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 was really delicious. I had to make a few tweaks out of last-minute necessity but I will definitely make this again!
Tweaks:
diced tomato instead of bell pepper
Red pepper flakes
Celery Salt
Chili Powder
Fresh Thyme & Rosemary
1 Cup wine and 1.5 quarts broth
This was absolutely delicious. Turned p it perfectly and makes a lot so you can freeze some.
I ended up just using a whole small 257ml container of cream because I didn’t see the point of wasting half eventually.
Well worth it!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, Jennifer!
Super delicious… family loved it!
Made me his today and it taste heavenly and hearty! Follow recipe as written. I had all ingredients on hand! I added some chop kale and a pinch of red pepper flakes! Made homemade biscuits and a Sour Cream Cake! Delish…
Thank you for this delicious recipe. It was easy to make and tastes great. The only thing I did change out of pure laziness was replaced the both potatoes with a package of gnocchi that I added at the same time as the green beans. Made it like chicken and dumplings.
This stew is absolutely wonderful; it’s the perfect dish for a cold evening. I followed the recipe closely and it turned out perfectly. Only deviations were using leftover chicken from a large roaster instead of the chicken thighs (also used homemade stock from the roaster), and allowing the stew to simmer for several hours before adding the cream and green beans. I thickened according to the instructions, using all the the flour/water mixture, and the consistency was just right. The sweet potatoes add a very nice flavor to the sauce. Definitely a keeper recipe and worth the work for a fresh and delicious meal.
Sounds delicious Lil! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Excellent stew! I changed it and did not use regular potato. I put in a combination of sweet potato and yam. I also added in spinach and I added a quarter teaspoon of turmeric.
Also did not use the heavy cream.
Forgot to add a rating in my previous post :)
Very hearty easy stew, will make agian great flavor
Made this and the flavor was delicious! I used breast cutlets and did what she said seared it but didn’t cook all the way! Also used extra of the herbs! Make it tonight your family will love it!
Amazing! I will definitely put it in my recipe book!
It was delicious except my cream curdled at the end, not sure what happened.
Sorry that happened, Kymber! Once the cream is added you want to make sure only to return it to a simmer, not a boil. If brought to a boil it does have the potential to curdle.
Really like this soup. However next time I will omit or reduce the sage. It’s a little overbearing to the flavor of the soup. I didn’t have sweet potatoes but it was still good. Added extra wine, hoping it would help cover the taste of the strong sage flavor. Yes, I’ll make this again.
Yammmmmmmy
made this last night…fabulous! followed the recipe, except added garlic to the oil while cooking the chicken. Can’t wait to eat it again tonight.
Delicious! Made for fam and they loved it. Used sweet peas and dried herbs. Added red pepper flaked for a little kick. Thank you for this recipe.
You’re welcome Sandra!
I’ve made this several times for my hubbies lunches and he loves it. A few tweaks I have made along the way is adding garlic to the carrots and celery and onion when sautéing, no white wine (I can never open a bottle and not drink it all, so I just don’t open it until I’m serving lol) add mushrooms with my green beans and some paprika with the cream it makes it taste a tad like creamy chicken paprika. I dice my sweet potatoes smaller so they break down and add thickness.
So yummy!!
Amazing recipe – made this today. I didn’t have any flour, and used yukon gold potatoes only (didn’t have any sweet potatoes either). I also added fresh mushrooms and it really went great. My “side carb” was some pumpernickel bread – it was to die for!! Thanks so much…. Andrew
That sounds great, Andrew! So glad you enjoyed this recipe.
I made this today for our Sunday family meal and everyone really loved it. The flavors were great, it was hearty, and went well with crusty french bread.
I had a hiccup with the flour part of the recipe – it didn’t really work adding to the vegetables, everything got stuck on the pan at that point. I dumped the veggies out and added the white wine at to deglaze the pan, so that saved the stew and made for a nice roux. Next time, I’ll cook the veggies first, coat the chicken in flour and brown it, deglazing the pan and making a roux/slurry and then add back in the veggies.
I made this today. I don’t like sweet potatoes so I substituted parsnips. I also added a bay leaf. It created a very earthy flavor that I actually love. Thanks.
So happy you enjoyed it, Ben!
Do you use fresh or dried herbs?
Hello holly
How much salt and pepper do u put in your delicious chicken stew recipe
Hi Amber, we say to taste that way if you are using salted broth you can omit any additional salt. But if using low sodium broth you can add in a pinch of salt and pepper to meet your flavor preferences.