Transform Store-Bought Pancake Mix Into This Savory Comfort Food For Easy Weeknight Dinners

Store-bought pancake mix is one of those things that most of us always have kicking around in the pantry. As long as you've got some eggs, milk and oil, you can whip up pancakes in a matter of minutes. It's an easy way to win over breakfast guests as the batter bubbles in the pan and the smell we all know and love begins to imbue the air. But there's actually so many more ways to use store-bought pancake mix besides breakfast, and one of those is to use the mix as an easy way to make dumplings for chicken and dumplings.

First of all, let's clarify what kind of dumplings we are talking about here. These little pockets of dough have migrated and recast themselves across numerous cultures around the world over the centuries. Whether gyoza, pierogis, or gnocchi, all of them are delicious in their unique way, but the kind of dumplings that pancake batter is perfect for making are known as drop dumplings. 

Drop dumplings are most commonly served in the Southern United States, thought to have arrived in the region from European settlers. These dumplings are served with shredded chicken and vegetables in a soup that Southerners swear by as one of the most beloved comfort foods in the world. So, if you want to impress a Southerner, take notes, and maybe check out some of these other best dishes to bring to Southern-style potlucks while you are at it.

Conveniently, store-bought pancake mix is a very close rendition to the dry ingredients in homemade drop dumpling batter (flour, leaveners, salt) and can be a fast and easy way to get your dumplings going when you are short on time. Because of the leavening agents in pancake mix, when liquid is added and then it's cooked, the dough puffs out creating a gorgeously soft and fluffy dumpling. The key is to use less milk than you would when making pancakes, so that the mix has more of dough-like texture rather than a thin batter.

A safe bet is to use about ⅓ cup of milk for every 1 cup of dry pancake mix and then mix it so that is becomes a soft dough. Scoop out the dough into small balls and drop them into the soup and then cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. The pancake dumplings will cook up into soft balls that soak up all of the flavors from the chicken and vegetable broth, and with this trick for extra thick chicken and dumplings broth, you can create the ultimate rich, stick-to-your-ribs comfort food.