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
The instructions that are under the pictures vary from the instructions at the bottom. Am I over anaylizing? Probably……
Brian, she did note that the instructions under the photos were her own but the printed recipe was her Mother’s and that there were slight variations. She also noted that there was no difference in the outcome, regardless of which method you used. 🙂
I was surprised to see this recipe, as my family makes this soup, too. I thought we were the only ones and it was some kind of family concoction. Especially the sugar part. I sometimes use Rotel for the tomato part. Texas influence. Love your cooking! Hungry now. Must go cook!
Christy – I made this a couple of weeks ago, with shortcuts of course. I used cubed hashbrowns and chicken broth. I did use the crushed tomatoes but also added a can of RoTele. A new family favorite!! Thank you!
I googles something I could make with the ingredients I had, and it brought me here. Made this for my family of picky eaters, and I added cut up sausage. I served it over rice. They all absolutely loved it. The next night they asked if there was enough left to have it again. This time I added elbow noodles to it, and left off the rice. Huge hit! Great recipe. It’s so hard to find something that pleases every one. Thank you so much for posting. This one is definitely going in the recipe book.
Christie, First of all I absolutely LOVE your site! You just can’t go wrong with good ole southern cookig 🙂 Second, is there ANY way you can use chicken broth instead of the 7 cups of water used to cook the chicken in? Dyin’ to make this
You sure could Patty!
I’m making this tonight. I only had chicken pinwheels, so used that, but looks like I didn’t use enough potatoes. : ( Hope it comes out!
I hope it comes out too Dawn, let me know how you like it!
Hi Christy! It’s been a snowy week up here in southern New Jersey, so I just made this stew today; the hubby and I loved it! This is very much like my dear departed mother-in-law’s chicken vegetable soup. She added a can of condensed tomato soup instead of canned tomatoes, but the flavor is very similar and it made me think of her. What sweet memories!
I have to tell you, Christy, I bought your “Come Home To Supper” book for both myself and for my friend Kim. She told me that her family ( hubby and three kids, ages 12, 9 and 6) told her to thank ‘Mrs. Carson’ for the cookbook! She has made several recipes and her family loved them. So, now I am paying the thanks forward to you. She loved the easy preparation and the fact that you don’t call for a lot of fancy ingredients. I invited her to go on your website, too. Now, if I could just get MY copy of your book back from my mother, I would be in good shape. I had a feeling the day I lent t to her, I wouldn’t get it back anytime soon….sigh! Something tells me I’d better order myself another copy… Have a great rest of the weekend.
LOL, I am so glad to hear that everyone is enjoying the cookbook so much!!