Potato Dumpling Soup

4.91 from 10 votes

This potato dumpling soup is one of our favorite soup recipes, it will warm you up during the cold months of the year.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 30

Total Time1 50

Course: Soup

Cuisine: German

Servings:

Calories: 384kcal

Author: Adina

Chicken broth See note 1 and 2:
2 large whole chicken legs
2 large carrots
1 piece of celeriac about 200 g/ 7 oz or 2 celery sticks
1 large onion
2-3 garlic cloves
5 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
5 cloves
5 juniper berries
5 allspice berries
fine sea salt
about 1-2 chicken stock cubes as needed
Soup:
1 red bell pepper
7 oz cauliflower
¾ cup peas defrosted
fine sea salt and pepper
some parsley
Potato dumplings See note 3:
14 oz potatoes weighed after peeling
1 tablespoon soft butter
1 egg about 60g/ 2.1 oz (weighed whole, with shell)
¾ - 1 cup (scant) all-purpose flour between 100-115 g, more as needed, depending on the size of the egg
nutmeg
fine sea salt

Make stock: Place the chicken legs in a large soup pot and add cold water to cover it, about 2 ½ – 3 liter/ 10.5 – 12.5 cups. Clean and halve the carrots, celeriac piece, and onion. Add them to the pot. Add the whole garlic cloves, all the spices, and some salt.
Slowly bring everything to a simmer, turn the heat down immediately and simmer, uncovered, for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until the chicken is cooked through and soft.
Strain: Remove the chicken legs from the soup and leave until cool enough to handle. Strain the broth into a clean soup pot and keep the carrots. Discard the rest of the vegetables and spices.
Cook vegetables: Chop the pepper into small cubes, divide the cauliflower into small florets and add them to the strained chicken broth. Bring to a boil and cook them gently until half cooked, about 5 minutes.
Tip: Chicken broth cooked for a short time is not as intensively flavored as chicken stock, which is cooked for about 4-5 hours. Add some chicken stock cubes to the broth to intensify the flavor.

Cook potatoes: Peel, cube, and cook the potatoes. Drain. Mash in a bowl with a fork.
Dough: Let cool for about 5 minutes, add the lightly beaten egg, soft butter, about 100 g/ 3.5 oz/ ¾ cup of the flour, a few good gratings of nutmeg, and salt.
Cook: Start adding the potato dumplings to the soup using a teaspoon. Make only one dumpling at first. Dip the teaspoon into the soup and take a small amount (about ¾ teaspoon) out of the potato mixture. Let it slide into the soup and watch if it holds its shape. Give it about 3-4 minutes. If it disintegrates, add a minimal amount of extra flour and incorporate it well. Try again.
Tip: The exact amount of flour needed depends on the size of your egg.

Simmer: Add the defrosted peas to the soup together with the dumplings. Let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the dumplings are puffed up and cooked through. Do not let the soup boil anymore while the dumplings are in it.
Shred chicken: In the meantime, remove the skin and the bones of the chicken and shred the meat into bite-sized pieces.
Finish soup: Chop the reserved carrots into cubes or slices. Add them to the soup and let the soup stand (heat off) for about 10 minutes more so that the chicken and the carrots can get hot again. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper, sprinkle the soup with some chopped parsley, and serve.

You can use bought good quality chicken stock to make the soup. In this case, poach two chicken breasts (about 450 g/ 1 lb) in the soup and cook the carrots, pepper, and cauliflower in the stock as well. Make the dumplings and finish the soup as indicated in the recipe.
Chicken broth cooked for a short time is not as intensively flavored as chicken stock, which is cooked for about 4-5 hours. Add some chicken stock cubes to the broth to intensify the flavor.
It is preferable to use a kitchen scale when measuring the ingredients for the dumplings.