Paleo Country-Style Chicken Stew

This Paleo Country-Style Chicken Stew is flavored with thyme, sage, bay leaves, and basil, to name a few ingredients! In place of potatoes, we’re using cauliflower! And who can forget the carrots, onion, and garlic? It’s the perfect gluten-free dinner recipe on chilly nights! {Paleo}

If you are ever throwing ingredients together in a slow cooker, and you’re not quite sure how to take the flavor up a notch, then may I highly suggest thyme + sage + basil + bay leaves + parsley + white pepper? Okay, so that may be a mouthful. But it’s totally worth it because whenever those ingredients get together, delicious flavors are soon to follow! 

Those herbs just ooze warm comfort food vibes. Warm and cozy and comforting. Paleo Country-Style Chicken Stew is your go-to soup when the winds are howling outside your door, your fingers are cold, and the last thing you want to do is get out from underneath your blanket to stew over…well…a stew. Once you’ve sautéed the chicken, garlic, and onions, then let the slow cooker do all the work, and you just do yourself a favor by getting underneath the warm blanket again.

The temps outside may be dropping but the comfort food game going on inside our kitchens is STRONG, Spiriteds. We can do this. We WILL have our comfort foods and eat them, too!

Grab your sauté pan and slow cooker, Spiriteds, and let’s get stewing!

Paleo Country-Style Chicken Stew ingredients

I use fresh garlic and dried herbs in this homemade stew. Adjust amounts as your palate desires!

• Chicken. Cut into strips or cubes and sautéed.
• Coconut oil. To sauté the chicken, onion, and garlic. Olive oil will also work.
• Sea salt. When I sauté the chicken, onion, and garlic, I like to add sea salt to the mix.
• Onion and garlic. Wedged and pressed. Or, as the case may be with the garlic, sliced thinly into slivers.
• Chicken broth. I usually use about 3 cups broth. If I need more liquid, I’ll either add a little more broth, if I have it on hand, or I’ll use water.
• White wine vinegar. Not much is needed to take the flavor up a notch! And if you don’t have it, then don’t worry. There’s no need to make an extra trip to the store. Just omit it and keep moving forward with the recipe!
• Cauliflower, carrots, onion, and garlic. Chopped, sliced.
• Spices. Dried thyme, sage, parsley, basil, and white pepper. Fresh thyme, sage, and parsley will also work, but you’ll need a little more of each to make up for how concentrated in flavor dried spices are. About three times as much.
• Bay leaves. Throw them in early during the cooking process. Just don’t forget to take them out prior to serving!
• Green onions. A handful for garnishing is all you need.

Side Note: Today’s recipe was inspired by Carol Heding’s Country-Style Chicken Stew, published in her book, Complete Slow Cooker Cookbook. We adjusted several ingredients for dietary needs and made the stew paleo-friendly.

How to make Paleo Country-Style Chicken Stew

In this recipe, we sauté the chicken in a skillet first and then transfer it to a slow cooker. This deepens the flavor and reduces some of the film that can form on the top of the stew as it cooks. I also sauté the onion and garlic in the same skillet before transferring them to the slow cooker. This is because I like the overall sautéed flavor. But you can throw your onion and garlic right into the slow cooker, if you prefer.

1. In a slow cooker, combine the chicken broth, white wine vinegar, carrots, herbs, and bay leaves.
2. In a sauté pan, melt the coconut oil and add the chicken plus a few pinches of sea salt. Sauté for about 5-10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Then use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken to the slow cooker. Drain the skillet and add more coconut oil and sea salt. Sauté the onion wedges and pressed or sliced garlic until the onions are translucent and the garlic is browned but not burned. Use the same slotted spoon to transfer the onions and garlic to the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker to HIGH for about 4-5 hours or LOW for about 8-10 hours.
3. With two hours of cook time remaining, add in the cauliflower florets. Stir in the sliced green onions just prior to serving. Let sit for about 5 minutes before eating.
4. Season with sea salt and coarse black pepper.
5. Store leftovers in the refrigerator and consume within about 2 days.

Recipe best practices

Below are a few tricks to get the best consistency and flavor!

• Sauté the chicken in a skillet prior to putting it in the slow cooker. While you might still end up with a layer of film in your stew because of the chicken, it won’t be nearly as much. If a film does form, then give the stew a good stir prior to serving, and that will help blend the ingredients again.
• Add the cauliflower with about two hours of cooking time remaining. Doing so keeps the cauliflower from turning mushy.
• Add the green onions just prior to serving. Like the cauliflower, this will keep them from getting too soft. But the heat from the stew will neutralize the flavor enough to prevent it from being overpowering.

More Soups and Stews!

And if warm, comforting slow cooker recipes are currently your jam, then check out these cozy dishes!

• Paleo White Chicken Chili
• Paleo Chicken Fajita Soup
• Slow Cooker Paleo Beef Stew
• Paleo Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Soup
• Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Soup
• Paleo Rustic Chicken Stew

Make your own broth!

Ooh, and if you’re in the mood to make your own broth (and save some moolah while you’re at it), then check out the following recipes:

• Vegetable Broth
• Bone Broth
• Beef Broth

Stay well and stay wild, Spiriteds. I’m glad you’re here!

Print