This Chicken Stew is made with tender chicken, potatoes, and carrots simmered in a deliciously seasoned broth and garnished with fresh herbs. It’s quick and easy one pot meal perfect for cold nights!
We also love this slow cooker chicken stew and Instant Pot chicken stew.
This chicken stew recipe comes from my grandma. Growing up in Ukraine, she made it whenever she had chicken available. It is a very simple stew recipe, the way I like to cook and I think you will appreciate its simplicity as well.
It’s everything you need to get you through cold days!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- One pot meal: Everything cooks in one pot, I love to use my Lodge Dutch oven but regular pot works too.
- Easy: Basic pantry and fridge ingredients with minimal effort but that get you maximum flavor.
- Delicious: Loads of tender chicken breasts, chunky potatoes, and a flavorful broth make this one of the tastiest stews you’ll ever try!
Ingredients for Chicken Stew
- Chicken: You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts. Chicken thighs are more juicy and fatty, where as chicken breast is more lean and a bit more dry.
- Onion and garlic: Chopped onion and minced garlic to add flavor.
- Veggies: Diced carrots, diced celery and cubed potatoes. You can use any potatoes, just keep in mind russet potatoes will fall apart more, thickening the stew, which is delicious.
- Oil: Any oil for frying. I used extra virgin olive oil because we are not cooking at high heat and I love the taste it adds to the stew.
- Herbs and spices: Dried rosemary, oregano, and thyme. Ground cumin, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.
- Broth: Low sodium store-bought or homemade chicken broth.
- Garnish: Fresh parsley, dill, or green onion. They add another layer of flavor, don’t skip!
How to Make Chicken Stew
- Sauté the veggies: Preheat a 6 quart Dutch oven or large pot and add the oil to coat the bottom. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery to sauté and stir occasionally.
- Add chicken: Next, add the chicken, dried herbs, and spices with exception of the bay leaves. Continue to sauté just until browned a bit, stirring once.
- Simmer the stew: To the pot, add chicken broth, potatoes, and bay leaves and scrape off any bits off the bottom of the pot. Stir then cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender. Pierce with a fork to check.
- Garnish: Turn off the heat, discard bay leaves and add fresh herbs. Taste and if you wish, season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Variations
- Potatoes: Red potatoes, white potatoes or baby potatoes are great for roasting and soups because they hold their shape better. This is essential if you are using bone-in chicken and will be cooking your chicken stew longer. In all other cases, russet potatoes will make a more starchy stew and give it more body, like in Instant Pot potato soup.
- Chicken drumsticks: If bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks is what you prefer, you can use it. Brown them on both sides first, remove onto a plate and then brown the vegetables. Then cook with potatoes for about 30 minutes.
- Other vegetables: You can also add chopped cauliflower, sliced mushrooms, rutabaga, or okra. I would saute mushrooms first.
- Thicken the stew: If you like thick stew, mash a few potatoes and add them back to the pot. Especially works very well with russet potatoes. Or make a slurry with 2 tablespoons of cold water mixed with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
- Finishers: A squirt of lemon and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese are always a great way to put the finishing touch on a soup or stew.
Serving Recommendations
Keep this chicken stew recipe on hand for making a quick and hearty weeknight dinner or a simple comforting meal on a weekend afternoon. Pack the rest away for leftovers and allow the flavors to marry even more the next day!
Serve hot in a small bowl with a basket of Greek yogurt bread or cottage cheese bread along with this amazing olive oil bread dip and a nice light lemon kale salad.
How to Store and Reheat
Store: Stew will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Freeze: Although freezing a stew containing potatoes is possible, it’s not highly recommended. Potatoes may change the texture and taste over time and might be a disappointment when reheated. If you do freeze it, make sure to use an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheat: If frozen, thaw in the fridge overnight or on the counter for 6 hours. Simmer on low heat for approximately 5-7 minutes.
FAQs
Yes. Brown vegetables and meat as per the recipe, then add remaining ingredients, cover, and cook on High heat for 3-4 hours or Low heat for 4-6 hours. Or try my crockpot chicken stew recipe.
Yes. I do have Instant Pot chicken stew recipe. But for something different but just as quick, easy, and delicious try my Instant Pot chicken and potatoes.
Yes. Just double each ingredient and be sure to use a large pot or Dutch oven that can hold it.
You can always play around with the amount of seasoning you add or the amount of spice. You can also switch up the seasonings a bit, and add a bit of smoked paprika, lemon pepper seasoning, or Italian seasoning.
This happens when chicken is overcooked. It becomes tough and rubbery and no longer as pleasant to bite into. To combat this, make sure your pieces are uniform in size and thickness so they cook evenly. Otherwise, some pieces may end up overcooked and some undercooked. Also using chicken thighs helps to solve this problem.
More Stew Recipes to Try
Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves 4 minced, 1 grated
- 4 large carrots diced
- 2 large celery stalks diced
- 2 lbs boneless & skinless chicken thighs or breasts cubed
- 2 lbs potatoes cubed
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 3 tbsp fresh dill or parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat 6 quart Dutch oven or large pot on medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion, minced garlic, carrots and celery. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add chicken, rosemary, oregano, thyme, cumin, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Saute for 2 minutes, stirring once.
- Add chicken broth, potatoes and bay leaves and stir. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
- Turn off heat, add dill, stir and serve hot. Add grated clove of garlic – yum!
Video
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat portions by simmering in small pot on low heat.
- Freeze: Technically you can freeze this stew. I am personally not a fan but some people do not mind that potatoes change texture. Freeze in a glass container or resealable silicone bags for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight or on the counter for 6 hours.
- Potatoes: Red potatoes, white potatoes and baby potatoes will hold their shape better, especially if you are using bone-in chicken pieces and cooking stew longer. However, I love starchy stew russet potatoes make.
Beautiful soup I will be doing this recipes always for my family and friends delicious that you for a wonderful stew that all my family love
Hi Olena! I am sorry I didn’t snap a picture, I work in a group home for Teenage boys, I am always looking for healthy recipes. This Dish was a hit tonight, they LOVED it!!!! I told them I couldn’t take credit for the recipe. I used Liquid Aminos for my broth. I don’t eat meat but I remember how to cook meat , I usually have my husband taste test for me. Thank you so much for sharing.
Joy
I am so happy to hear this, Joy. Thank you for taking the time to share this with me.
I love combination of meat, potatoes, broth and bay leaves. It is almost like soup for me. But it is not soup for my kids, so no complaints. Had to make it really fast for early dinner once. Everybody was super happy. Me the most!
It’s the best when the whole family loves dinner!
I made this soup for my family about five times already and they love it great recipe!:))
I’m so happy to read this! Thanks for your positive feedback!
This was very tasty! I loved the tip about mashing up some of the potatoes to thicken it up—worked like a charm. I added a bit more seasoning at the end, just to taste, but it was yummy and made a nice large pot of stew. Plenty leftover for lunch tomorrow and sent some home with my dad too 🙂 Perfect for a nice cool day. Thanks for sharing!
So happy that you liked it Amy!
I think I’ve make this recipe 4 times in my Dutch Oven pot, and each time it’s the best. If you had a restaurant somewhere on Vancouver Island I would take the ferry from Friday Harbor and make a bee-line there.
Ed
Haha thanks so much Ed!
Simply delicious…made with chicken breasts …so easy as always everyone loved it! Thank you and best wishes for the holidays…keep safe!
So happy to hear this Claudia!
Great meal for anytime of the year.
This was SO flavorful! My whole family loved it and requested I make it again soon. I used frozen chicken breast pieces from Costco and it turned out really well. Thank you for the great recipe!
Sounds like your family has a new favorite dinner recipe 🙂
Delicious! Chop, sauté, toss in the pot. What could be easier?
Right?!
Great stew ! Wonderful flavors ! Made it in the instant pot by following the recipe up to halfway through step 4. Once everything was added I set the pressure for 5 minutes on high pressure with natural release. Went grocery shopping for tomorrow’s freezer cooking marathon & when we came home dinner was waiting for us in the instant pot! Thanks so much for all of the tasty recipes on your site !!!
Thanks for the awesome review Susan!