This easy crock pot Chicken Stew recipe features tender chicken, potatoes, and lots of vegetables in a tasty broth. This versatile small-batch recipe can be made for two in a mini crock pot or scaled up for a crowd. I have also included stovetop instructions for faster results.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken—Skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs
Aromatics—garlic and onion
Vegetables—potatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms (optional), frozen corn, and frozen peas
Chicken broth—low sodium
Salt and black pepper
Optional spices—poultry seasoning, celery seed, thyme, rosemary
Tomatoes—diced, optional
Corn starch—Optional for thickening
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🐓Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Make Chicken Stew in a Crock Pot—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- 🥣Variation and ingredient options
- ♨️How to cook chicken stew on the stovetop
- 🥣How to thicken a stew in a crock pot?
- 📋Other recipes to warm you to the bone
- ↕️How to make this chicken stew for two or family-size
- 🍽️Serving
- ❄️Leftovers—storage and reheating
- ❓FAQs
- 📖 Recipe
Featured Comment by Kristen:
"I always feel guilty when something so easy to cook tastes good. You feel like you should have worked much harder for such a great result."
We make this classic old-fashioned stew for cold days. A small batch recipe that easily scales. It is one of my best recipes to warm you to the bone on a chilly night.
It is also naturally gluten-free and is relatively low in sodium. It will fit a healthy diets, like a low-calorie and low-fat diets.
👨🍳How to Make Chicken Stew in a Crock Pot—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Prepare carrots, celery, potatoes, and optional mushrooms.
2. Clean, trim, and cube chicken breasts.
3. Add the chicken, veggies, frozen corn, chicken broth, garlic, spices, and optionally diced tomatoes.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Add peas 30 minutes before the end of cooking. It is done when the chicken reaches 165° and the potatoes are tender.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
🥣Variation and ingredient options
Chicken: Use skinless boneless chicken thighs for more tender meat, but cook to 180°.
If you use pre-cooked or rotisserie chicken, add it near the end of cooking, when the vegetables are cooked. A pound of chicken will yield about 3 cups of shredded precooked chicken.
Potatoes: Use thin-skin potatoes, like red or Yukon gold potatoes, and skip the peeling. If using Russet potatoes, they should be peeled.
Making cream stew: Add ½ cup of milk or heavy cream to make a creamy chicken stew.
Spicing and other flavors: Vary your spicing for different flavors. Common are fresh rosemary, a bay leaf, and other fresh herbs to your taste.
I have included tomatoes as an option in my recipe. Two other I like are to add ½ cup of white wine. Or add 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce for more flavor.
♨️How to cook chicken stew on the stovetop
- Use a heavy pan like a Dutch oven with a few teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken.
- When the chicken starts to brown (4-5 minutes), add the veggies and cook another 4-5 minutes.
- Add the other ingredients except the peas. Decrease to simmer, cover, and cook for 45-60 minutes until chicken is 165° and potatoes/carrots are tender.
- Add the peas for the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. If using frozen green beans, they can go in with the potatoes or near the end, like peas would.
🥣How to thicken a stew in a crock pot?
I suggest a cornstarch slurry of a tablespoon of cornstarch in a tablespoon of cold water for the last 30 minutes of cooking when you add the peas. Add more if you want thicker.
Other options are using less broth in the recipe or making a roux and adding that late in cooking. Potato flakes can also be added.
📋Other recipes to warm you to the bone
Small Crock Pot Beef Stew
Everybody will love this delicious Crock Pot Beef Stew with tender meat and vegetables. The ultimate comfort food that will warm you to the bone.
Check out a few other crock pot soup recipes, like Cheeseburger Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, Vegetable Beef Soup, and Healthy Chicken Vegetable Soup. Or don't miss my popular Small Crock Pot Chili.
Or try some other comfort foods like Old Fashioned Meatloaf or Salisbury steak with onion gravy.
↕️How to make this chicken stew for two or family-size
This recipe is easy to cut in half or double to fit your needs. The full recipe makes about 4 servings of about 2 cups in a 3-4 quart crock pot. Perfect for our "for two" household with leftovers.
- Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings to half or double.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
- The half recipe will fit in a 2-quart mini crock pot.
- A double recipe fits in a 6-quart or larger crock pot.
🍽️Serving
Serve with nice bread or biscuits, like Cornbread biscuits, Old Fashioned cornbread, or Low Calorie Biscuits.
❄️Leftovers—storage and reheating
Store leftover chicken stew in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 days or freezer for 3 months.
To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator first if frozen. Then, reheat on the stovetop in a saucepan over medium heat, which is preferred, but the microwave will work but may affect the chicken texture.
❓FAQs
All stews have potatoes of some type and are generally thicker.
Yes but it needs to reach 165° for safety. It is not safe to cook still frozen chicken in a crock pot, so it must be thawed first.
📖 Recipe
Small Crock Pot Chicken Stew
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Ingredients
- 1 to 1 ½ pounds Skinless boneless chicken breast - trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 onion - medium – diced
- 1-2 cloves garlic - crushed or minced
- 2-3 carrots - peeled and cut into 1 inch slices
- 1-2 stalks celery - diced
- 2 cup potatoes - peeled and cut into ¾ to 1 inch cubes
- 4 oz mushrooms - cleaned and halved-optional
- ½ cup frozen corn
- 14 oz chicken broth - low sodium
- 1 cup drained diced tomatoes - Optional, add if you want a tomato-based stew
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon celery seed - skip if you don't have
- ¼-1/2 teaspoon dry thyme - to taste. Optional
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch - optional for thickening-in cold water
Instructions
- Prepare vegetables—chop 1 medium onion, 2-3 peeled carrots, and 1-2 ribs of celery. Next, prep the potatoes by peeling and cut into ¾ to 1-inch cubes—about 2 medium potatoes for about 2 cups. Optional - 4 oz. mushrooms cleaned and halved.
- Clean, trim, and cube 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts—about 1 to 1 ½ pounds.
- Add the chicken, prepared veggies, ½ cup frozen corn, 14 oz of chicken broth, 1-2 crushed or minced cloves of garlic, ½ teaspoon celery seed, ¼ to ½ teaspoon thyme(optional), ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and optionally on ½ cup of diced tomatoes.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Add peas 30 minutes before the end of cooking. It is done when the chicken reaches 165° and the potatoes are tender.Add peas 30 minutes before the end of cooking. If you want a thicker stew, stir in a slurry of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of cold water. If the vegetables are not fully tender at the end of cooking, cook a bit longer.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- This recipe is set for a smaller crock pot of 3 to 4 quarts and 4 servings of about 2 cups each. It is a perfect recipe to double for a full-size crock pot and make 8 servings. Or a half recipe in a mini 2-quart crock pot. Specific instructions are in the recipe post.
- Like most ingredients in soups and stews, the amount of chicken can vary. A range of 1 to 1 ½ pounds is fine. Use either breasts or thighs.
- Other ingredients like celery, carrots, and potatoes can also vary by the amount you have.
- Like most chicken stews, this is a somewhat bland recipe. Spice to your taste. Thyme is suggested by most, but we usually leave it out. The optional tomato is a nice addition, but it needs adjustments of salt and pepper.
- This is a thinner stew. In this recipe, a slurry of cornstarch is added to cold water.
- If the vegetables are not tender at the end of cooking, go a bit longer.
- Good refrigerated for 4 days and frozen for 3 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's note: Originally published January 12, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Millie T says
Thanks for the recipe! I found your site two weeks ago, and have already made this stew twice. I have to admit, I did some variations based upon what I had on hand (we use thighs since it's more forgiving on cooking time), but I feel that your proportions are right on the nose. All the adults had a couple of big bowls apiece. I took Lisa's excellent suggestion to use an immersion mixer at the end to thicken the soup up.
For those who think that this is bland, make sure to add salt & pepper to taste towards the end of cooking. Also, if you have a newer crockpot that runs hot (mine will actually bubble on low setting at around the 4 hour mark) you'll need to shorten the cooking time. I set my timer for about 5.5 hours total, but I think that it might be even better at 5 hours. Will definitely keep this in the rotation, thanks!
Matt S says
Made this yesterday. Kill the thyme completely. Family hated it. I could deal with it if it was a fourth or less thyme than what the recipe called for. After eight hours in the crock on low, the potatoes were not falling apart. 1" cubes may be too large. I'll go smaller next time. I agree with the Worcestershire or something else for spark.
DrDan says
Thanks for the note and rating.
I put a note in the recipe about the thyme. The potatoes are fall apart in both my larger crock pots so yours may run a little cooler then mine. But 1 inch is the biggest I would want in stew so I put in 3/4 to 1 inch.
DrDan
Marjorie Roy says
Don't really need the thyme! But a little Worcestershire Sauce gives it a nice taste. I use white pepper on just about everything (well, not ice cream - haha) and a few shakes just adds to the flavor. Also love it with added tomatoes. Great recipe, DrDan! And oh so easy...
Chef says
All of you saying it is bland...... Season to taste!!!! Never follow a recipe exactly unless you are baking. even then you can make small changes. It is your fault it is bland.
Mrs.Earl says
I made your chicken stew tonight with some garlic bread and it was a hit.
DrDan says
I'm glad it worked for you.
Thanks for the note
DrDdan
Jack S. Barr says
If you keep posting recipes like this and people realize how easy it is to create a great meal while they are at work, slow cooker sales should rise and people will be healthier.
Thanks for posting.
DrDan says
Thanks for the note and enjoy the recipes.
DrDan
DrDan says
Some people want thicker and those are great suggestions that definitely would work. I see lots of suggestions to thicken things in a crock pot with flour and other things and it just does not work for me.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
Lisa says
An easy way to thicken a soup is to take a few scoops out of the pot (meat, veggies and all)
and give it a quick spin in the blender, then add that back to the pot. Even easier-use an
immersion style blender and thicken it right in the pot.
Simple!
Jon says
I am curious as to why a crockpot should only be 1/2-2/3 full. I often times fill mine to the brim.
DrDan says
For more even cooking and that is how they are designed (I'm told). Have said that, I too have "crowded" the pot almost to the top with little if any detectable ill effect but I think it is a good rule of thumb to determine the size of pot to use.
DrDan
Kim says
I have made this multiple times. It always turns out great! I served it to my Mom when she was visiting, to some friends, they all loved it. My teen daughter really loves it. We do not eat red meat, so this is a good alternative to beef stew, particularly when it's cool outside. I can't imagine why anyone would think it was bland, but I just want to say that we love it. Thanks for the easy, great, healthy recipe! BTW, I followed it almost to the T - I just used vegetable broth today because I was out of chicken broth (yes, its cooking now)... : ) on the two days I work at home, I put something in the crock pot before I begin work..
DrDan says
Thanks. It is what it is. This is just right for me most of the time but I do have some really spiced up recipes also.
Kristen says
I always feel guilty when something so easy to cook tastes good. You feel like you should have worked much harder for such a great result. I pretty much stuck to the recipe and it turned out great. Added a little cornstarch mixed in water to thicken it up with about 30 minutes left in cooking.
DrDan says
I feel guilty but not much...
Niyair says
Pretty bland i had to add a lot of other seasoning to it to give it some taste. I would cut the broth down also in the future. Smells good though
Dan Mikesell says
Yep... a bit bland for some but just right for a lot of people. To spice up some, I would add 1-2 t of chili powder and 1 tsp of cumin. Then if doing tomato add a can of RoTel or 1-2 cups of salsa.
BobRob says
Bland, bland, bland. A waste of time. We had one serving and trashed the rest.
Ash says
I found the flavor to be good; I didn't have any thyme, but I did have a poultry seasoning blend that listed thyme as the first ingredient so I used it instead. The consistency was very watery though..like a soup instead of a stew. What would you recommend to thicken it up? I tried adding a flour slurry at the same time as the peas but it didn't make a difference. Maybe add the flour from the beginning?
And just a side note, I used both breasts and very well trimmed boneless, skinless thighs because that's what got defrosted. The thighs were much better than the breasts, which I found to be a little dry despite the watery consistency.
Ok one more sidenote, because it sounds like I'm bashing the recipe and I don't mean to. It was good, just needs some tweaking
Dan Mikesell says
I have never had much luck thickening in a crock pot. With the usual flour or corn starch, it don't work for me without boiling. I understand arrowroot works at lower temps and may try that some time. You can thicken by reduction, try the top off for the last hour and turn them temp up... Maybe a cup of instant potatoes. Or just cut out a can of broth.
Regarding the breast/thighs, I'm kind of your low fat, doctor type person and has never been a big thigh guy. With the extra fat in the thigh, I would think they might hold up better.
Thanks for the comments
Shandi paul says
Made this for the first time ever, husband told me that it was the best stew i've ever made. Thanks, I will be making this again for sure. Only found this site two days ago.
Susenna Singh says
I went home during my lunch hour to check on it as it was my first time making and i found it really bland... I followed the recipe exactly ... so im not sure whats happening. Before leaving... I did add a bit of salt and a can of Cream of Broc soup to hopefully give it a bit more flavor. Hopefully dinner will turn out *Yikes*