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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I love this recipe so much! It is in my rotation. Hubby’s favorite.
Made this for my family when my in-laws came over for dinner…we did all sweet potatoes instead of both kinds and left out the red pepper because my MIL can’t have it and it was FANTASTIC. I actually added half a bag of egg noodles at the end and everyone loved it.
Love this soup
This recipe was fantastic. The only thing I changed was using fresh herbs and a rotisserie chicken. The sweet potatoes were the BEST addition to a chicken stew. It was the perfect winter meal! I did thicken mine and served it over rice just like my mother used to. ❤️
I added on clove of garlic and used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. Absolutely will make this again
Are you using fresh or dried herbs? The photo appears to show fresh thyme but the amounts (1/2 teaspoon) seem more appropriate if using dried herbs.
I use dry in the recipe (as it’s what most people have on hand). I garnish with fresh if I happen to have them on hand. I hope this helps Susan!
This was super easy and so delicious! Although I did have one hiccup. I read “2 stalks of celery” and thought it was literally 2 stalks… not 2 stems or ribs of celery. I figured you meant stems, but this could be misleading for those of us who never cook. Haha.
cut the recipe in half for two, excellent!
Fabulous!! Will definitely become a regular in our house.
Hi Holly, let me start by saying your are a favourite. It’s getting cold here in Canada so with guest coming, I’d try your Chicken Stew for yummy comfort. The Prep time ended to be 45+ min. with de-boning /skinning the chicken thighs(maybe you can add this to your video to save time) Cost of thighs are cheaper with skins on)and cutting up the vegetables. I also added 1 Bay leaf to enhance the flavour further. I’ll make it again for sure. What stage can we do ahead of time before before final cook time? Can I add broth/wine come back 2 hrs. later for the final cook?
Hi Wanda, this stew can be made ahead. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
It was wonderful and worth the effort! We loved it!
We made this for dinner and used the garlic drop biscuit recipe cooked as dumplings for the last 10 minutes or so. I ended up thickening the stew before adding the biscuits, but I would not do so next time. The biscuits soak up most of the moisture, leaving the dish without any gravy at all. I think leaving the gravy/broth soupier before adding any kind of dumpling would be a good way to go. I also used whole milk vs cream and it was fine. Good flavor balance overall and a hearty meal on a cold night. Thank you.
Could I add chicken stock instead of wine? Not allowed to drink any alcohol due to a couple of meds that I am on.
You can substitute it with additional chicken broth, Sam. Enjoy!
We loved this so much! I’m such a soup/stew lover, and this was a new variation that will definitely stay in my rotation. Thank you!
It is also a good recipe for left over turkey. We actually like turkey stew better than the Thanksgiving dinner! Great recipe.
Holly, I love your recipes but just a thought, could you add notes for using the Instant Pot. Thankyou.
Hi Noreen, thank you for the feedback. While we are not able to test every recipe in the Instant Pot, we certainly try to give notes if we can!
For this stew, 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.
I only many one change and that was to make this in my browning crock pot and cook it for 4 -5 hours on low. OMG – was this ever good. I will definitely make it again. Thanks so much for posting.
I was hoping to do this in a crockpot… did you thicken in the beginning or end? I am so glad someone else did that!
Easy and excellent!
We thought this was good! I would definitely make this again.
I made this about a year ago , it is sooo goood! Everyone loved it. Made some rustic style croutons out of bread , butter, olive and herbs ( toasted up in the oven ) and served on top of the stew. So , so beyond good actually . Thank you very much for your delicious and simple recipes!!