Old fashioned Chicken Stew

Jump to Recipe | Print Recipe

The Old fashioned English chicken stew is the easiest chicken stew recipe you can make. Chicken, potatoes, carrots slow cooked in a buttery milk broth infused with aromatic sage.

There are some days when I want to make simple yet delicious dishes. These old fashioned chicken stew recipes have their own charm – they are easy to cook, just one pot meals with few ingredients but are so yum. You put everything together and forget about it for time. I like making these one pot recipes quite a lot because they are so much less hassle and saves a lot of time later for washing up.

I remember, my mum, used to make these stews whenever I had cold or I was in my – I-don’t-want-eat-anything phase. Her stews were more broth type. I, however, like the creamier ones.

Old Fashioned Creamy Stews

Now there are many ways to achieve the creaminess in the stews. You could add flour, almond meal, or even potato starch to get the creamy consistency. But, believe me, when you do it the old fashioned way you get the best results. Reduce the liquid, in this case its milk, to get a creamier stew – as simple as that. Yes, it’s going to take a little time. So if you are planning a meal ahead, this is going to be easy.

Let’s Get Started

Today it’s going to be a step by step photo post. So read along.

I am using chicken pieces with their skin on. I like it when the skin gets crispy while searing. If you want you could use skinless chicken too – whatever is your choice. No stew is complete without a good doze of vegetable. [That’s exactly why my mum, made these stews so much – some way to get those carrots in me – I hated carrots].

This is a one-pot stew recipe with a handful of ingredients. All you need is a potato and a carrot, now, I decided to use only these two – you could use any vegetable of your choice – celery, mushroom, peas – whatever you like.

Along with that I am using few garlic cloves, peppercorns, one small onion. This is a mild stew without much spice. The only herb I am using is sage. Sage is so aromatic you don’t even need anything else along with it. If you can get fresh sage – that’s even better. But you don’t get all herbs fresh in here, so I am using dried sage. My mum never used sage – she used to add ginger and pepper corn – that’s it. But ginger with ‘brothy’ stew is fine, not much with the milk stew, according to me.

We’ll also need butter, milk and some lime zest.

Pro Tip: Don’t go overboard with zesting lime or lemon. You just need the aroma. Rub it 2 or 3 times on the zester. Any more will bring out the bitter white layer turning the dish in a bitter mess.

Prep up

Marinate the chicken with some seasoning and keep it aside for 5 minutes.

Heat the butter in a deep bottom pan. Add the chicken to sear it.

Keep the chicken aside when the skin is lightly colored.

In the same butter add garlic, peppercorns and onion and sauté. Add the vegetables and seasoning and sauté for 3 minutes.  

Add the chicken pieces. Pour milk and add the sage.

Cover and cook on low heat for 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pro Tip: When you are cooking with whole milk or cream don’t cook at high flame. It might split.

And there you have a gorgeous creamy chicken stew with the wonderful aroma of sage.

People let me know if you are linking the recipes.

Till next time – ciao