Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Easy Chicken Stew
A warm bowl of chicken stew feels especially welcoming with tender potatoes and mushrooms tucked into the broth. This one has a light creamy finish and plenty to scoop up. Sit down with a spoon while it is hot and let dinner be a comfortable pause.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total
- 60 min
- Original yield
- Serves 6
- Ingredients
- 15 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Main course
- Primary protein
- Chicken
- Cuisine
- American
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 31–60 minutes
- Dish type
- Stews · Soups & stews
A few quick notes
1. Cook the flour briefly
Stir the flour through the sautéed vegetables and let it cook for about a minute before adding broth.
2. Dissolve before adding more
Stir the broth until the flour dissolves, then add the cream, seasoning, mushrooms, potatoes and chicken to the pot.
3. Leave a lid gap
Keep the lid slightly open during the simmer and stir occasionally to check that nothing sticks to the pot bottom.
Get to know the ingredients
Raw chicken breasts
The uncooked chicken breasts simmer in the stew before being lifted out and cut up at the end.
Russet potatoes
Peel and dice the potatoes before adding them with the mushrooms and chicken, ready for the stew's simmering stage.
Sliced mushrooms
White or cremini mushrooms are both listed. Slice them before adding them to the broth with the remaining stew ingredients.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 6. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 5 steps completeMake room for Easy Chicken Stew
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Return the cut chicken
Cut up the cooked chicken, return it to the pot and taste for salt and pepper before serving the stew.
A little more help as you go
A soupy stew
Expect a fairly soupy texture on the first day. The stew thickens a little more as leftovers.
Soften the vegetables first
Sauté the onion, celery, carrots and garlic with oil and butter before beginning the flour and broth stages.
A few questions you might have
Can I use chicken thighs?
Yes, you can use thighs. They are more likely to stay tender, especially when reheated as leftovers.
Do the potatoes need an exact weight?
Their weight need not be exact; two large Russets are listed, with the example weighing about 1.3 pounds.
Should the stew boil hard?
Bring it to a gentle boil, then reduce to medium-low for the twenty-five-minute simmer with the lid slightly open.
Does the cream go in at the end?
The cream goes in with the Italian seasoning, mushrooms, potatoes and chicken after the broth has dissolved the flour.
Do I cut the chicken before it simmers?
The directions add the breasts before simmering, then remove and cut them afterward before returning the pieces to the stew.
Any more cooking tips?
This isn’t a super thick stew. It’s got quite a soupy texture (especially day 1). For leftovers it definitely thickens up a bit. I used 3 medium-to-large chicken breasts weighing around 1.5 pounds (anything in that ballpark is fine). Feel free to use chicken thighs. The meat is more likely to stay tender, especially after reheating. You don’t need to be exact with the potato weight. My two potatoes weighed 1.3 pounds total. This recipe is also in the soups chapter of the Salt & Lavender: Everyday Essentials cookbook.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: saltandlavender.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
