings were new to me, so I had to make several versions before I was happy with them. All that white flour! Usually I’d use half home-milled whole grain, so I’d at least be getting a little nutrition into the bargain. But I was trying to keep the recipes approachable for every kitchen.

Sigh. Wonder how I’d look in a kimono?

So here are the basic instructions:

1) Choose your base.

If you want Chicken Pot Pie, use the lesser amount of liquid
If you want a Chicken Stew (a.k.a. Chicken & Dumplings) use the greater amount of liquid

2) Choose your topper.

Buttermilk Biscuits
Classic Drop Dumplings
Sourdough Cut Dumplings
Sourdough Drop Dumplings
Gracious! I’m even having visions of a small batch of the buttermilk biscuits, rolled out 1/4” thick, cut into a shape a little smaller than your 9x13 pan, and gently laid on top. Brush with egg wash and bake ‘til the pot pie is bubbling and the biscuit topper is golden brown. Then invite me over for dinner!

3) Finish.

For the Chicken Pot Pie
- Preheat oven to 375.
- (Optional, beat ONE EGG for an egg wash in a small bowl.)
- Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
- Pour in the chicken pot pie base and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and top with Buttermilk Biscuit Topper or Dumpling of choice and brush with egg wash, if desired.
- Bake for another 20-30 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.
For the Chicken & Dumplings
- Bring stew to a low boil over medium heat in a large pot on the stove.
- Top with Buttermilk Biscuit Topper or Dumpling of Choice.
- Cover and boil 10 minutes.
- Lower heat to a simmer, crack lid, and cook another 10 minutes.

Technicalities: the bane of a cook’s existence.🙄 I do realize that my “Sourdough Cut Dumplings” aren’t really dumplings at all but biscuits. Arggh! It’s like when people ask me the difference between chicken broth and chicken stock. Ummm..depends on whom you ask! Personally, I use the terms interchangeably.

******One important nutritional point before diving into the recipes:

Lots of my friends and customers are here with me because they need healthier options. Yet most of these recipes here call for basic all-purpose white flour! I did this just to make the recipes approachable to more folks. If you tend to healthier options, you are likely experienced enough to know that this is yet ANOTHER area you can “choose your own adventure!” As for me and my house 😉I usually go AT LEAST half home-milled whole wheat flour. In that case, I increase the liquid by about 1/4 cup and let it rest for about 10 minutes after gently stirring it in. Then I proceed with the recipe, and that’s just because whole grain absorbs liquid more slowly than white flour.

If white flour in general is an issue for you, I’ve got a suggestion from a friend who has issues with gluten. She and a number of gluten-intolerant people she knows have used flour from Italy with good success. She likes Antimo Caputo Chef’s Flour Italian 00 Soft Wheat, available on Amazon and probably from other sources. We do NOT have gluten or other food intolerances in our family anymore, thanks be to God, so I can’t speak to this from experience, but it’s just an idea that works for a friend of mine!