Ultra tender flesh and super crispy skin smothered in a thick savoury sauce with vegetables. This Chicken Stew is slow cooked in the oven to develop deep, incredible flavours. The smell that fills the house when it’s in the oven is simply wonderful!
More chicken stew recipe options: Faster Chicken Quick Stew (using bite size chicken pieces), Coq au Vin and Chicken Fricasée (creamy French Chicken Stew, reader favourite!).
Chicken Stew – with crispy skin!
Anyone else here not a fan of slimy chicken skin??
I don’t care how long it’s been slow cooked. And whether it’s a stew, in soup or Hainanese chicken.
No chicken skin comes near my mouth unless it’s crispy or caramelised.
When my mother reads this, I know she’s going to roll her eyes and think”she’s so childish!!”
I don’t care. I love crispy skin. I want crispy skin. Give me all the crispy skin!!! 😂
Slow cooked in the oven for crispy skin!
Because I’m so anti-slimy chicken skin, I like to make my Chicken Stew in the oven rather than on the stove. And unless someone knows a magic trick, the only way to get crispy skin for a stew is in the oven.
Cook it covered for part of the time, then uncover it to let the sauce thicken, make the chicken flesh super tender, the surface of the veggies and edges of the stew caramelise, and – most importantly in my world – to get that chicken skin super crispy!
Don’t have the time to slow cook?
Try my speedier Chicken Stew – made with boneless chicken thighs, this is on the table in an hour but tastes like it’s been cooking all day!
OK, I think I’ve babbled on enough about the chicken skin. Let me move on.
Under the crispy skin -> tender flesh.
Smothering the crispy skin -> thick savoury gravy sauce.
Around the crispy skin -> tender soft vegetables.
😇😇😇
I’m lucky enough to have a big, shallow casserole pot / dutch oven which is absolutely perfect for these kind of stews that go from stove to oven. But if you don’t have one, don’t worry, just tip it all into a baking pan before popping it into the oven.
And – confession time. The reason I cropped out most of the bowl in the photo below is because I ate the chicken before I took this photo. The side you can’t see just has bones, picked completely clean.
I couldn’t resist! Don’t judge me! 😂 – Nagi x
More Stews
Faster Chicken Stew – when you need a rich stew on the table in under an hour!
Classic Beef Stew – fall apart beef in a deep rich sauce
Irish Beef and Guinness Stew – an incredible dark, rich sauce with incomparable flavour
Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff – fall apart beef in a creamy Stroganoff sauce!
Braised Beef Short Ribs in Red Wine Sauce – truly exceptional, restaurant quality!
Browse all Stew recipes
Classic dinners we’ll love forever
Meatloaf – a family favourite forever and ever!
Chicken Stew
Watch how to make it
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Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 kg / 3lb bone in, skin on chicken thighs and drumsticks (6 to 8 pieces)
- Salt and pepper
- 2 onions , halved and cut into wedges
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 3 large carrots , cut thick end into 1.5cm / 3/5″ pieces, thin end 2.5cm/1″
- 4 celery stalks , cut into 2cm / 4/5″ chunks
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) white wine (or water)
- 3 tbsp (35g) flour
- 3 cups (750 ml) chicken broth , low low sodium
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp Worscestershire sauce
- 3 sprigs thyme , or 1 tsp dried thyme (or other herb)
- 2 bay leaves (dried or fresh)
- 600 g / 1.2lb baby potatoes , halved (quarter large ones)
Serving (optional):
- Fresh thyme or parsley (chopped)
- Warm crusty bread
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Brown chicken on both sides until light golden, sprinkling with salt and pepper. Remove from pot. (Do in 2 batches if pot not big enough).
- If there’s too much oil in the pot, discard some. Add onion and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes until onion is translucent.
- Add carrots and celery, cook for 1 minute.
- Add wine. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve the brown bits into the liquid. Cook for 1 minute until liquid is mostly gone.
- Sprinkle flour across surface, stir.
- Add broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to dissolve tomato paste.
- Place chicken on top, keeping the skin above the liquid level as much as you can.
- Bring to simmer then cover. Bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven, remove lid. Add potatoes, pushing them into the liquid and rearranging chicken so they sit on top (for lovely crispy skin).
- Return to oven without the lid for a further 40 minutes until the chicken skin is deep golden and super crispy, the potatoes are soft and the sauce is thickened.
- Taste sauce and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with warm crusty bread on the side to dunk in the sauce – or go all the way with Garlic Bread! Optional: garnish with extra fresh thyme leaves or parsley.
Recipe Notes:
Originally published May 2018. Updated for housekeeping matters – no change to recipe.
Life of Dozer
Flashback to May 2018 when this recipe was first published when he tore his ACL and had to have a knee operation. Shaved rump, permanent “help me up” harness, and trapped in a play pen for weeks.
Adding a Cone of Shame was just rubbing salt into the wound, isn’t it?
I told him not to scratch the stitches. I warned him about the cone. He did not obey!!😂
Happy to report he is back to normal, chasing birds, leaping off jetties and generally living the high life!❤️ N x
Wonderful! My oven is a little wonky so I had to let it cook an extra 15 minutes without the lid to get the chicken brown enough, but it turned out great. I will definitely make this again!
😂 Wonky ovens, I have one of those! So happy it turned out in the end!
Followed recipe with exception of I used boneless skinless chicken breast. It came excellent.
Oh that’s great to know! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Love, love this recipe!!!!. Made it 3 or 4 times already and my picky family eats it. I love the leftover especially. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome!!!
Love this recipe… simple and like how home made recipes are.
Needed a quick recipe for dinner.
Easy to follow and will a part of my recipe book for my kids to use.
So nice of you to say Gina, I’m thrilled to have a recipe you think is worthy of your recipe book!!
Can I use white wine vinegar instead of white wine? Would I change the taste?
Hi Dashia, Just use water if you don’t want to use wine. I hope you love it!
Delicious i didnt have any white wine so i used the last of an apple cider i was drinking and a shot of jagermeister instead lol
Thanks so much for the awesome feedback!
Made this wonderful Stew tonight. I will be adding it to my recipe file, It was so yummy and soul warming. Thank you.
I’m so glad you loved it!!!
This was amazing!!! I made this when I was home sick and it warmed my soul. Will definitely make again!!! Btw: garlic bread with the stew is amazing
Awesome!!! Glad you enjoyed this Tiffany! N x ❤️
Can I use the same recipe for the crockpot?
It looks super yummy
Not for this one sorry Teaera!
I have just made this in the slowcooker. All same ingredients except water/stock I used 1.5cups /375ml (give or take). Wishful thinking that the skin on drumsticks will be crispy but here’s hoping for a delicious dish. I’ll update in 4 hours(cookimg on high heat) …. 😉
This is going to be a regular staple at our dinner table. So so good.
Can I used chicken breast and thighs. And replace the carrots with parsnips? Would this change the cooking time?
Can I use boneless chicken breast and thighs? And sub parsnips for carrots since I don’t care for the taste? Would this change the cooking time?
Can you use stock instead of broth
Liquid stock and broth are the same thing! 🙂
Winner winner Chicken dinner. All members of family were loving this stew! Thank you so much
Glad you enjoyed it Sharon!!! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂 N x
This was so delicious! My kids loved it!! So easy to make. Perfect with bread. Definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing.
My boyfriend prefers Chicken Breast. He loved this dish. It was very easy to make and very little clean up. I’ll definitely make it again.
That’s great Carol! So pleased this was enjoyed – N x
What size of pot/dutch oven?
Can you use boneless skinless chicken breast? My husband does not eat dark meat on the bone or chicken skin 😩 but I love the flavors in this. They sound great!
I’m using boneless chicken because my husband doesn’t like bone or skin either
Can I use bone in chicken breast?
Easy and very delicious. My family loved it! My quartered baby potatoes were not soft enough after 40min too but the harder texture was nice change from the usual mushy ones.
That’s wonderful to hear Gemma! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂 N x PS Thanks for the tip re: potatoes, so odd not soft at 40 min but will up the cook time to be safe 🙂 N x