By:Nagi
186 Comments
This is the faster way I make Chicken Stew – using boneless chicken thigh fillets cut into large pieces, simmered with vegetables until tender in a rich, dark stew sauce. It’s a Chicken Casserole made in an hour, but tastes like it’s been simmering all day!
More chicken stew options: Slow Cooked Chicken Stew, Coq au Vin and Chicken Fricasée (creamy French Chicken Stew, reader favourite!).
Chicken Stew – faster!
I feel like the word “stew” conjures up visions of slow cooked goodness that’s been simmering on the stove all day.And our patience is always rewarded with the deep flavours you can only achieve through slow cooking. Beef Stew, Guinness Stew, slow cooked Chicken Stew and Pot Roasts.
This speedier Chicken Stew is for all the days when you want the slow cooked flavour –fast!It takes under an hour to make, and it’s loaded with plenty of veggies and potatoes swimming in a rich stew sauce!
This speedier Chicken Casserole tastes like it’s been simmering all day… look at that rich sauce!!
Flavour Tricks
Here are the things in this recipe that ups the flavour quota even without slow cooking for hours:
boneless chicken thigh fillets which are juicy enough to withstand the simmering time needed for the sauce to develop beautiful flavours, but cook quicker than using bone-in chicken pieces;
beef broth (stock) instead of chicken broth – beef broth has deeper flavours than chicken stock AND it gives the sauce a deeper brown colour without having to slow cook for ages;
red wine – a good slug adds depth of flavour and again, adds to the rich brown colour of the sauce; and
BACON.Need I explain this point? 😂
There’s a decent amount of veggies in this, so you can serve it as a meal without extra veg sides
How to make Chicken Stew
The total simmering time here is 40 minutes, compared to 1.5 hours for classic Chicken Stew made using bone-in chicken pieces.
Nothing tricky or unusual with this speedier Chicken Stew – we start off browning the bacon and chicken to get all those tasty brown bits on the bottom of the pan which will form part of the flavour base for the sauce.
Then cook off the veggies, add all the stew sauce ingredients, simmer for just 30 minutes until the chicken is tender, then lastly add the mushrooms and greens which don’t take long to cook.
And this is what comes off the stove:
juicy pieces of chicken;
soft vegetables that have sucked up the flavour of the sauce;
little pops of bacon (the BEST bite!);
loads of thick, rich, dark, savoury, herb infused stew sauce.
Seriously. Just tell everyone you’ve been slaving away all day. They’ll totally believe you! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chicken Stew (Casserole)
Author: Nagi
Prep: 15 minutes mins
Cook: 50 minutes mins
Total: 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins
Mains
Western
4.96 from 66 votes
Servings5
Tap or hover to scale
Recipe video above. This is the faster way to make a chicken stew (casserole) that's done in an hour but tastes like it's been simmering all day! The trick is to use boneless thigh fillets, beef instead of chicken broth, a good slug of red wine and BACON!
Ingredients
- 0.5 tbsp olive oil
- 150g/5oz bacon , chopped
- 750g/ 1.5lb boneless skinless chicken thighs , cut into 3cm / 1.25" pieces (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper , each
- 3 garlic cloves , minced (1 tbsp)
- 1 onion , sliced
- 3 carrots , peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced 1cm / 1/3" thick
- 2 celery stalks , sliced 1cm / 1/3" thick
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) red wine (Note 2)
- 4 tbsp flour
- 3 cups (750ml) beef stock/broth , low sodium (or chicken, Note 3)
- 400g/ 14oz crushed tomato , canned
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper , each
- 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 350g/ 12 oz baby potatoes , halved
- 200g/ 6oz mushrooms , halved (large quartered)
- 150g/ 5 oz green beans , trimmed and halved
Instructions
Place oil and bacon in a large heavy based casserole pot over high heat.
When the oil is heated and bacon releases some fat, add chicken.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, until chicken and bacon is browned.
Add garlic and onion, cook 1 minute.
Add celery and carrot, cook 2 minutes.
Add red wine, allow to simmer rapidly 2 minutes until the winey alcohol smell is gone.
Add flour, mix until incorporated.
Slowly pour in half the beef broth while stirring, then pour the rest in.
Add tomato, Worcestershire, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper.
Stir, add potato.
Cover, simmer 30 minutes.
Remove lid, add mushrooms and green beans. Simmer without lid* for a further 10 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread, sprinkled with parsley if desired!
Recipe Notes:
* Video error - I showed putting lid back on! Lid needs to stay off to thicken sauce.
1. Chicken - boneless thighs best because they stay juicy after the simmering time required for the sauce to develop beautiful flavours. I don't recommend chicken breast, but if you have no choice (or really insist!) then don't put the breast into the broth until the last 5 minutes or so, just to finish cooking through.
Bone-in pieces: Just add water and simmer for longer. But note my personal preference when making chicken stew with bone-in, skin-on pieces is to use this slow cooked oven Chicken Stew recipe because it makes the skin CRISP!
2. Red Wineadds incredible extra flavour into this quick stew, making up for the short cook time! Any dry, full bodied red wine is fine here - Cab Sauv and Merlots are ideal. Just avoid light ones like pinot noir.
Guinness or Stoutwill also work great here too - theyare dark beers, labelled as such on the cans. Use some, drink some - or tip the whole can in and simmer for longer with the lid off! If you love Irish Beef Guinness Stew, you'll know what the Guinness does to add flavour into stews.
Non alcoholic sub - brown the bacon well first, remove. Brown the mushrooms, remove. Then brown chicken, and proceed with recipe (add bacon in once chicken browned, mushrooms at end per recipe). These multi-stage browning will create an intense "fond" on the base of the pan (ie the brown stuff) which will add great flavour into the stew sauce, making up for absence of wine.
3. Beef vs chicken broth/stock - I like to use beef here for this quick cook stew because it's got a bit more flavour than chicken AND gives the sauce a deep brown colour (with chicken, it's a more pale brown). But chicken is just fine to use too!
4. Nutrition per serving.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 510cal (26%)Carbohydrates: 29g (10%)Protein: 40g (80%)Fat: 20g (31%)Saturated Fat: 5g (31%)Cholesterol: 162mg (54%)Sodium: 1231mg (54%)Potassium: 1654mg (47%)Fiber: 5g (21%)Sugar: 8g (9%)Vitamin A: 6550IU (131%)Vitamin C: 23.3mg (28%)Calcium: 104mg (10%)Iron: 6mg (33%)
Keywords: Chicken Casserole, Chicken Stew
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Hi, I'm Nagi!
I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!
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186 Comments
Jane saysCan I skip the wine? Whats the alternative for it?
Reply
- Sandy says
OMG! Such flavor! I think I could drink that broth straight up! I would have never thought to use the beef stock rather than the chicken, but it works so well. This will become part of my regular rotation.Reply
- Isabelle Kler says
This was absolutely delicious! I was surprised at the depth of the flavour. I did change a couple of ingredients because I didn’t have the exact ones at home. I used 1 tbspn tomato paste with 200g canned tomatoes. I substituted a bit of white wine for red, and I used boneless thigh plus 2 drumsticks (skin on) and simmered for an hour. Thanks for the terrific recipe.Reply
- John says
Great 👍 ReceiptReply
- Jennifer says
Made this last night – wow, does it make a ton of food! It’s just my husband and I so I was happy to see that it’s supposed to freeze well. I used 1.5 cups of alcohol free Guinness and it was great. It did take me at least twice as long as suggested to prep, and I cooked it for more like 70 minutes, but it’s even tastier today. Will definitely make again! Thanks for a great recipe!Reply
- Henry says
Brilliant! I followed the recipe to the letter, except for using fresh herbs and adding a good knob of butter at the end to give it a nice gloss. Thanks!Reply
- Aimee says
Fast and delicious!! Will be adding this to the rotation!
Reply
- Glenys Cadman says
I made it and my husband rated it and wants it again tonight!😁Reply
- Phil says
Easy to make and delicious.Used fresh herbs and added finely diced rosemary,
Will be making this again!
Reply
- Jeanette says
Cooked this last night and as usual Nagi it was amazing. My husband said it’s the best stew he’s ever tasted.
Reply
- Robyn says
I made this as per recipe it was delicious I was a bit short on the merlot well you have said in the past If you can’t drink it you can’t cook with it 😂Reply
- Sara says
This went down a great on a cold, winter night. The family loved and went back for seconds and thirds. Many thanks.Reply
- jamie says
Hi. Love the recipe; but will it be tasty without the bacon?Reply
- Steve says
Hi,if i want to add dumplings to this,when would be the best time ? Thanks
Reply
- Lisa Y says
This was very easy to make and my whole family loved itReply
- Ry Coleman says
What size pot is this cooked in? And what size ovenproof pot do you use for the slow cooked version?
Reply
- Rhonda says
This recipe is WONDERFUL! Easy to make and it smells AMAZING! My family loves it! Looking forward to making it again.Reply
- anifer says
Hi! I’m from Venezuela, arrive in Perú. Thanks for this amazin recipe i made it and I love it… soo tasty and fast.
I don’t really like cook but with this blog i’m sure i will do a lot of delicius dishes.Reply
- Betsy G says
SO GOOD!! I saw this recipe pop up on FB this morning, and decided that it would be dinner! I timed it slightly wrong for us – I had to lv for a kid pickup while it still had 10 mins of lid-on simmering. So it simmered with the lid on 45 mins. That wasn’t an issue – but my glass electric burner simmer was a tiny bit too hot, then I scraped up the bottom & now have little burn flecks throughout. Still fabulous, though!! I followed the ingredients & instruction as written, except longer time with lid on & didn’t use green beans. Hubby wanted this over white rice (even with potatoes in it!). So good!!Reply
- Lloyd Hildebrand says
Really love this recipe but one thing that happed to me the flour seemed to burn on the sides & bottom of the pot. Not sure what I did wrong hoping you can help me? Ended up having quite a smoky taste because of it.Reply
