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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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
This is perfect for a winter’s evening. My husband loves it, and it’s officially on our winter rotation
Saw the original recipe on Instagram, I’ve made this every week for over a month …so good !!
I cooked this for Sunday dinner. On a very cold winter’s day that needed that lovely warmth. It was a hit! I omitted the wine. And added 1 cup less stock. My family loved it and went to seconds. Left overs was for work lunch 🙂. Thank you!!
Delicious. I had to leave it in the oven for an extra hour (oven switched off) while we dealt with a home emergency, and it came out really tasty. So this dish is quite flexible with time. Served it with some cooked barley.
I loved this recipe, I cooked it for a friend coming for dinner. I left the potatoes out and served it with Brussel sprouts and Polenta. It was so good.
This is a terrific mid week dinner for the cooler months. So very tasty, I added some halved Brussel sprouts and put the potatoes in from the beginning of cooking. Definitely will cook this again
Great recipe! We loved it!
Has anyone tried making this in a pressure cooker?
Or a slow cooker?
Easy and delicious! Great recipe!
Great recipe! Delicious! You never disappoint! 😃
This stew is absolutely delicious. My husband said he didnt think he was going to like it, ” I like your homemade chicken soup”. He ate 2 thighs and a bowl of broth as soon as it was out of the oven. I ended up cutting up the rest of the thighs, skin included , and adding it back to the soup. It is definitely better the next day, and the next. Our high here in Virginia is in the 30s this week, and this stew hits the spot.
This was wonderful!! Perfect for a fall day. Followed the recipe exactly, except I subbed chicken broth for wine. It was so cozy, yet relatively light and flavorful. I love how you explain everything so thoroughly, making seemingly complicated dishes easy!
I want to make this recipe. But my husband only eats chicken breast, anyway I can make this with the breast? If so…does the recipe get modified?
Are you some sort of food sorcerer! I had chicken skin trimmers regret after eating this crispy skin chicken which was NEXT LEVEL!!! Sooo easy, sooo tasty, soooo CRISPY!!!!
Absolutely delicious. Added cherry tomatoes with the potatoes. Yum!
This was so delicious! I think my pot, though deep, could have been wider, so the chicken would have had a little more room, and stayed crispier, but no complaints. The flavor of the stew itself and the chicken is wonderful! I made the recipe exactly as written, even had the fresh herbs in my garden. Thanks for a great recipe.
I made this last week. As others, have commented the skin really is truly and amazingly crispy -.the flavors were even better when I reheated it the following day. I’ll be making this in advance for guests during our colder months for sure. Thanks Nagi.
I love this recipe so much!!! It is a weekly recipe in my household. I only use chicken thighs without bones and it is perfect! Thank you so much Nagi!!!! 🩵
Brilliant! Loved the crispy skin.
Definitely a go back to for us.
This recipe is fabulous. The flavor is so delicious. I expect to be making this dish again and again.
Excellent! Cooked it without the potatoes and served over rice.