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I made chicken and dumplings today and after 20 minutes I checked my dumplings and they were done but disgustingly soft. I let them cook for 10 more minutes and still soft (but I do think they were "done"). After another 25 mintues they were still incredibly soft. What did I do wrong?

To make the dumplings I did the following

1 1/4 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 medium eggs 1/3 cup of almond milk salt

mixed the dry ingredients, mixed wet ingredients, combined the wet into the dry and make a light dough (no kneading), and dropped the dough in the simmering broth (which was delicious :))

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When cooking for for a crispy exterior you want to cook fast and hot. Most dumpling recipes I have seen call for similar ingredients and just about all of them say to boil for about 15 minutes in a broth or soup. If you are already doing this try mixing up the different ratio of ingredients. Cooking it longer will not make it harder with this cooking method.

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  • I'll give this a shot. I wonder if they Almond Milk had something to do with it. I'll use cow's next time too.
    – user5974
    May 6, 2011 at 13:32
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Sounds to me like your dumpling "dough" did not set up--@cdbitesky is right that continuing to cook them won't help them set up.

Is the almond milk a substitution for cow's milk? My first thought would be that almond milk might not work right--it definitely doesn't have the same properties as regular milk, and that could be crucial in this case.

It could also be that your doughballs cooled your broth enough that the outer surface of the doughball couldn't get "set" fast enough and the flour began to mix with the broth. If that was the issue, I'd think hotter broth, a larger volume of hot broth, or smaller/fewer dumplings at once would help.

Finally, it's possible that your dough was just too wet, so the broth mixed in easier.

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    For some good suggestions on improving your dumpling dough, check here; they helped me with not only making them but getting better results
    – mfg
    May 4, 2011 at 19:03

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