Our Family’s Southern Chicken Stew Recipe
Featuring tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and chicken, this flavorful and hearty southern chicken stew recipe is a firm family favorite.
This Southern Chicken Stew is a must-try. Rich, comforting, and packed with flavor, it’s a dish that quickly becomes a household favorite. It’s simple to prepare, easy to customize, and perfect for feeding a crowd.
Originally published in a 1974 issue of Good Housekeeping, this recipe has stood the test of time. It’s a staple for family meals, gatherings, and cozy nights in. The hearty combination of tender chicken, potatoes, and a flavorful broth makes it both satisfying and versatile.
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 can be easily stretched by adding more potatoes. A double batch ensures a warm, homemade meal is always on hand for the week. This budget friendly, hearty meal is going to be your new favorite!
What You’ll Need to Make Southern Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- potatoes
- whole chicken
- crushed tomatoes
- corn
- onion
- salt
- black pepper
- sugar
- butter
How to Make Southern Chicken Stew
In a dutch oven, cover the whole chicken with water and cook over medium heat until it the thickest part of the breast registers 165°F (74°C) on an instant read thermometer. When done, remove the chicken from the broth and set it aside to cool a bit. Reserve broth. You can 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 the potatoes and onions.
Add diced onions and potatoes to the reserved broth. Cook until the potatoes are tender.
While the potatoes are cooking, remove the chicken meat from the bones and shred.
When the potatoes are very soft, remove approximately a coffee cup’s worth. With a fork, mash these potatoes in the cup.
Add the mashed potatoes back into the dutch oven.
Then add the .
Next, add the can of crushed tomatoes. You can use diced tomatoes or even fresh garden tomatoes in place of the crushed tomatoes.
Next add salt and pepper.
Finally, add the sugar. Sugar acts to enhance flavor and offset the acidity of the tomatoes.
Simmer slowly with the lid off for about forty-five minutes.
Just before serving, stir in the butter. Adding butter just before serving makes for a creamy, velvety texture.
Ladle stew into bowls and serve. 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.
Notes on Making Southern Chicken Stew
- Serve Southern Chicken Stew with saltine or oyster 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.
- You can use chicken that is already cooked and shredded (rotisserie chicken works well), but you will need to use chicken stock to cook the vegetables.
- If you want to make Southern Chicken Stew in a crockpot, cover and cook the chicken on low for 6-8 hours, add the potatoes and onions a couple of hours into cooking. When chicken is cooked and tender, remove from crockpot and shred, remove the potatoes as instructed above and then add everything back to the crockpot and cook on high for a couple of hours or until warmed through.
More Stew Recipes You’ll Love
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
Christy, I made this recipe a couple of years ago. It just didn’t turn out great. We ate it, but the flavors just didn’t come together. For some reason, two weeks ago I decided to try it again. This time it turned out wonderfully! It made a gallon of stew and it’s just my husband and me, so we ate a LOT of it. I froze some of it and have been heating it up for lunch, finished the last bowl of it today! I made it according to the recipe both times, so I have no idea why I experienced such different results, but I loved it and it’s now on my short list of favorite soups. So glad I decided to give the recipe a second try.
I made this in my crock pot. Cooked on low for 8 hours & it came out fantastic. I used boneless skinless breasts & chicken bone broth I had made a few days prior. Added white & red onion, Yukon & purple potatoes, but followed the rest of the recipe to a T. My daughter made fresh cornbread to go with and we served with warm butter and honey. Big hit!
Oh that sounds fabulous!!!
Omg!! I made this and didnt change a thing.it is the best stew I’ve ever made.I love trying new recipes and I love stew best of all.so therefore.I have made several stews, none touches this one….wow!!!! Delicious. ….my two girls whom are picky and my husband loved it as well.its a keeper for sure……they have requested it again four days later after we had this the first time..8>] thats how wonderful it is..yum..thanks a million. I love your site and want your cook books so bad….
I am so glad to hear it was such a big hit!!!
OMG, The best recipe ever and I think my grandmother probably got the same recipe years ago because this is how she always made hers. We like serving ours with cheddar cheese and crackers, or a grilled cheese sandwich! oh and a hunk of onion . Im making this when im off this weekend.
This was delicious!!! Thank you so much!! Im alwas looking for new ideas as I am pregnant and need to keep trying new things or I get sick of the same type of thing over and over. I learned a lot about cooking a whole chicken with this and this has helped expand my cooking repertoire even more. Plus me and my hubby loved it!!!
So glad you liked it Kathryn!! When are you due??
I’m so sorry to be a naysayer, but I made this stew yesterday and didn’t like it. Objectively, it tasted “good” but I just don’t like the taste of tomatoes in things unless they are more masked.
The recipe makes A LOT. I did not want to waste it. Therefore, today, I sauteed some onions, garlic, chopped red pepper, and andouille chicken sausage. I added oregano and cumin and then some chili powder and topped that off with two cans of great northern white beans. It was quite thick, but I added about a 1/2 cup of beer and it was a delicious chili which I plan to freeze for future meals. I sprinkled the chili with chopped cilantro. It will be great on rice or by itself with some grated cheese.
That doesn’t make you a naysayer, it just makes you someone who like different tastes 🙂 Glad you got creative and made it work for you!:)
So I decided to make this stew last Friday for a coworker who’s recently had surgery, and I wanted to make enough to have some for myself so I doubled the batch, thinking it would be just enough. Man, I was so wrong – I’m not sure how much it actually made, but I think I have gallons of soup still in my freezer. I’ve been eating soup all week! The great thing is that it just keeps getting better as it sits in the fridge. I had shredded five medium-sized chicken breast, used two onion soup mixes for flavoring, as I had no onions, and simmered both cauliflower and potatoes in the soup broth and whipped those to thicken it a bit. While the stew is still a little thicker than I prefer, it is excellent! The thinner broth really complements the brightness of the corn. I also chopped up some carrots and threw them in, because what’s a stew without carrots? Thanks for the recipe, Christy! Lots of love from Alaska!
I meant the stew’s thinner! It’s all this heat, it’s melted my brain… 🙂