This Heart-Shaped Chicken and Dumplings recipe transforms the classic dish into a delightful Valentine’s Day feast using mini cookie cutters to create pastry hearts of various sizes. For other occasions, adapt the theme using cookie cutters in different shapes. Alternatively, if you prefer simplicity, make this delicious dish without cutting shapes for a quick and easy serving of chicken soup and pastry.
Chicken & Heart-Shaped Dumplings
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays for preparing fun meals for my family and friends. I love to put hearts in unexpected places, and got this idea for chicken and dumplings when I wanted to serve heart-shaped food for Valentine’s Day. So, instead of adding plain dumpling strips to chicken soup, I used mini cookie cutters to cut out hearts from ready-made pastry, and the finished dish was worth the effort!
Easy Heart-Shaped Chicken and Dumplings
This is an easy semi-homemade recipe for chicken and dumplings. It uses boxed chicken stock, rotisserie chicken, and premade pastry. Although it is a semi-homemade dish, it remains surprisingly delicious. Furthermore, people also know this dish as chicken and pastry because it features thin pastry sheets instead of traditional fluffy drop dumplings.
Frozen Pastry Strips for Heart-Shaped Chicken and Dumplings
I used flat frozen pastry strips (shown below) for these chicken and dumplings. The dumplings, made with flour, water, and vegetable oil, come in strips of three, making it easy to cut or break them into small pieces. Before cutting hearts, defrost the strips for a few minutes after removing them from the freezer to make them softer and easier to cut.
Cover the Pastry to Prevent it from Drying
Parchment paper separates the pastry sheets to keep them from sticking together. Once you pull out the necessary sheets of dough, leave them on the parchment paper. Then, place a clean, damp towel or paper towel over the pastry sheets to prevent the edges from drying out.
Use Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutters
Use mini cookie cutters or fondant cutters to cut out the dumplings. The sizes I used were approximately 1.75 inches (large), 1.25 inches (medium), and .75 inches (small). I cut a combination of heart sizes that made the soup more interesting. I made a ball of the leftover scraps, rolled it out, and cut more hearts. This ensured that none of the dough went to waste.
Cutting the Pastry for Heart-Shaped Chicken and Dumplings
The manufacturer packages this pastry dough in flat sheets and scores it to create three strips. The largest heart cutter I used fit on the strips. I started at the edge of a strip and cut across the dough. Do not worry about breaking apart the individual strips.
Thaw the Dough
The pastry dough is easier to cut when it has thawed slightly — but not too much. If you try to cut hearts while the dough is frozen, it shatters easily, and the hearts can break when you try to remove them from the cutter. Try to cut the hearts when the dough is frozen just enough to hold its shape, yet not thawed enough to let the dough stretch and distort because it is too warm. If you have cutters without a “comfort” grip like these, use a hand towel to press them through the dough.
The Hearts Enlarge When Cooked
The hearts will swell and double their size as they absorb the broth when cooking. The 1.25-inch and .75-inch cutters made the best heart sizes for the soup.
Add Heart-Shaped Carrots
Use a small cutter to shape the carrots into heart shapes for this soup. Carrot hearts are optional because the pastry hearts are the star of this soup, after all. If you choose to cut them, use a large carrot so the mini cutter will fit on it. First, cut the carrot into coins. Then, use a heart cutter that is smaller than the carrot coins. I used the .75-inch heart cutter for these carrots.
TIP: Cut the carrots the day before and store them until you’re ready to make the chicken and dumplings.
Storage for Chicken and Dumplings
This chicken and dumpling recipe keeps well in the refrigerator. It also tastes just as delicious (if not better) a day or two after cooking. Be forewarned that the pastry hearts (especially the largest ones) can break easily after sitting, as they absorb a lot of liquid. If you need to rehydrate this soup after a day or two, add broth and milk at a 2:1 ratio. In other words, if you add 1 cup of broth, add 1/2 cup of milk.
Dumpling Sources
Anne’s Dumplings are available at some grocery stores. Other pastry brands you can substitute for these dumplings include:
- Mary Hill Dumplings
- Mary B’s Open Kettle Dumplings
- Round dumpling wrappers
- Partially cooked lasagna noodles (partially cook, cool to the touch, and then cut hearts)
Other Chicken Soup Recipes You Might Like
Click on the links below for other chicken recipes you might enjoy.
Heart-Shaped Chicken and Dumplings
Equipment
- 3 sizes of heart-shaped mini cookie cutters (1.75 inches, 1.25 inches, and .75 inches)
Ingredients
- 10 sheets Anne’s Original Old Fashioned Flat Dumplings (partially thawed for ease of cutting)
- 8 cups unsalted boxed chicken stock (about 2 cartons)
- 1 large carrot
- 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base (Reduced Sodium)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2-3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 ½ cups (12 ounces) evaporated milk
Instructions
- Remove the pastry strips from the freezer and let them thaw enough that you can separate them. Remove ten dough sheets from the box, leaving the parchment paper between the dough sheets. Place a damp paper towel or kitchen towel on the sheets to keep the edges from drying out. (See note section for a thawing tip.)
- Place the chicken stock into a large pot. Heat on medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.
- Peel and cut the carrot into coins. If you make heart-shaped carrots, use a cookie cutter to cut hearts out of the carrot coins. Otherwise, use the carrot rounds as they are. Place the carrots into the chicken stock to cook.
- Add the bouillon, salt, pepper, and butter. Stir to dissolve the bouillon.
- Use the mini heart cutters to cut out heart shapes from the pastry dough. After you cut a sheet of the hearts, add them one at a time to the boiling chicken stock, stirring lightly after each addition. Continue cutting out hearts until you have used all of the pastry sheets. Place pastry scraps in a pile under a damp towel to keep them from drying out. Form a ball from the dough scraps and then roll it 1/4-inch thick. Cut heart shapes from the dough and place them into the boiling chicken stock.
- Let the pastry cook for 8-12 minutes after adding the last ones. Do not cover the pot. If the water level drops low, add 1-2 cups to bring it back up.
- Remove the pot from the heat and place a lid on it. Let it sit for 30 minutes. The pastry hearts will absorb the liquid during this time and soften. Stir after the 30-minute rest period.
- Place the pot on low heat. Add the chicken, whole milk, and evaporated milk. Stir to mix. Heat until hot, but do not boil.