The Easy Chicken Stew I Make All Winter Long

Don’t spend all day making stew. This easy chicken stew recipe requires just six ingredients and takes under an hour to make, but it delivers big on comforting flavor.

Overhead view of easy chicken stew in a gray dutch oven with a large serving spoon — Simply Recipes / Sara Haas

I’m a creature of habit in many ways. I often start my day with a piece of toast covered in natural peanut butter and a bit of honey. I enjoy that with a cup of cold brew and then I take my kid to school. After that, I bike to my fitness studio and teach a class, I then head home and get to work in my kitchen.

My habits are all fine, but when dinner rolls around, I’m ready for a break. That usually translates to making something new in my kitchen, which is inspired by what I know my family eats and what I have stocked in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. That’s how I came up with this 6-ingredient chicken stew.

If you’ve encountered my recipes on Simply Recipes before, you’ll notice a trend: there’s a lot of chicken. That’s not a coincidence—chicken seems to be about the only protein my family will eat. It’s why I perpetually feel like I’m on an episode of Chopped where the box always has chicken in it. “Sara, please find new and delicious ways to use THIS,” I hear in my head. Challenge accepted!

This chicken stew is a mash-up of two other recipes my family likes: my chicken pozole and my chicken and noodles. One night I wanted to make a chicken soup, but only had a few scraggly vegetables in my fridge and some bone-in chicken breasts. This incredibly easy chicken stew was born.

How To Make My Easy Chicken Stew

I got to work chopping an onion and a couple of carrots, then a sweet potato. Then I seared a couple of chicken breasts in a hot Dutch oven before cooking the veggies. I added a bit of flour before adding water, chicken base, and the chicken. I grabbed a few herbs, threw those in for good measure, then covered and cooked until the chicken was done.

Less than an hour had passed (a startlingly short amount of time for a flavorful stew), and I had dinner on the table. My family loved it, and now I make this chicken stew often during the cold winter months.

Overhead view of a gray bowl of chicken stew with a spoon all sitting on a wooden cutting board with a piece of french bread — Simply Recipes / Sara Haas

Quick Tips

For this recipe, I use bone-in, skin-on chicken breast. It’s the secret to success. The bone and skin help keep the chicken juicy and add mega-flavor too. My family likes white meat, but if richer dark meat is your favorite, use it! Swap in a few bone-in chicken thighs for one of the breasts.
I wanted a rich broth but didn’t have cream and didn’t want to waste time puréeing the sweet potatoes, so I made a lazy roux by adding a bit of flour. I cook it with some oil and vegetables until it is toasty before adding the chicken soup base and water. This creates a thicker broth without much extra effort.
If you want to add an easy 7th ingredient, consider hunting in your spice rack for dried oregano, dried thyme, dried parsley, or any herb combination that sounds good to you. Add a teaspoon when you add the broth.
My husband is often a hungry human, so I’ll sometimes serve this stew with a bit of cooked rice (wild is delicious) or whole grain pasta and let him add what he wants.

Cozy Chicken Dinners

Sear the chicken:

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Pat the chicken skin dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the chicken to the pot, skin-side-down, and cook, without moving, until the skin is golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Cook the vegetables:

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions and carrots to the pot and cook, stirring often, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pot as you go. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and gradually stir in the flour and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients:

Mix the chicken base into 1 cup of hot water, then stir into the pot, scraping the bottom of the pot. Add the chicken back to the pot along with any juices and the remaining 5 cups of water. Add the thyme, if using.

Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and add the sweet potatoes.

Simmer:

Reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. A thermometer inserted in the thickest part should reach 165°F.

Remove from the heat and transfer the cooked chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes. Cover the pot with a lid to keep it warm.

Remove the chicken skin and shred the chicken. Remove the thyme stems (if using) and add the shredded chicken back into the pot. Taste, adding salt and pepper as needed, and serve.

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