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 comfort food dish whenever they need a quick meal all week long!

 

Ingredients for southern chicken stew recipe.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Potatoes
  • A chicken
  • Crushed tomatoes
  • Corn
  • Onion
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • Sugar
  • Margarine

Helpful Kitchen Tools

Cook whole chicken in water.

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.

Peel and dice potatoes. Also, peel and dice your onion.

Add potatoes to broth.

Add potatoes to the broth.

Add diced onions to broth.

Add diced onion as well. Cook these until your potatoes are tender.

Cook until potatoes are tender.

Cook until potatoes are tender. Remove about a coffee cup’s worth of potatoes.

Remove coffee cup of potatoes.

Like this.

Mash potatoes in coffee cup.

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 mashed potatoes back in saucepot.

Place back in the saucepot along with the chicken pieces.

Add the can of tomatoes.

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.

Add corn.

I often use frozen corn if you prefer that.

Add salt to the southern chicken stew.

Add salt…

Add pepper to the southern chicken stew.

And pepper.

Add sugar and simmer southern chicken stew.

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.

Add margarine to southern chicken stew recipe before serving.

Just before serving, stir in margarine. YUM!!

Now, I did this tutorial on how I make my stew. The following recipe is from my mother. You may find that hers does things slightly differently (she doesn’t cook her onion with her potatoes), but it makes absolutely no difference in the outcome!

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, bell pepper, 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

Famous Alabama Camp Stew

Lentil Stew (Budget-Friendly & Delicious)

Ground Beef Stew (with a secret!)

Chicken Stew Recipe (30 Minutes To Your Table)

BBQ Joint Stew

Southern Chicken Stew

Featuring tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and chicken, this flavorful and hearty southern chicken stew recipe is a firm family favorite.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken, stew
Servings: 4
Calories: 684kcal

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

Calories: 684kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

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474 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I’m from Alabama too and I grew up eating chicken stew. I love it, especially cooked in a big black pot outside over a fire. Gives it just a hint of a smoky flavor. Anyway, I have never heard of putting butter in it, not saying its wrong, just different. But we put elbow noodles in our stew. Everybody has their own recipes that have been handed down for years and all of them are the correct way to make it. Who knows, someone else’s version may just be a little better than yours or mine.

  2. 5 stars
    We love this stew and the shortcut version too. I’ve never made any of your recipes that i didn’t like.

  3. 5 stars
    Funny thing, I felt like making chicken stew and searched up “southern chicken stew” and started looking at the various photos until I saw one that looked EXACTLY like what I grew up eating. Whether my grandmama cooked it or it came from a school band fundraiser, the chicken stew in my home town always looked the same.

    When I began reading your post and you mentioned the in-laws were coming into town for the Fiddler’s Convention a big ole’ grin crossed my face. I know the place well… Athens… Limestone County… Home Sweet Home❣️

    The stew turned out just like I knew it would. Thank you, darlin.

  4. How many people would you think this serves? I’ve made it and love it but I’m planning a get together and I’m wondering if two batches would be enough. There will probably be 28 people.

  5. I love that you shared this recipe. This is very similar to the chicken stew my grandmother made but she used tomato soup rather than tomatoes. Not sure where she got it but I’m pretty sure it was before 1974 because my Mama grew up with it. I ya not heard of anyone that mad one quite like this. Like you said, I don’t normally need the recipe, but I’m not wanting to use tomato soup because of the high fructose corn syrup so I was looking for alternatives that sub tomatoes. While she always served sliced white bread and dill pickle chips, I think I’m going to serve cornbread.

  6. This is the recipe my mom made for years and years. The only difference is, she also added butterbeans. If I had a dollar for everytime she and I have made this stew, we’d be millionaires. To thicken it if there’s to much liquid, I usually crumble saltines or stale crumbled bread and add some in it. An old favorite family recipe, I call it and everyone that taste it says I make the best. I don’t know that, because no one else makes it like this and I don’t usually eat anyone’s but mine! Thanks, it was nice to see an old recipe favorite of ours.

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