Recipe for Chicken and Rice Stew. The ultimate cheap, delicious, and homemade comfort food.

When life comes at me with troubles, the family is experiencing sickness, or the world outside is dark and gloomy, I want food that warms my heart and nourishes my soul. This Chicken and Rice Stew is all of that and so much more.

It is thick and hearty.

It is designed with steps to build deep flavor.

It has veggies, herbs, and protein so I know it is packed with nutrients for my growing child.

It is simple to make with ingredients I keep on hand at all times.

It tastes even better the next day, so leftovers are a bonus.

It truly is the ultimate comfort food.

If you want to follow along as I make this dish, check out the video!

Tips For Success

If you are a slow vegetable chopper, take your time and chop all vegetables prior to starting the recipe. I do more rustic chopping, so I don’t stress and just chop my veggies as the dish cooks.

This can be an everything but the kitchen sink type of stew, if you have some potatoes or green beans that need to be used up, throw them in! If have precooked veggies from a previous meal, add them in at the end with the shredded chicken.

Do you have precooked chicken that needs to be used up or want to use pre-cooked chicken as a shortcut,? Skip steps and just add the shredded chicken at the end.

Save all of your leftover veggie pieces and chicken bones if you have them, you can turn them into a simple chicken broth. It is basically like getting chicken broth for free, and what is better than free?

I use leftover bacon grease as my oil of choice. It just adds another layer of flavor to the dish, but you can use any oil you have on hand.

Ingredients

1.5 lbs of chicken thighs

.5 lb carrots (peeled and diced)

.5 a head of celery (diced)

1 medium yellow onion

6 big cloves of garlic

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp of your choice of oil.

4 cups of chicken broth

1/4 tsp of paprika

1 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tbsp oregano

4 stalks of thyme (or 1 tsp of dried thyme)

2 cups of rice

Bread to Serve with the stew

Equipment Needed

Forks

Spoon

6 Qt Dutch Oven or Stock Pot (or bigger)

Cutting Board

Knife

Plate

Steps to Make Chicken and Rice Stew

1. Heat your oil of choice in your pan on medium heat until hot. While your pan heats up, get those vegetables washed.

2. Add your chicken to the hot pan and sear each side of the chicken until brown. While your chicken browns start chopping your vegetables.

3. Remove the chicken from the pan, once browned on both sides, and place it on a plate to the side. It does not have to be fully cooked at this point as you will add it back to the pot later. You are just starting to build up layers of flavor in the pan at this point.

4. Add your uncooked vegetables into the pot at this time. You want to use the same pot, so any browned bits from the chicken will help flavor the vegetables.

5. Saute vegetables for 5 minutes until onions translucent. The other vegetables will continue to cook, so don’t stress their doneness. You just want to give them a head start at this point.

6. Add chicken back into the pot, right on top of those vegetables.

7. Add your seasonings and broth to your pot. At this point, the only thing that should not be in your pot is the rice. (Tip: If you are using pre-cooked chicken or vegetables, they should not be in the pot yet either. )

8. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.

9. Remove chicken from pot and set to the side. It should be cooked through at this point.

10. Add rice to the pot, cover, and return to boil

11. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. Stirring halfway through. If it is low on liquid, add more chicken broth or water to the pot. You want a thick stew, but there should still be liquid in the pot.

12. Add your shredded chicken, precooked chicken, and/or any pre-cooked vegetables to the pot at this time. Cook 5-10 minutes until rice is cooked and anything precooked added is heated through.

Now, this recipe fills my 6-quart dutch oven to the brim and my family of 3 has so much left over. We can easily turn this into 3 separate meals for us, but who wants to eat the same thing for 3 days in a row?

I mean I would of this recipe, but my husband prefers to have variety in his meals. So, I had to find a way to change it up.

The only problem is, now I do not know if I like the stew better or the casserole.

What a great problem to have.

So if you have leftovers of this stew, I highly suggest you put them in a casserole dish, cover them in cheese, and then top them with breadcrumbs.

Bake in the oven until the breadcrumbs get brown and crispy.