Our Family’s Southern Chicken Stew Recipe
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Featuring tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and chicken, this flavorful and hearty southern chicken stew recipe is a firm family favorite.
I am going to start this post off by asking a favor of you all. Please make this chicken stew. It’s that good. I mean, it’s so good that it actually bothers me to think that some of you might only look at the photos, read the tutorial, and never make it. It’s so good that if I could, I would seriously arrange a time and place for all of us to meet up under a tent somewhere in the middle of the country just to serve you this chicken stew. It’s just, well folks, it’s just so good!
My mother got this recipe out of a 1974 issue of Good Housekeeping. There was a photograph of a little old lady next to the title and Mama said “She just looked like her food would be really good”. Since then, I cannot even begin to tell you how often we make it. Everyone in my family makes this and loves it. My in-laws are coming in from Georgia this weekend for the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddler’s Convention as they do every year and this stew is always a request for their first meal. Tonight I’m serving it with Dixie Cornbread.
Once you make this a time or two, you’ll have no more need for the recipe. It will be ingrained in your heart, your taste buds, and your stomach. If you need more reasons to give this southern chicken stew recipe a go, it refrigerates well, freezes well, and can easily feed a crowd simply by adding more potatoes. I always try to make a double batch and my family happily eats a bowl of this supreme dish whenever they need a quick meal all week long!
Recipe Ingredients
- Potatoes
- A chicken
- Crushed tomatoes
- Corn
- Onion
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Sugar
- Margarine
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Cover your whole chicken with water and cook over medium heat until it’s done. When chicken is done, remove it from the broth and set it aside to cool a bit. Reserve broth.
If you prefer to use boneless skinless chicken breast for this recipe, just add some chicken bouillon cubes to your water to make sure your chicken broth is rich enough.
Peel and dice potatoes. Also, peel and dice your onion.
Add potatoes to the broth.
Add diced onion as well. Cook these until your potatoes are tender.
Cook until potatoes are tender. Remove about a coffee cup’s worth of potatoes.
Like this.
With a fork, mash those potatoes in the cup. We are going to add this back to the stew and it will thicken it.
You can also just use a bit of instant mashed potatoes here if you want, as I’ve mentioned in a previous post. (I truly believe soup thickening is about all they are good for… except for when I make this crust out of them for our Taco casserole… but that is a recipe for another day).
Place back in the saucepot along with the .
Add the can of tomatoes.
Now, you can use any type you want here. I tend to use crushed because my husband (who I have oft mentioned was dropped on his head as a child) doesn’t like to actually bite into a piece of tomato in his stew. However, I prefer diced if I’m going with canned. Nothing though, NOTHING is better than homegrown tomatoes from my freezer if I have them!
Add corn.
I often use frozen corn if you prefer that.
Add salt…
And pepper.
Then add the sugar. I know sugar sounds a bit odd in a stew, but trust me on this.
Simmer slowly with the lid off for about forty-five minutes.
Just before serving, stir in margarine. YUM!!
Storage
As I said, this southern chicken stew recipe refrigerates and freezes well. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- Serve your homemade chicken stew with saltine crackers, homemade drop biscuits, or cornbread. You could also serve it with a simple side salad, like an easy Greek salad.
- For a little kick, serve your stew with some hot sauce. Alternatively, before simmering add a teaspoon of paprika or a tablespoon of Cajun seasoning.
- Want to add more vegetables? Add in a cup of frozen peas or green beans when you add the corn. You could also add diced carrot, , or celery to your stew.
- If you’d prefer slow cooker chicken stew, follow the steps but once the potatoes, chicken, and onions are cooked in the broth, you’ll want to transfer everything to a slow cooker before adding the can of tomatoes and the remaining ingredients. Then cook on high for 4 to 6 hours.
Check out these other sensation stew recipes:
Beef Stew Recipe for Slow Cooker
Lentil Stew (Budget-Friendly & Delicious)
Ground Beef Stew (with a secret!)
Ingredients
- 1 chicken
- 2 large onions chopped
- 7 cups water
- 4 cups canned tomatoes
- 6 medium potatoes peeled and diced
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups frozen or canned whole kernel corn
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 5 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons pepper
Instructions
- Cook the chicken until done in water. Remove the chicken from the broth and discard its skin. Separate the meat from the bones and then shred the meat.1 chicken, 7 cups water
- Dip off as much fat from the broth as possible.
- Simmer potatoes in 1 cup of broth in a covered saucepan until done and do not drain. Mash potatoes slightly, keeping them lumpy.6 medium potatoes
- Add corn, onions, tomatoes, sugar, salt, and pepper to broth.2 large onions, 4 cups canned tomatoes, 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 cups frozen or canned whole kernel corn, 5 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons pepper
- Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add potatoes and chicken pieces and simmer slowly with the lid off for at least 45 minutes.6 medium potatoes, 1 chicken
- Right before serving, stir in the butter and let it melt. This chicken stew is best if made a day ahead and reheated to serve.2 tablespoons butter
Nutrition
Stew looks great! You can freeze tomatoes? I never knew that. I sure have thrown out a ton of them from my dads garden..especially last year when he had 50 plants in the backyard!
How long will they keep?
I need to go buy a chicken. They’re really cheap, and we always have canned tomatoes and corn, and my folks just gleaned enough potatoes to last all of us all winter. This really does look like a very good stew.
And you look so pretty in that picture at the bottom of your post!
Oh Christy,
You have made my day for sure. I have been looking for a Chicken Stew recipe for a long time now. The kind we used to get when they would sell them at fund raisers and such. I never made it myself, and didnt have a recipe till NOW!…
They dont make this stuff up here, and I will definately have to introduce everyone I know to it.
Thanks for such a fabulous recipe.
Girls, Seriously, you all have to try this recipe… its good hearty food, home cooking food… and a southern staple for sure!!!!!
Sharon OOH YAY!! I seriously hope so bad y’all try this! My natural instinct is to feed people and it just kills me that fall is nipping at our heels and I can’t make y’all this stew!!! I have had a very busy but REALLY great day, thank you!!!
I try to always have good days. I tell my kids “Each day when you wake up, you have a choice. You can have a good day or you can have a bad one, so you might has well have a good one.”
Its not always that easy but…….wow, you didn’t mean for me to go into all of that, did ya?
Gosh darnit, I’m just chatty!
Linda Thank you!! You know, This stew is the perfect thing when you have company or have a bit of a busy weekend with folks to feed despite it. We have this big Fiddler’s Convention in my town this weekend and my in laws are here. So I made this tonight and then we’ll eat it again for lunch one day this weekend. No one has EVER minded having chicken stew for leftovers! In fact, we came back from the Fiddler’s tonight and gathered around the soup pot once more!
My brother is a Jack Daniel’s two time grand champion winner for his bbq and he is selling pork chop sandwiches and bbq sundaes all weekend at Fiddlers, oh and roasted corn, too. I’m going to bring y’all some pics back tomorrow and put them into my next post – or maybe the next newsletter. I’ll have to decide.
I try not to ever post just general things about my family or what we did this weekend or such because I figure folks come to Southern Plate for recipes so I do my best to keep on point (in as much as I am able – y’all know I like to ramble). Anyway, my point is that I am going to have some neat pics coming up as soon as I have an excuse to post them or something I can include them with. I thought I’d get some pics of my parents tomorrow and such. Everyone is taking their turn working for my brother this weekend! His BBQ restaurant opens up next weekend and I already have plans to spend some time in his kitchen with my camera for tutorials from there!
Jo Hey!! Wow, thank you!! y’all always make me grin and blush! Just make me feel so good.
I really hope you all know how much I appreciate you taking the time to read Southern Plate and to give me such wonderful feedback. Feedback is so very important and it just makes me feel so good and so thrilled to do more recipes and tutorials every time I read the kind things you all say!
I sure do hope y’all have a wonderful weekend!
Gratefully,
Christy
yummilicious! That looks great Christy, your recipes always do 😉
My oh My! There have been so many good recipes this past month I am in a quandary as to what to take to pot luck on Sunday! I’m going to have to go back and reread all of them.
I think I will definitely make this chicken stew when all the kids come home for Thanksgiving!
Hi there. I may make this for our Sunday meal. It looks yummy.:) Hope you are having a great day.:)
Sharon:)
I tried to follow along based on your instructions and your mother’s recipe. And my soup is a bit bland and I was wondering if that was normal since I have never tasted chicken stew before? I added more salt and pepper it’s still kind of just eh! What to add for a boost of flavor, or will it be better tomorrow?
The flavors do meld and get better the next day but I’ve never had it not really flavorful as soon as it’s done. Did you cook bone in chicken in water to make the broth? The one thing I’m wondering is if perhaps you put boneless chicken in water and then didn’t end up with a broth at the end. Regardless, I’d add some chicken broth concentrate 🙂
I grew up on this recipe too. We use Rotel instead of just tomatoes. We also add Oregon and a little cumin. It has lots of flavor. We love it!
My sweet neighbor made this for me over the weekend. Yummy! Will be making it from now on. It was perfect.
A dash of Tabasco!
I add a little chili powder and it gives a boost of flavor.
That’s a great idea!
I’ve made the recipe multiple times, and really like it. Do you think this would be a recipe that I could can in jars?