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
- 8 chicken thighs about 1 1/2 pounds, diced
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 carrots diced
- 1 small onion
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 5 tablespoons flour divided
- ½ teaspoon rosemary
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon sage
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 ½ cups sweet potatoes peeled and diced
- ½ red pepper finely diced
- ¼ cup white wine
- 4 cups chicken broth or chicken stock
- 1 cup green beans or peas
- ½ cup heavy 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 use red wine?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Michelle. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Don’t be afraid to add a 1/2 teaspoon of Turmeric.
Delicious family favorite! I use this recipe as a way to use up all my extra veggies. Simple ingredients and hearty stew. We usually have cornbread as a side.
Made this soup last week and it was delicious! Fortunately I had all ingredients on hand except for the white wine so I used Marsala wine. My finicky friend tried a spoonful and ate a whole bowl! This is my new favorite and I’ll probably make it again this weekend.
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit Cynthia!
I made this tonight and it is sooo good!!! I’ll definitely make it again!
I made this recipe and it was delicious! I didn’t have any sweet potato but added some dumplings (chives, flour + butter) in which worked well. I also shredded the chicken and used potatoes, carrots and leeks as the veges as that’s what was in the fridge.
This is a beautiful stew! I made a couple of variations that worked wonderfully for my pallet. Cream of mushroom soup to replace the heavy cream, garlic instead of celery and rice vinegar instead of wine. Chefs kiss x! Thanks for this recipe, it will be on our list of regular dinners!
I am so happy to hear you loved this recipe Taryn!
Hello,
Is the nutritional information for the full 6 servings or for each serving?
Thanks.
The calories are per serving.
The given caloric information seems awfully high to me, based on the list of ingredients.
I checked it using another calculator, and it gives a much more reasonable (and expected) 368 calories/serving.
hi there
what could I use for flavour instead of wine as I’m an alcoholic in recovery so I don’t like to have it in my house
I’m cooking it in the slow cooker as I type this ! thanks
You can use additional broth in place. Enjoy!
This is a decent base recipe & I made a few adjustments.
I used diced breast (bc it’s what I had) & “browned” it in a mix of butter & olive oil. It wasn’t browned, burritos started the cooking process. I used a bit of seasoned salt & pepper whilst cooking the chicken.
I used a combo of chicken broth made with better than bouillon & Kettle brand Chicken mushroom broth.
I used all ingredients except I had Italian herb seasoning, so I used ~1tbsp of that and some Thyme (living w/a relative so I used what we have here).
I only added half the thickening (flour/water) but would likely use the full amt next time, bc it was still more soupy than like stew.
I even added a bit of fresh spinach bc we needed it to use it. We don’t have heavy cream, so uses half-and-half (but that wouldn’t significantly impact the overall flavor, just perhaps creaminess, which isn’t a huge difference to us).
I’ll def make again, but I think it could use a can of diced tomatoes & green chilies, which I’ll add in the future.
Ty for a great base recipe to experiment with & make my own.
Great recipe!! I made it with the cornstarch because I had a gluten free guest and it was delicious. I doubled the recipe and at the end when I thickened it I just used the cornstarch not the slurry described and it seemed to work out just fine. It did thicken as it sat and the next day I thought it was even tastier and thicker – more like a stew than a soup. Served with a salad and bread for a luncheon. Crowd pleaser!
It’s really good. Thanks for sharing!
If I want to make this gluten free. Can I replace the flour with corn starch in the entire recipe or do you just recommend it for the slurry at the end?
I am planning to double it for a crowd. Thanks!
I would suggest thickening with a slurry at the end. Enjoy!
But can I use all 5 TBS corn starch and no flour at all? Thx
Yes, you leave out the flour if using cornstarch. I would make the slurry and add a little at a time until you get the desired consistency. You may not need the full amount. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
My family and I loved this recipe. The sauce is absolutely delicious and the sweet potatoes make it different. Don’t skip the wine! It even works well with leftover chopped chicken. This recipe is a keeper.
I’d like to make this while “glamping” in my pressure cooker. Could I please get some guidance on how to do that? I cannot wait! I can tell from the ingredients it will be wonderful (as everything I’ve made off of this site is!)!
Hi Teril, 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 am so glad you are enjoying the recipes!
This looks delicious. Do you have to use white wine? Thank you for sharing.
The wine adds great flavor; any kind you would drink should work well in this recipe. I would suggest Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc. You can replace the wine with additional broth if you’d prefer.
This is hands down the best chicken stew ever. We eat a lot of chicken and we are making this twice in two weeks. So simple and so easy to make but full of flavour – especially if you use fresh herbs. We used gluten free flour, almond milk and olive oil. At the end, we ladled a bunch of the potatoes, sweet potatoes and broth into a blender and made a puree to thicken it up even more. Make this today!
I made this for dinner tonight. it was very good. I’ll definitely make it again!