Chicken, corn, and vegetables in a perfectly seasoned chicken broth, topped with cornbread dumplings. This Instant Pot Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings recipe is a fun twist on a classic favorite!
An Abundance of Corn
A few months ago we had a lot of corn around my house. I wrote a little about it in my Skillet Fried Corn Fritters post. The bottom line: my children are cute, mischievous, and like to pick vegetables.
I decided that a chicken and dumplings style dish with corn added into the soup and using cornbread to make the dumplings would be tasty. I was correct. BUT, my first attempt was not THE recipe. It needed work.
As it turned out, my family had to eat various versions of this soup for a couple of months until I got it just right.
Cornbread Dumplings
The soup part of this was recipe easy …. chicken in some broth with lots of veggies, including corn and some tasty spices. The dumplings though, that took some work.
The first time I made the soup, the dumplings tasted and felt like cornbread, not like dumplings. I tried again, and again, and again …. I had some dumplings that fell apart, some that were too doughy, and some that didn’t float. Try after try, I finally concluded this: for the best dumplings that have a cornbread taste but also a traditional dumpling texture, you need to use Jiffy cornbread mix.
Maybe other cornbread mixes work, but I am a big fan of Jiffy. The taste is fantastic, and the cost can’t be beat. This is not a sponsored post, I just really like Jiffy cornbread.
Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings
As I have a lot of experience making and messing up this recipe, I have a few tips for you.
Corn
It does not matter if you use fresh, frozen, or rinsed canned corn. They all come out the same.
At one point I tried mixing corn in with the dumplings. But, I found that made the dumplings too fragile and did not add anything to the taste. Therefore I do not recommend trying it.
Chicken
I typically use frozen chicken for recipes I make in my Instant Pot. However, for this soup I will generally use fresh chicken breast. If you use fresh chicken, cook the soup for 10 minutes. If you use frozen chicken, you need to cook the soup for 13 minutes.
To shred the chicken you can use two forks, or while the chicken is warm, place it in a bowl and use an electric mixer fit with the whisk attachment. The mixer trick is hands down my favorite way to shred meat.
Cornbread Dumplings
When experimenting with this recipe I tried standard cornmeal, self rising cornmeal, a combination of muffin mix and cornmeal, and muffin mix alone. Without question, the recipe came out the best using only Jiffy corn muffin mix. If you can’t find Jiffy, another brand would likely work, but perhaps not quite as well.
The bottom line is that this soup is delicious, filling, and doesn’t require much effort at all. It’s perfect for a busy weeknight as it’s full of comfort and quick to put together!
Instant Pot Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings
Ingredients
Soup
- 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 medium sized sweet onion diced
- 1 cup celery diced
- 2/3 cup carrots diced
- 2 cups corn
- 1/3 cup yellow bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves fresh minced garlic
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 6 cups chicken broth I do NOT used reduced sodium
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Dumplings
- 1 8.5 ounce box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
- 5 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté mode and melt butter. Add celery, carrots, corn, and bell pepper. Sauté until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir until all vegetables are coated. Turn Instant Pot off.
- Add chicken, chicken broth, black pepper, paprika, cumin, and oregano to pot. Stir well.
- Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let natural release for 10 minutes.
- Remove chicken from pot and shred with two forks or an electric mixer. Return shredded chicken to pot and stir well.
- In a small bowl stir together corn muffin mix and milk. Use a tablespoon to drop batter on top of soup.
- Cover and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Let natural release for 5 minutes.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this Instant Pot Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings recipe, you might enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Spoon Cornbread with Skillet Roasted Corn
Instant Pot Southwest Chicken Soup
Instant Pot Chicken and Buttermilk Dumplings
Instant Pot Lemon Egg Chicken Soup
Links to items used to make this recipe:
Instant Pot Duo 6 Quart
OXO Knives
KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer: I can’t tell you how much I love using my KitchenAid to shred chicken. It makes me not hate recipes that require shredding meat.
