Our Family’s Southern Chicken Stew
Warm, rich, and bursting with flavor, this Southern Chicken Stew has earned its place as a family classic! We’re talking chicken, corn, potatoes, and tomatoes, all slow-simmered in a broth so good you’ll want to mop it up with one of my Southern Cathead Biscuits. It’s simple to prepare, easy to customize, and perfect for feeding a crowd.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Southern Chicken Stew
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: chicken, onions, water, canned tomatoes, potatoes, sugar, frozen or canned whole kernel corn, butter
- Why You'll Love It: Featuring tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and chicken, this flavorful and hearty southern chicken stew recipe is a firm family favorite.
How do you make Southern chicken stew?
Cook a whole chicken in 7 cups of water, then shred the meat and skim the broth. Simmer 6 diced potatoes in a cup of the broth until tender and mash them slightly. Add corn, chopped onions, 4 cups canned tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper to the broth and simmer 20 minutes, then stir in the potatoes and chicken and simmer uncovered at least 45 minutes. Finish with 2 tablespoons of butter.
The Chicken Stew That’s Been in Our Family for Decades
Originally published in a 1974 issue of Good Housekeeping, this Southern chicken stew recipe has stood the test of time. It’s been a staple for our family meals, gatherings, and cozy nights in for as long as I can remember, and is often served alongside my Deep South Buttermilk Cornbread. You really just can’t beat the hearty mix of tender chicken, potatoes, and a flavorful broth, which makes it both satisfying and versatile.
This stew is so straightforward that once you’ve made it a couple of times, you’ll likely have the recipe memorized. It stores well in the fridge, freezes beautifully, and, much like my Cozy Potato Corn Chowder, can be easily stretched by adding more potatoes. A double batch keeps a warm, homemade meal on hand all week. And did I mention that it’s budget-friendly too? Honestly, the more you learn about this stew, the better it gets!
Ingredients
- Bone-in chicken breast (pre-cooked or rotisserie works too)
- Onions
- Canned tomatoes (or fresh diced tomatoes if that’s what you have!)
- Potatoes
- Sugar
- Frozen or canned corn (whole kernel)
- Butter
- Salt & pepper
Tips Before You Get Started
- For a little kick, try serving your stew with hot sauce on the side. Or, if you like it spicy, just toss in a teaspoon of paprika or a tablespoon of Cajun seasoning before you let it simmer!
- Feel free to bulk it up with more veggies! I love throwing in a cup of frozen peas or green beans when I add the corn. You can also add diced carrots, bell pepper, or celery. Whatever you’ve got in the fridge works great.
- To make this in a crockpot, cover the chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours, adding the potatoes and onions a couple of hours in. Once the chicken is tender, pull it out and shred it, remove the potatoes as usual, then add everything back in. Cook on high for a couple more hours until it’s all warmed through.
How to Make Southern Chicken Stew
1. Cook the Chicken
In a Dutch oven, cover the whole chicken with water and cook it over medium heat until the thickest part of the breast hits 165°F (74°C) on an instant-read thermometer.
Once it’s done, take the chicken out of the broth and let it cool for a bit. Don’t throw out that broth – you’ll need it later!
2. Cook the Potatoes
Peel and dice your potatoes and onions, then toss them into the reserved broth. Cook everything until the potatoes are nice and tender.
3. Shred the Chicken
While the potatoes are cooking, go ahead and pull the chicken meat off the bones and give it a good shred.
4. Mash the Potatoes
Once the potatoes are very soft, scoop out about a coffee cup’s worth and mash them up with a fork. Stir the mashed potatoes back into the Dutch oven, then add in your shredded chicken.
Note: We’re only mashing a portion of the potatoes here, not all of them. The mashed potatoes help thicken the stew, while the remaining whole potatoes add a hearty texture. It’s the best of both worlds!
5. Add Ingredients & Simmer
Next, add your can of tomatoes, then add in the corn.
Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the sugar.
Let everything simmer slowly with the lid off for about 45 minutes.
6. Add Butter & Serve
Just before serving, stir in the butter. Adding butter just before serving makes for a creamy, velvety texture.
Time to serve up this hearty stew! We love soaking it up with our 2-Ingredient Easy Homemade Biscuits. Enjoy!
Storage
This Southern chicken stew recipe refrigerates and freezes really well. You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat in the microwave.
Southern Chicken Stew FAQs
You sure can! I would just recommend adding in some chicken bouillon cubes to your water to make sure your chicken broth is rich enough.
The secret to better chicken stew is all about layering flavors! While this recipe doesn’t call for it, one way to boost the flavor is by searing your chicken thighs in the Dutch oven first to get a beautiful golden crust, then deglaze the pot to pick up all those tasty browned bits from the bottom. Then you’d add your broth and cook your onions and potatoes from there.
Saltine crackers, some buttery cornbread, or homemade drop biscuits are some of my top choices! Honestly, nothing beats dunking a warm, buttery biscuit into a hearty bowl of stew. If you’re looking for something a little lighter on the side, I’d also recommend throwing together an easy Greek salad.
I hope this stew warms your heart as much as it does ours! Rate it below and tell me how you made it your own.
Southern Chicken Stew
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 in water until done.1 chicken, 7 cups water
- Remove the chicken from the broth and discard its skin. Separate the meat from the bones, then shred the meat. Skim off as much fat from the broth as possible.
- Simmer potatoes in 1 cup of broth in a covered saucepan until done. 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, 5 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons pepper
- Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add the potatoes and chicken pieces, then 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
If you are going to use canned tomatoes (and canned are better than non-ripe store tomatoes) use the whole ones and crush them with your hand. Not only is it fun, but they used the best tomatoes for the whole ones. Canned tomatoes are pretty good because they let them ripen on the vine and can them pretty much in the field.
Thank you.. will be making this for the crew very very soon. I can make it ahead for the guys to take when they go to deer camp!
This soup was soooo delicious. I helped hubs through it and it turned out great. One of the boys is now sick and he has asked me to make him the “sick soup”. Ha!
Hey Cee!!
Oh, I don’t know if anything beats a good fundraiser chicken stew. If that’s what you’re craving, this’ll hit the spot for sure though!
I’m so glad you read Southern Plate! I actually thought about you this weekend at the Fiddler’s. You know they always have great chicken stew there, too!
Stephanie Hey! I am always amazed at how inexpensive a whole fryer is compared to the boneless skinless breasts and the broth they make just can’t be beat! I think you could likely feed a family endless meals if you just have corn, tomatoes, and potatoes on hand!
~blushes~ thank you! I am working on getting a good “mug shot” done to use in print and such and doing a trial run. It’s so hard having photos made of yourself!! I appreciate your compliment GREATLY!
Bill HEY! Tomatoes are SUPER easy to put up in the freezer.
What I do is this:
*Get on a large pot of water to boil.
*Set out a 9×13 pan on the counter (they cool faster and its easier to chop them in that)
*Once the water is boiling, drop a few tomatoes at a time in it. Wait just a minute or two and the skins will split open. Remove them and put them in the 9×13 pan and let them cool until you can handle them. Just grab hold of that skin and it will come right off! Throw away the skin and cut off the tops and throw that away too. Then, I just take a large knife and coarsely chop them up a bit before filling quart sized freezer bags with the tomatoes, juice and all!
Deanna Let me know if your husband makes this for you! My husband is doing good to be able to boil water – seriously. He is an engineer and is completely lacking in common sense when it comes to cooking. Everything is made to be a hundred times more complicated then necessary. Once, I was in the middle of making chicken and dumplings and got to feeling very sick rather suddenly. The kids were hungry and wanting their supper so I called him in there just to shred the chicken and put it in the dumplings –that’s all there was left to do.
I’ll never forget eating chicken and dumplings with perfectly cubed one inch squares of chicken in it. It was – odd. No telling how long it took him to do that. Bless his heart.
Donna Oh yes, it was so good. I froze the leftovers and sent it with my in laws back to Georgia. Not to sound too selfish, but I’m kinda regretting doing that now! I sure do want a bowl!
Cara Hey! Thank you so much!!! I hope to keep you happy and coming back for a very long time! Let me know if you have any questions or special requests!
Gratefully,
Christy
Your recipes are great! I keep coming back for seconds!! Love the emails to! Can’t wait to try this one with cornbread!
That looks like good old fashioned Southern comfort food for a cold rainy day. Add some of that cornbread of yours and you have a feast. Yuummmm!
Oh, yum! I have been sick for a week and the only thing that sounds good is warm soup to soothe my sore throat. I am going to tutor my hubs through this recipe so we can have this for supper. Thanks so much! I’ll help him whip up some of the cornbread. He’ll be such a happy camper because he and boys will have it all to themselves!