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
Chicken Stew
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.
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Our church celebrates Reformation Day on Oct 31st. This year our dinner theme was “stews.” I did a quick search and your chicken stew came up. I am happy to say that it was a huge hit. I substituted the flour with Boots Red Mill GF baking flour as some of our members cannot have gluten. After cooking it I placed it into the crockpot on warm. Your recipe will now go in my recipe box. Thank you for such a hearty meal. The leftovers were just as yummy.
So happy to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Hi! Have you tried making in a crock pot? If so, how long?
Hi Anna, we haven’t made this recipe in the crockpot 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 crockpot! Hope that helps.
This is my new go-to recipe. It’s soo good, and well worth the time it took to prepare the fresh ingredients! Thank you for sharing this hearty dish with us
Can the crème be left out?
Hi Michelle, you can replace it with additional broth if you prefer. It will change the flavor though.
When fall comes around I love making this recipe, made it twice this week! I look to your site for all my recipes, you’ve turned me into a decent cook! And I actually enjoy cooking following your recipes because I know they will turn out. They are simple yet so flavourful and feel good. Thank you thank you thank you for all your recipes over the years. This one is one is an all time fav!
That is so sweet of you, Tess! I am so happy our recipes are working so well for you ❤️
I haven’t made this chicken stew yet because I wanted to ask please, what kind of white wine would you recommend? Thanks so much!
I would suggest Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc. You can replace the wine with additional broth if you’d prefer.
I tried this recipe and it was delicious. My husband said it was really good. This is a keeper for sure.
This was a super yummy recipe! Lots of prep work with the veggies but SO worth it! I added leeks also and made Red Lobster’s Cheddar biscuits! Great soup for a college football day!
I wasn’t sure if this recipe was going to turn out well but it ended up being fabulous! I will definitely add to my recipe box and look forward to making it again, especially during the winter months.
Looks delicious! Does this call for fresh or dried herbs?
The herbs in this recipe are dried.
Made this tonight. Added about a cup of fresh corn because it needed to be used. Other than that followed the recipe. Outstanding.
Thank you!
Delicious recipe. I skipped the cream and green beans/peas but increased the carrots, onions, celery and added parsnip…..plus a dash of aleppo, cayenne and urfa biber pepper for just a touch more zing! Finely diced everything as my wife cannot swallow food well so the smaller and softer (for better or worse), the better. Id make this again for sure.
This is an excellent dish. Our family of 6 devours it. My daughter and I are vegetarian so I make two batches: one with chicken and one without (plus veggie brother instead). It’s still just as filling without the chicken. I make buttermilk biscuits on the side too.
Excellent Chicken Stew Recipe. Soon to be a fan favorite!
A whole lot of “excellent” here. Loved it.
JoeW
I tried this recipe and loved it, easy, quick, very flavorful ,
I did not have red peppers, but added a pinch of red crushed peppers
Just perfect! Thank you!
My favorite go to recipe. Made this several times, and again tonight for dinner. This is the best stew. I add extra sweet potatoes and jackpot it’s gold!!
Absolutely delicious. I exchanged Celery for red peppers and mushrooms as no one in my household likes celery. I added mascapone cheese instead of heavy cream for the last 5-10mins cooking. Thanks for posting such a wonderful recipe.
This was a fantastic base recipe! I left out the celery, added garlic, summer squash and a can of fire roasted marzanos. I also blended a fair amount of the cooked potatoes to achieve thickness & skipped the flour + water. It was BOMB! Will be making again!