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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Can you add pieces of biscuit dough to this like you would for chicken and dumplings?
I can’t see why not, I think that would work! Let us know how it goes!
I made this stew this morning and it was fantastic! Thank you Holly for the delicious recipe! I rate it 10 out of 10!
This recipe is SOOOO good! Thank you Holly Nilsson
Excellent Chicken stew my husband and son loved it. We left out the sweet potatoes because my husband doesn’t like it. We will definitely make it again. Thank you
Just finished making this. I like to prep everything before I start, so it took longer than noted. I used thawed frozen chicken breasts as my family doesn’t love thighs. I didn’t have white wine on hand, so I subbed the same amount apple cider vinegar, and I used asparagus instead of green beans. I used an orange bell pepper because I didn’t have a red one – I was wary about this, especially with the sweetness of the apple cider vinegar vs wine, but it worked out! I also thickened with boxed mashed potato flakes.
The beauty of this recipe is that it is really flexible with whatever veggies you have on hand, and the flavors come together as if it was on the stove simmering for hours.
I’m definitely keeping this one as a go-to!
This is an excellent dish, we used breast and had excellent results. We added a bit of fresh thyme since we had some on hand and subbed cauliflower for the celery as we didn’t have any. Added a little garlic when sweating the onions (we add garlic to everything) and you pretty much can’t go wrong here. We put it in our recipe bible. Thank you.
You’re very welcome Chris. So happy that you loved the recipe!
Could I make this in the slow cooker? Has anyone else tried that?
Hi Elise, we haven’t made this recipe in a slow cooker but think it should turn out fine. Enjoy!
To cook in a crockpot, for how long?
Hi Carolyn, 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 the first time I have ever reviewed a recipe online and also the first chicken stew I have ever made. I followed all directions, added corn and garlic powder and my husband agreed that it was perfect for a rainy/snowy Sunday. He asked me why I had never made this before today! I have a new go to yummy one dish meal!
Thank you for your comment Theresa! So happy to hear how much you and your husband loved the chicken stew!
Delicious! My picky hubby loved it
This is a winner, and I am hooked on it! I added rolled and sliced 6 baby collard leaves, 2-3 ears of corn cut the corn, and included a teaspoon each of dried marjoram and garlic powder. For best results, don’t skimp or substitute on the cream. I added my slurry about 15 minutes before it was done and it thickened it nicely. Thank you for one of the best stews ever. I can eat it morning, noon and night, and yes, it freezes nicely.
Excellent stew. I recommend that if you are using skinless boneless breasts and a cast iron dutch oven, you brown them without the olive oil because of the amount of moisture in the breast meat (prevents really browning when in olive oil). Once browned you can add some olive oil or butter and saute the Mirepoix. I also added peas, green beans and mushrooms to the final mixture of chicken, Mirepoix and potatoes. I will keep this recipe!
Hi Holly
If I make recipe in a Dutch oven and want to put it in the oven with cover on, at what temp and how long should I cook it for? Thank you
If you would like to bake this I would suggest you bake it covered. As I haven’t tried it, I can’t say for sure how long. Let us know how it works out for you!
This stew is a staple in my household. Both of my kids ask for second helpings and my son asks for it in his lunch the next day. My son is diary intolerant, so I replace the heavy cream with cashew cream (soak 1/2 cup of cashews in 1/2 cup of water overnight and put in the blender with a bit of lemon juice until really smooth and creamy – no need to soak if you have a high speed blender like a vitamix). I swear, if I didn’t tell anyone it was dairy free they would never know. Thanks for this fantastic recipe! So glad I tried it with the dairy substitution.
Thanks for sharing Shelley! I am glad this recipe worked so well with a dairy-free substitution.
Absolutely delicious!! I doubled the recipe and came out perfect. Husband and kids had 2-3 bowls each. Will definitely make it again! Thanks for sharing:)
Can I leave this to simmer for several hours? Or will it make it chunky or something from the cream etc?
As long as you use heavy cream, it should be ok. The veggies may get a bit mushy.
Perfect! This was easy to make, it is full of flavor and the whole family enjoyed it. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Amazing
It was great, I would definitely would make it again. Instead of green beans I added sliced Brussel Sprout because I needed to use them up. Can’t wait for leftovers.
This was really yummy! I had leftover rotisserie chicken to use and this was perfect. Served with some drop biscuits. Thank you!
You’re welcome Lou, so glad you love the stew!
I grew up poor and I am still but I have always worked and raised my 3 kids living paycheck to paycheck with no extra money to buy anything but small ingredients so I want to thank you sincerely for sharing your recipes now that I can buy ingredients that make a happy home even more brighter. Thank you.
So glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes Cindy!
This stew is delicious!!! I’d recommend if you use salted chicken stock or broth do not add any extra salt!! It’s the perfect flavour
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