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 every throwing ingredients together in a slow cooker, and you’re not quite sure how to take the flavor up a notch, may I highly suggest thyme + sage + basil + bay leaves + parsley + white pepper? Just about any combination will do. Because whenever those ingredients get together, delicious flavors abound! 

Together those ingredients just ooze warm comfort food vibes. They’re like the mittens of spices. 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 a…well…stew. Once you’ve sautéed the chicken, let the slow cooker do all the work, and you just do yourself a favor by getting underneath the warm blanket again.

We’re keeping this stew a paleo recipe by trading out potatoes for cauliflower florets. And we’re adding in onion wedges and fresh garlic for some serious flavor. The temps outside may be dropping but the comfort food game going on inside our kitchens is STRONG, friends. We can do this. We will have our comfort foods and eat them, too!

Grab your sauté pan and slow cooker, 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. For sautéing the chicken. Olive oil will also work.
• 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!
• Cauliflower, carrots, onion, and garlic. Chopped, sliced, wedged, and pressed.
• Spices. Dried thyme, sage, parsley, basil, and white pepper.
• 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.

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. 

1. In a sauté pan, melt the coconut oil and add the chicken. Sauté for about 5-10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
2. In a slow cooker, combine the chicken broth, white wine vinegar, carrots, onion, garlic, spices, and bay leaves. Cook on HIGH for about 4-5 hours or on 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.

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.

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

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

• Vegetable Broth
• Bone Broth
• Beef Broth

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.

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