Chicken stew in made in the slow cooker is one of our favorite Fall and Winter dinners. Prepared with baby carrots, celery, and bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for incredible flavors, this cozy dish is silky, hearty, and makes a yummy one-pot dinner.
There is something so incredibly satisfying about setting up your ingredients earlier in the day, walking by and smelling the amazing aromas in your home all day, and have a hearty and warm meal ready once dinner rolls around. It feels effortless and I love it!
Crockpot Chicken Stew
As you probably guessed it, we love make this slow cooker chicken stew recipe. Very similar to Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup and Turkey Stew, this crockpot chicken stew recipe is satisfying, warm and comforting. It’s like getting a big ole hug. ❤️
I like making chicken stew in the slow cooker because it’s an easy way to get a fabulous dinner on the table during busy days. I can even leave the house and let it cook if I want to!
In general, slow cookers make cooking a breeze, but the downside is, it can sometimes produce kinda bland-tasting food. I was determine to make this recipe loaded with rich and delicious flavors. I tested many iterations of this, and learned a couple things along the way.
What I did to ensure this is the BEST and most flavorful slow cooker chicken stew recipe:
- Using skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs – never under estimate the flavor skin-on, bone-in chicken brings. There’s just a lot of deliciousness in the skin and bones and it enriches the soup.
- Searing onion and chicken beforehand – this is an extra step but it is so worth it because searing the ingredients before adding into the crockpot will bring about another layer of depth to the slow cooker chicken stew.
A couple more things you should know about the slow cooker chicken stew recipe (and why I love it so much):
- Minimal active time – you can prep and all the ingredients thrown into the slow cooker in 15 minutes! Yes, searing included!
- One-pot meal – the veggies and protein are all cooked together in the delicious silky sauce.
- Easy to make – no working over the stove or oven for an extended period of time! The slow cooker does all the hard work!
- Easy to customize – a great recipe to make use of existing ingredients in your pantry/fridge! Great way to use leftover produce.
- Reheats well – makes great leftovers for the next day!
- Companions – serve it up with garlic bread, dinner rolls, or your other favorite bread, and don’t forget a glass of wine on the side, especially after a long day!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need for crockpot chicken stew as well as some helpful tips:
- bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs – this is my favorite cut of chicken for this slow cooker chicken stew recipe. They are key to bringing incredible flavors to the broth. You can use skinless, boneless white meat chicken, but the flavor profile is just not the same,
- onion – I use white or yellow onion. Onions add a lot of flavor and we are also searing it beforehand to bring on its fullness of flavor.
- garlic cloves – whole garlic cloves are added in. No need to mince the garlic, it will soften and release its flavor just fine after many hours of slow cooking.
- potatoes – use red, gold or yellow potatoes because they hold better and do not dissolve easily in the slow cooker. Avoid using Russet potatoes. Keep potatoes in larger chunks when adding to slow cooker to prevent it from dissolving.
- baby carrots – it’s just so easy to dump baby carrots directly into the slow cooker. However, regular carrots cut into large 2-inch pieces can be used as well.
- celery – cut celery into large 1-2-inch pieces and just throw it in there!
- chicken broth – use a good quality chicken broth! That makes all the difference.
- cornstarch – this will help thicken the chicken stew and turn the gravy nice and silky.
- Fresh herbs – I use rosemary, thyme and bay leaf, then garnish with chopped fresh parsley at the end. Dried herbs can be used in a pinch.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Sear Ingredients
There are only two things to do before throwing all the ingredients into the crock pot. These are highly important steps that will boosts the overall flavor of your slow cooker chicken stew.
- Sear chicken: season chicken on all sides, then sear it on a greased hot skillet until the sides are seared and a nice brown crust is formed. You are not trying to cook the chicken all the way through at this point, just trying to give a nice golden crust to the thigh.
- Sear onion: after removing seared chicken from pan, add additional cooking oil and then onions to the same pan (with the juices from chicken). Sauté to soften and remove the raw flavor from the onions. We are maximizing and optimizing the flavors in this yummy dish!
Step 2: Assemble in the crock pot.
When finished searing, add onions and chicken, along with the scraps and juices from the skillet (that’s where the flavor comes from!), into the crockpot.
Then add the rest of the ingredients – baby carrots, celery, potatoes, chicken broth, herbs and cornstarch.
Stir everything to combine.
Step 3: Slow Cook
Cover crockpot and set it to cook on high for 3.5 hours or low for 7 hours.
Once slow cooking is complete, remove chicken thighs from crockpot.
Discard skin and bones, then shred chicken with two forks. At this point, chicken should fall off the bone pretty easily.
Add shredded chicken back into the slow cooker.
Stir slow cooker chicken stew to combine and let it cook for another 30 minutes on high.
When it’s all done, add more salt to taste to open up the flavors. Note: this is an important step to really bump up the profile profile of the gravy.
Serve slow cooker chicken stew warm garnished with fresh chopped parsley, and maybe alongside crusty bread.
This slow cooker chicken stew recipe is basically the definition of cozy goodness. I cannot recommend it enough! If you are like me, it’ll quickly be in your dinner rotation before you know it!
Storage and Reheating
Slow cooker chicken stew stores well in the refrigerator in an airtight container. It can be stored for up to 5 days.
To reheat, simply heat in the microwave until fully heated.
Variations and Substitutes
Use the list of veggie substitutes below – cut all veggies into large 1.5″ to 2″ pieces:
- potatoes – use parsnips or turnips instead
- carrots – use sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash, or turnips instead
- celery – use fennel instead
- mushrooms – great addition instead of or in addition to veggies listed above
- other vegetables to add to the mix: corn and/or peas
Frequently Asked Questions
First sauté chicken and onions using Instant Pot sauté mode. Then add the stock, vegetables and herbs. Seal and bring to high pressure, and pressure cook for 15 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release (about 5-10 minutes). Bring stock back to a saute mode then add a corn starch slurry to thicken chicken stew.
If chicken is frozen, you’ll want to bring it to a defrost first before searing. To defrost quickly, you can use the microwave defrost setting.
Yes! Store in air tight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
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More Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
- Slow Cooker Asian Ribs
- Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup
- Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Thighs
Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2½ lbs chicken thighs bone-in, skin on
- 1 tsp salt for seasoning chicken
- ½ tsp pepper for seasoning chicken
- 1 small onion diced
- 3-5 cloves garlic smashed
- 3 cups baby carrots
- 2 stalks celery cut into chunks
- 1 lb potatoes cut into chunks
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1-2 twigs thyme
- 1-2 twigs rosemary
- 1-2 bay leaf
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- salt and pepper to taste, for stew at the end
Instructions
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Drizzle skillet with oil. Sear chicken thighs just until browned on both sides. Remove from skillet.
- Using the same skillet, sear the onions.
- Add the chicken, onions, along with all of the juices in the skillet, and the remainder of the ingredients to the slow cooker.
- Cook on HIGH for 3.5 hours, or LOW for 7 hours.
- Remove the chicken. Shred the meat and discard the skin and bone. Return shredded chicken to slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 30 more minutes. If you would like to thicken the stew more, you can add a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of broth).
- Taste and add salt and black pepper to open up the flavors.
- Serve and enjoy!
