Who doesn’t love a bowl of piping-hot Cracker Barrel dumplings? These pillows of starchy goodness so often hit the spot when you are looking for something that makes you feel full and warm.
Interestingly, these are actually served without chicken at the restaurant when ordered as a side dish. If you like, you can add some cooked shredded chicken and have your own homemade chicken and dumplings.
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Southern Dumplings
Southern dumplings aren’t difficult to make, and they can be put together rather quickly. This side dish doesn’t require a lot of different ingredients that you may need to go out and buy. But rather it has a lot of ingredients you already have in your pantry.
So if you are looking for an easy side dish from ingredients you already have on hand, this dumplings recipe may be the right one for you to try.
This homemade dumplings recipe is intended to be a side dish, so there aren’t a lot of extra items in it. This is a meatless recipe. If you have some leftover cooked chicken, it would be a great addition to the recipe.
If you are looking for the recipe for the dumplings with chicken, check out our Cracker Barrel Chicken and Dumplings: A Comfort Food Classic Made at Home.
Ingredients for Cracker Barrel Dumplings
- All-purpose flour – Creates the structure and body of the dumplings
- Baking powder – Provides a slight lift that makes the dumplings tender
- Salt – Enhances all the flavors in the dish
- Whole milk – Adds richness and helps create a soft dough
- Vegetable oil – Creates flexibility in the dough for easy rolling
- Chicken bouillon cubes or chicken soup base – Delivers deep, savory flavor
- Butter – Creates a rich, velvety sauce base
- Sugar – Balances the savory notes with just a hint of sweetness
Ingredient Notes
After developing this recipe, I switched to using a soup base over bouillon cubes. It is my opinion that the soup base tastes better, it is a fact they often have less sodium.
So, it is now my preference to use a soup base in place of bouillon cubes.
How to Make Cracker Barrel Dumplings
- Mix flour, baking powder, salt, milk, and oil, until well blended.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface.
- Knead the dough a few times.
- Divide the dough in half.
- Roll out half of the dough.
- Cut the dough into pieces.
- In a large pot, combine the water and bouillon cubes.
- Boil until the bouillon cubes are dissolved.
- Add the dough pieces and cook until just about done.
- Use a strainer to transfer the cooked dumplings to a bowl.
- Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Melt butter in a saucepan.
- Add flour and salt. Stir until thickened.
- Combine milk and sugar.
- Add the milk to the butter/flour a little at a time, stirring constantly.
- Remove the sauce from the heat.
- Add the cooked dumplings to the sauce.
- Dissolve the crumbled bouillon cubes in cooking liquid.
- Add bouillon liquid to the sauce and dumplings. Gently stir it in.
- Return the dumplings to the heat and simmer for a few minutes.
Chef’s Notes
Avoid overworking the dough for perfectly tender dumplings. Knead just until the ingredients come together, about 8-10 turns. Roll the dough to approximately 1/8-inch thickness for that authentic Cracker Barrel texture. Too thick, and they’ll be gummy; too thin, and they’ll fall apart.
The sauce should coat the back of a spoon but still flow easily. If it becomes too thick after adding the dumplings, thin it with a tablespoon or two of chicken broth or milk.
Homemade Cracker Barrel-Style Southern Dumplings
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1 teaspoon salt divided use
- 6 cups water
- 6 teaspoons chicken base
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add the water and chicken base and stir until the chicken base dissolves.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, buttermilk, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir until the dough just comes together—it will be shaggy.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 1-inch squares, separating the squares as you cut them so they don’t touch one another. Sprinkle the squares with more flour.
- Strain the vegetables from the broth and return only the broth to the pot (discard the vegetables). Bring to a boil. Slowly add the dumplings, a few at a time, stirring as you go.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes to ensure the dumplings are cooked through. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Video
Nutrition
Popular Cracker Barrel Copycat Recipes
- Bacon Baked Beans
- Cracker Barrel Cheese Potato Recipe
- Homestyle Chicken Dinner
- Old Fashioned Carrot Cake
Southern Side Dishes
- Mush Recipe
- Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce
- Stick of Butter Rice
- Boiled Carrots Recipe
- Freezer Coleslaw
- How to Cook Red Skin Potatoes
- Recipe for Copper Pennies Carrots
- Easy BBQ Baked Beans
- Simple Cooked Cabbage
- Pea and Bacon Salad
Be sure to check out more of my restaurant sides and easy copycat recipes.
My dumplings were fantastic and my family and I loved them. I am definitely adding this recipe to my book. I love all the copycat recipes! Thank you Stephanie
Thank you Megan 😉 I am honored you would add this recipe to your personal collection. I love finding a keeper that everyone loves.
Because this is not there recipe I work there for 15 years.
If it’s not their recipe, why don’t you post the real recipe instead of just a quickie one-liner? Or at least explain “why” it’s not their recipe.
Real chicken and dumplings are made from buttermilk not whole milk and lard or vegetable shortening not veg oil. Drop all the dumplings in and boil for 10 min, then add chicken. Also instead of adding milk to the broth add about 1/2 cup of cream. No additional salt is needed. Much better flavor. That’s the way my grandmother made them and I make them that way as well.
My attempt was to duplicate the way the Cracker Barrel makes their durmplings. Are you saying they use buttermilk and vegetable shortening or lard?
Were you looking for a duplicate for Cracker Barrel or for something else?
After trying countless recipes and different ingredients, I came across this one. I modified it a little to make it my own, and I only had skim milk, but it worked just fine. This turned out awesome, and my family wants it again tomorrow night! Thanks for sharing this 🙂
I am glad you enjoyed this one. I finally got around to shooting the video.
This was awesome!!! Hubby loves it. Tripled the recipe to feed about 30 people. I didn’t throw away the dumpling drippings. Save it for when it would dry out and used it to moisten.
Thank you for your tips on how you served it for so many.
Cracker Barrel uses buttermilk for their dumpling dough not whole milk.
Thanks Menda.
If I wanted to add chicken, how would I do it? Just cook it separately and dump it in the sauce? Please advise.
Cooked chicken, cut it up and added it along with dumplings.
You could do either.
My family and I agree that this is the real deal! I have used both whole milk and 2% and have been satisified with the results. I always add chicken to mine. This is so awesome!
Sam I am happy to hear y’all enjoyed it.
Not sure what I did wrong but my dumplings came out doughy?? They tasted great, as did the sauce just really soft, not hardy like CB’s dumplings. Any suggestions?
I would have cooked them for a little longer to make sure that they weren’t too doughy.
I had the same problem. I don’t know if it’s a high altitude thing (I live in CO) but the dumplins floated in about 20 seconds. I cooked them more like a minute or two so they wouldn’t be doughy but they still kinda were.
How did they turn out when you cooked them longer. I live at sea level.
how much salt is used in the sauce reciepe
I add to taste. The boullion is pretty salty.
Does anyone know exactly how long to cook the dumplings and how??? I’ve never made dumplings before and that would be really helpful information!
They are done when the float.
Really wish there was a cooking time for the dumplings. Saying to cook them until they are done is ridiculous! I have never made dumplings before, which is why I needed a recipe! Ugh, mine are totally ruined…so sorry I tried this ’cause now I have nothing for dinner :/
The dumplings are done when they float.
I have shot the video for this, it will be up online very soon.
I usually try to do start a new recipe long enough ahead of time so that if it flops I’ll still be able to whip up something for supper.
Has anyone tried freezing this and reheating it later on? I tend to make things in bulk and freeze for later.
I was wondering the same thing! Trying it now…
I freeze dumplins and it is very simple. After you have them cut, place on wax paper in a single layer. Freeze and then throw them in a zip-lock bag, until ready to use. You must drop them frozen into boiling broth.
Oh this is a great idea! I will have to try it soon.
Love this….I added an additional 1 1/2 cups of cooking broth. my kids loved it. will double next time!!!
Just finished making this wonderful dish. My family says this is a keeper. Just doubled up on ingredients and add chicken, one onion and 2 celery stalks that I cooked in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes.
How many people does this serve?
I fed 4 kids and 2 adults…..will probably double for next time.
OHHHHH yeah!!! Finally found it! Seriously, I was a little bit apprehensive about the “sauce” being separate but its definitely is right.I ended up dumping all the dumplin stock into the gravy, and it turned out perfecto! SO good, i had to make another batch of dumplings!!!! They taste EXACTLY and look identical to cracker barrels.;-)
Turned out great, though two things might have helped the instructions: the amount of salt was left out of the sauce recipie, and the estimated amount of time to boil the dumplings until “just about done” would have helped those of us who have little or no experience boiling dumplings. Also, from my perspective, it is worth noting to other cooks that this recipie is quite a bit of work and a lot of dishes to clean up afterwards (big pot for boiling dumplings, saucepan for making sauce, big bowl for mixing dumplings, rolling mat and rolling pin, measuring cups, etc. etc). Still, it made a nice hearty meal on a cold day, I added leftover chicken torn into pieces.
We use the same flour mixture as the biscuits (see biscuit recipe for my comment). I cannot remember the ratio of flour to buttermilk, but for the ‘sauce’, we filled the kettle with the appropriate amount of water, and use the ‘dumplin seasoning’ base which is nothing more than chicken base with some extra pepper to the water, bring it up to a boil, and take the dumplins that you cut up (with the flour on them) and dump it in the kettle. The flour thickened the water creating the ‘sauce’ that they are served in 🙂
I agree, I don’t find the need to “make” a sauce. After the dumplings swell they shrink back down and the broth thickens. One pot dish!
I totally agree. I cooked chicken breast in the boullion seasoned water, took it out then cooked the dumplings, took them out then just added 3 T butter to the boiling broth, in my bowl I mixed the dumplings in I mixed the milk and flour for the sauce and dumped it into the boiling broth, stir til thick and add some pepper. I thought it was salty enough. Add back your cooked dumplings and diced chicken. Way less work and less mess! Took about 20-30 min total. Oh and I reduced the milk in the dumpling dough to 3/4 cup. That may be why some are saying they are doughy. You really only need enough liquid to hold it together. 1 cup is way too much in my opinion.
I am looking for the Cracker Barrel recipe for country greens.
I have noted your suggestion!
Please post a video for this 🙂
They use “Pictsweet” brand greens and season it with a bit of smoked ham.