Today I am happy to share my go-to dinner since past several months – the soul satisfying and hearty chicken vegetable stew which you can make in a jiffy! Hence a totally weeknight friendly meal for the entire family!!
This chicken vegetable stew has become my ultimate comfort food! What is yours?
Comfort foods are those soothing songs to your soul which you can listen to again and again! Such blissful is this chicken vegetable stew which I am simply addicted to! It has become my go-to dinner for at least thrice a week.
Even though it’s summer here, Bangalore’s weather is always comfortable for soups and stews! My chicken vegetable stew is the ultimate no-fuss recipe you can ever get for your healthy weeknight meal.
You will see for yourself why I fell so hopelessly fell in love with this hearty stew in no time. It is easy to make and you don’t need to remember tons of ingredients and it just takes no time at all to be served from kitchen to table!
Why to stuff our body with unhealthy food, when you can reward yourself with tasty healthy food?
When I decide my weekly meal plan while ensuring to eat healthy, one key factor for considering any recipe is the accessibility of the same.
Now accessibility should be defined using few parameters – time taken from prep to serving, number of ingredients used alongwith number of staple ingredients which is easily find in your pantry and complexity of steps involved.
The reason we sometimes get driven towards junk food is because we can’t access healthy alternative at the right moment; especially when we are hungry!
So my realistic advice would be to keep few go-to recipes in your arsenal which scores high on all the parameters I explained above and you will be less drawn towards burgers and pizzas! Trust me!
Why would you fall in love with this chicken vegetable stew?
This chicken vegetable stew is a wholesome meal in itself. It will not only fulfil your daily dose of protein but also can be a powerhouse of fibre if you load it up with your favorite veggies.
I do tweak it here and there every time I make this chicken vegetable stew as I like things with a twist! For example, the one you are seeing in pictures here are made with leeks, carrots and beans.
I don’t have any rule of vegetables for this chicken stew. The base of the stew is made with chopped onion, spring onion, ginger and garlic.
Once these aromatics are sautéed nicely, you would throw in chicken pieces. I use bone-in pieces for my stew; you can use boneless chicken breast cut into cubes.
After sautéing the chicken for 10 minutes, add all your favorite veggies and sauté them for just 2 minutes. Then add chicken stock, season with salt and pepper and pressure cook for 2 whistles in high flame.
Once the cooker is completely cooled, bring the soup to boil and add cornflour slurry to thicken the consistency. That’s the basic recipe of this chicken vegetable stew.
How can you customize your basic chicken vegetable stew?
You can switch it up by adding more condiments like soy sauce, sriracha sauce or any other mixed seasoning of your choice. Once you have the basic recipe of this chicken vegetable stew sorted, you can make enumerable versions of it to soothe your soul.
If you wanna make restaurant style chicken and sweetcorn soup, you can blend a cup of steamed sweetcorn and add the blended mixture to the soup instead of cornflour slurry.
One final request before I leave you with the recipe – please don’t use the packaged soup powders for making any of your soups or stews! No matter how they advertise, they are not healthy in any sense or terms.
Instead you can plan to make a big batch of fresh stew at home so it can last you a little more than couple of meals. When you have such tasty chicken stew ready in your refrigerator, I bet you won’t dial in home delivery! Enjoy!
More delicious weightloss recipes from Flavor Quotient
- Chicken curry cut – 500 gms, skinless but bone-in piece
- Oil of your choice – 3 tbsp (mustard, coconut or cold-pressed sunflower oil)
- Onion – 2, medium, thinly sliced (About 1 cup)
- Garlic cloves – 5 to 6, chopped
- Ginger – ½ inch piece, grated
- Leek (Optional) – 1 stalk, chopped (replace with spring onion and it will taste even better)
- Carrot – 2, medium, cut into long pieces
- Green beans – 10 to 12, cut into long pieces
- Chicken stock/vegetable stock/plain water – 2 cups
- Freshly crushed black pepper – 1 tsp (yes, I like it peppery! Please Adjust according to your taste.)
- Chilli flakes/red pepper flakes – ½ tsp
- Salt to taste
- Cornflour/corn starch – 2 tbsp
- Heat a pressure cooker* and add the oil, let it warm up. Once the oil is hot, add the sliced onion and sauté on medium flame for 10 minutes until translucent. You won’t need to brown the onion too much.
- Next add the grated ginger, chopped garlic and leeks. Keep sautéing on medium flame for 10 more minutes.
- Now add the washed chicken pieces and stir them well with the aromatics i.e. your onion, ginger, garlic and leeks. Keep sautéing for 15 minutes on medium flame until the chicken pieced are very lightly golden brown. And also hold on your temptation to add more oil, you won’t need it.
- Now add the chopped veggies – beans and carrots. Sauté those for 5 minutes and now you are ready to add the liquid.
- Add either water or chicken/vegetable stock to the cooker. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Also sprinkle the chilli flakes. Give a good mix.
- Now tightly close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook on high flame until 2 whistle blows. Then switch off the flame and let the pressure release on its own.
- Meanwhile, prepare the cornflour slurry by mixing the cornflour with half a cup of water and stirring until no lumps are left.
- Now uncover the cooker and bring the stew to boil. Then drizzle the cornflour slurry and continue to boil the stew until your desired consistency is reached.
- Check the seasoning and adjust if needed. Your super easy, super quick and super healthy chicken vegetable stew is ready to serve! Enjoy!
*If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make it in your instant pot or even a big stockpot by covering with a tight fitting lid and simmering until chicken pieces are completely cooked through.
Looks great! Love that you used bone-in chicken. I’m sure it makes a big difference here.