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.
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
I WILL make this tomorrow night, calling for rain and cooler temps here in Texas!! (finally) I probably will omit the sugar also, as Rheada Haynes mentions. Sound SO, SO yummy!!! Maybe I’ll make it tonight!! 🙂
My husband is sick, and instead of chicken soup, I am going to try this stew for him tomorrow! Looks fabulous, can’t wait to taste it!
This is similar to a family recipe that has been passed down for generations. We call it Rabbit Stew because the originial recipe lists rabbit instead of chicken.
This looks & sounds just like the chicken stew my ex-boyfriend’s mother made – It was the best!! I regretted that I didn’t get the recipe before we broke up… but now it looks like I can still make it after-all!! Thanks!! 🙂
Christy, I will try this. I have made the Courtland Chicken Stew recipe for years which is in Cotton Country, Decatur’s Junior League cookbook. But this looks a little less labor intensive and would be just as good. The butter or margarine is crucial. Las time I made chicken stew I was adjusting the seasoning and just couldn’t get the flavor right. So I went ahead and added the butter and bam! Just what it needed. When you heat up some for lunch the next day, it’s great with a grilled cheese.
Oh goodness yes, now you’ve done gone and made me hungry 🙂
Gratefully,
Christy
Oh, Christy, if I had a dollar for every time I heard “you’ve done gone and made me*________*, I would be a millionaire!!! I love your recipes and I love your stories even more and the sayings…well, they just make me laugh, I have heard them ALL my life.
My family (or my people LOL) is from NW Georgia/NE Alabama, my father was born in Lyerly, GA, then he moved to MI and I have moved to NY. I am loving your cookbook and your blog and everything I have tried has been wonderful. Just takes me back to cooking with my Granny but you make everything easier. I may never have lived in the South but I am a Southerner by heart!! Thank you for doing this, my Granny would have loved you!!! and that is the highest compliment I can give anyone!!
And a compliment I will treasure! Thank you so much Sandy!!
This is INSANELY DELICIOUS. I added a bunch of crushed red pepper for spice and swapped one of the tablespoons of sugar for a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar because I love vinegar, and it tastes SO GOOD. Also, used 1 small can crushed and 1 small can diced tomatoes. Amazing.
Going to try this one.I am like your husband, not want big bites of tomato. So I run them thru the blender. Do the same when making spaghetti sauce. Also, that little bit of sugar cuts some of the tomato acid.