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
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
REPIN this Delicious Recipe
If using bone-in thighs, would I just cook longer then remove and de-bone?
Yes, that would work just fine Erin. You could brown them and debone after step 3. You may need a few minutes extra but probably not too much. Let us know how it goes!
Just wondering if using coconut milk instead of cream would work as a dairy free option? Thanks!
Hi Melissa, it will alter the flavor and be slightly sweeter but should work well as a substitution.
I made this tonight and the pot was scraped clean by my boys. I used white wine and mixed herbs as I didn’t have sage. It will become a family fav. Thank you
Loved this recipe. I made without sweet potatoes and just used 3 cups white potatoes. Also used 1 cup baby Lima beans in place of green beans or peas. I didn’t think it needed thickening in the end. Just added 1/1 n 1/2 in place of heavy cream. All ingredients I had on hand. Served with cornbread. Every one lapped it up!
Made it this morning. I cook for someone that’s has ESRD and flavor is a struggle for him. I add no sodium and since potassium isn’t a problem for him, this stew is perfect! I did omit the wine. The flavor was phenomenal! And filled his tummy. Ty for this awesome recipe
This soup was excellent made it for a church gathering alot of people said it was really good and someone ask for the recipe.
39grams of Carbohydrates?!?! In a bowl? In the entire dish?
Hi Peter, nutrition information is listed per serving and there are 30 grams of carbs in one serving. This is largely from the potatoes, sweet potatoes, and flour (used for thickening). These ingredients account for 18 grams of the carbs. Hope that helps and enjoy the stew!
I made this soup instead of potatoes I used fresh beets came out delish
At what point would we add rice? And would it be uncooked or cooked?
Hi Cat, you could serve over rice one cooked or you could try adding rice in the last 20-30 minutes depending on the type of rice you are adding. We would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Very good! I used chicken legs and thighs, browned them as suggested, and made my broth from them. I had some leftover ‘stew pack’ (carrots, parsnips, turnip) used that as well as sweet and white potato.
That sounds delicious, Lois! Thanks for sharing.
I love this recipe! The first time I made it pretty much as written, and it was SO good! Last night I made it again with lots of substitutions (because I didn’t have everything on hand) and it was still pretty good. It seems like a strong base recipe that I can put in my regular rotation and get creative with as needed.
Last night I added mushrooms (yum) but had to skip bell pepper (missed them) and green beans (didn’t miss those much). I also had to use red cooking wine (white would have been better but I’d use this again in a pinch), and I didn’t have quite enough broth so topped up with water. Oh, and I used diced chicken tenderloin – I just cooked it completely and then added it back with half and half (not heavy cream) at the end.
So glad you enjoyed it, Heather! Thanks for sharing your substitutions. So happy they turned out for you.
Are the calories listed PER SERVING?
Hi Johnny, yes our calories are listed per serving. For this recipe, that is ⅙th of the finished recipe.
I was drawn to this recipe b/c it had basically 5 stars from over 400 reviews and now I know why! This is definitely a keeper. I didn’t use white wine and didn’t notice a difference in the taste. I will try it next time with white wine. Thanks for this recipe!!
Can I use chicken breaststroke instead?
Hi Grace, many other readers have made this recipe with chicken breast successfully! Let us know if you try it!
Do I have to use wine?
You can substitute it with additional chicken broth, Debbie.
I was wondering the same thing.
What type of wine would you use in this recipe?
Hi Krista, we generally use whatever white wine we have on hand since it’s just a small amount, most often a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.
I have to say one of the best tasting stew I’ve tasted. Making it again!
Can you make in the instant pot? How would you DC o that?
Hi Rosemary, other readers have made this in their instant pot with success but I have never tried. Maybe they can offer some guidance on how to best do that. 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.
Just made this dish didn’t use sage or cream and put in peas instead of green beans. Came out delicious!
We loved this Chicken stew! My only substitution was, in the place of the cut carrots, I put in a bag of the green bean, peas, corn and carrot frozen veggie mix. Definitely on our make again list!