What to Serve with Chicken and Dumplings? This is the Real Deal!
Asian meals, especially chicken and dumplings, are the go-to meals of most college students. This is totally understandable. After all, this brings a certain sense of comfort and nostalgia to them. Besides, it is also one of the cheapest meals in restaurants so who can resist, am I right?
What if we tell you that there is a great way to upgrade your usual chicken and dumplings meal—that there is a way on how you can make this cheap combo feel gourmet? Yes, there is! The easiest one is to serve chicken and dumplings with a few side dishes.
But what to serve with chicken and dumplings? Read this article and discover the best side dishes to prepare!
What to Serve with Chicken and Dumplings?
We know that chicken and dumplings are already a complete meal in itself, but adding side dishes can undoubtedly make your meal a lot more satisfying and filling. Without further ado, we present to you the best side dishes for your chicken and dumplings:
Green Salads
Chicken and dumplings provide high amounts of protein to our bodies. However, it lacks the fiber content that our bodies need. The perfect way to resolve that is to serve your chicken and dumplings with green salads of your choice.
The good news is, there are plenty of green salad recipes that would taste well with chicken and dumplings.
For one, you can try a spinach salad. You can do this by placing your spinach in the basket of a salad spinner. Spin the leaves dry. Once it is already dry, arrange the spinach leaves carefully on the plate. Wash your strawberries and slice them and put it on top of the spinach. Afterward, top it off with nuts, croutons, sweet red onion, and feta. Drizzle it with light poppy salad dressing.
Another salad recipe that you may want to try is the crunchy Asian veggie salad. To do this, mix napa cabbage, purple cabbage, bell pepper, bok choy, green onions, carrots, toasted sesame seeds, and bean sprouts. In a separate bowl, mix the sesame oil, tamari, salt, rice vinegar, peanut oil, honey, ginger, garlic, and peanut butter. Whisk everything until smooth. Drizzle the greens with the resulting mixture. Toss everything to coat thoroughly.
Crunchy Side Dishes
Chicken and dumplings are known for their creamy taste and texture. If you want to balance its creaminess, the best thing that you can do is to prepare something crunchy and fried. Same with salads, there are plenty of fried side dishes that you can make.
The first one is roasted sweet potatoes with sauce. You can go for the yogurt sauce, but it will have the same creaminess as your chicken and dumplings. Because of this, it would be better if you go for the traditional Asian peanut sauce. You can prepare this side dish by roasting your potatoes and bell pepper in an oven. Toss it in a mixture of cumin, salt, and coconut oil first. After that, roast the vegetables in the oven for 35 minutes on one side and 20 minutes on the other.
While waiting for it to cook, prepare your sauce. Whisk the maple syrup, peanut butter, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, grated ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and water altogether. Once the vegetables are ready, drizzle the sauce on top of it.
Another crunchy side dish that you can try is breaded okra. You can bake it or fry it—totally up to you. If you want to keep it healthy, baking is the way to go. Prepare the breading by whisking bread crumbs, garlic, pepper, and salt in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk an egg. Lightly coat the okra slice with egg. After that, toss the okra slice in the breadcrumb mixture. Do this on all okra slices.
Once the okra slices are all ready, carefully arrange them in a lined baking sheet. Bake the okra in a preheated oven for up to 15 minutes or until they turn brown and crispy.
The last crunchy side dish that we would recommend is fried zucchini. Wash the zucchini and cut it into thin slices (similar with the cut of mojos). Thoroughly dry the slices then coat it with flour. Dip the coated slices into a bowl of milk then dip it into a bowl with Panko crumbs. Once properly coated, deep fry the slices until they turn crispy and brown. This will take around 3-4 minutes.
Other veggie Side dishes
You can also pair chicken and dumplings with more than green salads. If you love vegetables, you can prepare other veggie side dishes.
One of the best veggie side dishes that you can try is the mashed potatoes. You can do this by merely peeling then boiling small potatoes then mashing them with a fork. You can add butter and garlic pieces to make the dish more flavorful.
Another option that you have is Roasted beans. The good thing about this dish is that it does not uses lots of oil, but it delivers the crispiness that would be a perfect match for the mushiness of your chicken and dumplings. Besides, this dish is pretty easy to prepare! All that you have to do is drizzle washed green beans with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Use your fingers to toss the beans to coat them well. Bake the beans for 20 to 25 minutes.
In Summary
Chicken and dumplings are one of the most popular comfort food combination that a lot of people love. But what you did not know is this meal can get a bit complicated to prepare since there are a lot of mistakes that you can make.
The most common precaution would be you need to make sure that your dumplings are cooked through and at the same time, should not be overcooked or else, it will become mushy. Lucky for you, the side dishes that we have mentioned are easy to prepare so you can enjoy your chicken and dumplings party hassle-free!
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