Chicken Stew is a delicious meal with chicken, potatoes and sweet potatoes, onions and carrots. It’s all simmered in a rich seasoned chicken broth until tender. It’s one of our all time favorite meals (along with beef stew)!
A recipe like this chicken stew is a meal unto itself… full of protein, healthy carbs and veggies. We serve it with a salad or Easy Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits to sop up anything left in the bowl. It’s true chicken soup perfection.
Chicken soups are truly the ultimate comfort food from Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup to belly warming Chicken Rice Soup. This easy chicken stew fits the bill perfectly.
How To Make Chicken Stew
This simple chicken stew recipe is fully loaded with tender chicken and vegetables simmered in a deliciously seasoned broth! I use thighs because they tend to hold up better to the simmering but breasts can work well in this recipe too!
If you’re using chicken breasts, I would suggest browning the chunks and then adding in the last 20 minutes or so. If you have other veggies you love (root vegetables are especially great) add them in!
- Brown chicken at a high temp. No need to cook it through, you just want the caramelization and flavor.
- Soften onions/carrots/celery and add flour (to thicken a bit).
- Add broth, herbs and veggies. Homemade chicken stock or store bought work just fine.
- Simmer.
Crazy easy right? I add a bit of heavy cream at the end to make this chicken stew just a little bit creamy. You can skip the cream if you prefer or add extra if you’d like.
How To Thicken Chicken Stew
Sweet potatoes are a great addition to this hearty chicken stew recipe and they do soften quite a bit, this helps thicken it. The flour added at the beginning will thicken this chicken stew but you can certainly thicken it more if you’d like!
You can use a mixture of either cornstarch or flour with broth or water. I find cornstarch is less likely to be lumpy but flour tends to reheat/freeze better so the choice is yours! You can also add instant potatoes to thicken a little bit at a time.
How To Make a Slurry
Combine 2 tablespoons flour with 1 cup of water or broth (I prefer broth) and shake very well. Pour the slurry a little at a time into the boiling chicken stew while stirring. Once your stew is thickened, allow it to boil for a couple of minutes.
You’ll want to make sure your flour mixture has no lumps before you add it, I use a shaker jar or mason jar and shake really well.
Can You Freeze Chicken Stew?
Chicken Stew can be frozen! If you plan on freezing it, I’d suggest using flour as a thickener (not cornstarch) as it will have a better consistency. I personally freeze in individual servings because they defrost faster and I can take out as many as I need to serve.
More Chicken Soup Recipes You’ll Love
- Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Easy Chicken Taco Soup
- Chicken Wild Rice Soup (no cream)
- Chicken Barley Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs about 8 thighs, diced 1-inch
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 carrots diced
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour divided
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¼ teaspoon ground sage
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups diced potatoes peeled if using russets or baking potatoes
- 1 ½ cups diced sweet potatoes peeled
- ½ red bell pepper finely diced
- ¼ cup white wine
- 4 cups chicken broth or chicken stock
- 1 cup green beans cut into 1-inch pieces, or frozen peas, thawed
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In a large pot or dutch oven, brown chicken in 1 tablespoon olive oil (it doesn't have to be cooked through). Remove from pot and set aside.
- Cook onion, carrot and celery in remaining olive oil for about 3 minutes or until onion is slightly softened. Stir in 3 tablespoons of flour, seasonings and salt & pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes.
- Add potatoes, sweet potatoes, red pepper, white wine, browned chicken and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes.
- Remove lid and stir in green beans and cream. Thicken if desired (below) and simmer an additional 10 minutes uncovered.
- To thicken: In a mason jar combine remaining 2 tablespoons flour and 1 cup water or broth. Shake very well (ensure there are no lumps) and add a little at a time to boiling stew to reach desired consistency.
Video
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course, Soup
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This soup is so tasty and flavorful. Only had prosecco to add. Love it!! Yummm
This is so delicious. I didn’t have wine so I add more broth. It was amazing.
What is the serving size for 611 calories
This would be for ⅙th of the recipe.
OMG!!!!!!! This was incredible. I made this last week and my husband couldn’t get enough. He’s not much into stews or soups until now. So tonight I’m making this again, per his request. Thanks for this awesome recipe.
Hi. Can I cook this stew in my slow cooker?
Hi Anne, we haven’t made this recipe in the slow cooker yet. But I’d brown the chicken first, then take a look at the crock pot beef stew recipe to get an idea of how long to cook it in the slow cooker! I would love to hear how it turns out for you.
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious. I did end up using about half of the flour/water slurry at the end to thicken it. I also used thawed frozen peas instead of green beans. A yummy, cozy Sunday supper! Thank you!
This was absolutely as good as it looks. Hearty, packed with flavor and very satisfying. I think I’ll eliminate the sweet potato next time since it seemed to dissolve during the cooking process (???) and didn’t seem to add anything to the dish.
Hi Carole, you may need to cut them a little larger so they hold up during the cooking process. I hope that helps!
Made it tonight. Sooo good!
This looks delicious. How should I make this in my Instant Pot?
Hi Dawn, other readers have made this in their instant pot with success but I have never tried. We do have an instant pot beef stew that you may be able to adapt for this chicken stew recipe. We would love to hear how it turns out.
Absolutely delicious. A must have dish in the fall and winter. Making it again tonight.
This was so good. The only changes I made was to cook my fresh green beans with the potatoes and I had about a 1/4 cup of extra broth in the fridge which I added in. I was going to thicken it but once I started to taste it I couldn’t wait and served it right away. I would love a bowl of this on a cold day or when I’m feeling sick. Hubby told me not to lose this one. Thanks Holly
Looks delicious.