Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken Recipe
This Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken-inspired recipe came about when I was craving brown stew chicken but didn’t have all the traditional ingredients in my kitchen. Instead of giving up on the craving, I worked with what I had, and the result was so flavorful that I kept making it this way.
My version doesn’t use browning sauce or Scotch bonnet pepper, so it isn’t meant to replace an authentic Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken recipe. But if you’re craving those warm, savory flavors and are missing a few ingredients, this easy version may be exactly what you need.
I have made many stews and gravy dishes that you’ll love to try. If you want Southern food, then go for Smothered Chicken; or my Chicken with Mushroom Gravy You might also like an Arabic Twist on a stew. But to top it all off, go for Steak Bites with Gravy.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect with rice: The sauce is delicious over plain white rice, but you can also serve it with bread.
- Uses easy-to-find ingredients: You don’t need browning sauce, Scotch bonnet peppers, or other ingredients you may not have at home.
- Full of flavor: Browning the seasoned chicken first adds plenty of flavor and gives the stew a beautiful color.
- Tender chicken: Drumsticks stay juicy and tender while simmering in the sauce.
- Rich, savory sauce: Tomato, onion, garlic, thyme, bell pepper, and chicken stock create a flavorful sauce that gets even better as it cooks.
INGREDIENTS
More details about the ingredients and measurements are in the recipe card below.
- Chicken drumsticks: I use skin-on chicken drumsticks because they stay tender and flavorful while the stew cooks. You can use other chicken pieces if you prefer.
- Spices: Onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, and thyme season the chicken before browning and give the stew plenty of flavor.
- Onion, garlic, and tomato: These cook together to create the flavorful base for the stew.
- Green bell pepper and green chili: The bell pepper adds flavor and a little sweetness, while the green chili adds some heat without making the stew overwhelmingly spicy.
- Brown sugar: Just one teaspoon adds a subtle sweetness and helps balance the savory and spicy flavors.
- Chicken bouillon: Adds a deeper savory chicken flavor to the sauce.
- Butter: Added near the end of cooking, it gives the sauce extra richness.
How to Make It
Step 1
Add the chicken and marinade ingredients to a large bowl. Rub the marinade over the chicken until well coated.
Step 2
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. For the best flavor, marinate the chicken overnight.
Step 3
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Step 4
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown it well on all sides. You are not trying to cook the chicken through at this stage. Remove it from the pan and set aside.
Step 5
In the same pan, add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the tomato and garlic and cook until the oil separates from the tomato and onion mixture.
Step 6
Return the chicken to the pan. Add the green bell pepper, green chili, and chicken bouillon. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes.
Step 7
Pour in enough boiling water to cover the chicken. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid reduces to about 1 to 1½ cups, forming a flavorful sauce.
Step 8
Add the butter and stir for about 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
PRO TIPS
Brown the chicken well: Since this version doesn’t use browning sauce, browning the seasoned chicken well is especially important. It develops flavor and gives the stew its beautiful brown color.
Don’t rush the simmering: Let the stew simmer until the liquid reduces to about 1 to 1½ cups. This concentrates the flavors and gives you a richer, thicker sauce.
Taste before adding salt: Chicken bouillon can be quite salty, so taste the sauce before adding any additional salt.
Add the butter at the end: Stirring in the butter during the final minute adds richness to the sauce without making it heavy.
VARIATIONS
Make it spicier: Add a little cayenne pepper to the marinade or increase the amount of green chili to suit your taste.
HOW TO SERVE
This stew is delicious served with white rice, which soaks up the rich sauce beautifully. You can also serve it with bread if you prefer.
For another hearty rice dish, try my African Black-Eyed Peas with Rice.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I use boneless chicken for this recipe?
Yes. You can use boneless chicken, but bone-in pieces add more flavor to the stew. Boneless chicken will also cook faster, so adjust the cooking time accordingly.
Is it necessary to marinate the chicken overnight?
No. Marinate the chicken for at least 4 hours, but overnight will give it even more flavor.
Can I skip the green chili if I don’t want it spicy?
Yes. You can leave out the green chili for a milder stew.
What should the consistency of the stew be?
The sauce should be rich and slightly thickened rather than watery. Let it simmer until the liquid has reduced to about 1 to 1½ cups.
STORING
Refrigerate: Allow the leftover stew to cool, then transfer it to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheat: Reheat gently on the stovetop over medium heat, stirring occasionally. If the sauce has thickened too much, add a small splash of water.
Freeze: Place the cooled stew in a freezer-safe container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat on the stovetop until heated through.
⭐PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW
If you have tried this recipe and liked it, please give it a 5-star rating and leave a comment below with your experience!
Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
CHICKEN MARINADE
- 3 chicken drumsticks with skin on
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar or regular white
- ½ teaspoon thyme
FOR THE STEW
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 1 green chili cut in half
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ diced green bell pepper
- 1 cube chicken bouillon
- 2 tablespoon butter
- Enough boiling water to cover the chicken
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the chicken and the marinade ingredients. Mix well, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, it is best to marinate it overnight.
- Bring out the chicken and let it come to room temp, for around 30 minutes.
- In a pan, add the oil and fry the chicken until brown on all sides. Remove the chicken and keep it aside. The chicken will not be cooked through at this step; we are only browning it.
- In the same pan and using the remaining oil, add the onion and fry until translucent. Add the tomato and garlic, and cook until the oil separates from the tomato and onion mixture.
- Add the chicken, green chili, green pepper, and chicken bouillon, and stir for two minutes. Add the boiling water, enough to cover the chicken.
- Let it cook until the water reduces to almost a cup or a cup and a half. When the stew looks thicker and the chicken is cooked, add the butter and stir for one minute.
- Serve the stew hot on rice or with bread.
Notes
- If the chicken is thick, poke it with a knife in several places; this will help the marinade penetrate.
- This recipe is inspired by Jamaican brown stew chicken and uses ingredients that are easier to find. It does not use Scotch bonnet pepper, pimento berries, or browning sauce.
- Marinating the chicken overnight gives it more flavor, but 4 hours works well if you are short on time.
- Since this recipe doesn’t use browning sauce, brown the chicken well on all sides. This adds flavor and helps give the stew its rich brown color.
Have never had jamaican chicken…your stew looks so tempting, Muna.
If you try this recipe you’ll be hooked, Jamaican food is amazingly delicious!
This looks SO delicious. You should always feel free to tweak recipes like this – that’s how new and exciting verisons come to be! I can’t wait to try this one!
You are right Jeff, I like to tweak recipes to my and my liking but there are those who hate it when we do that 🙂
Could I use my homemade chicken stock instead of water. Don’t use salt in it and wondered if it would add more flavor OR mess with the flavor.
Thank you
You can use your homemade chicken stock and omit the chicken bouillion!
This stew looks amazing! I love how simple and healthy all of the ingredients are. It definitely would be a great meal on a cold winter night.
Omg! Do you know that every person’s weak spot is food. Incredible dish you have here, I’m saving this recipe because I love chicken stew so much.
Thank you Jake, let me know how you liked it!
OMG this looks delicious! I am going to share this recipe with my mother in law so she can make it for me with her island flavor! Thanks so much for sharing
You are most welcome 🙂
All the food. I never had jamaican chicken but you bet this will change this weekend. It looks so so good.
Thank you 🙂
I love anything Jamaican. I would have had the stew over right rice. Yummy!
This sounds really tasty! I’ve never had a jamaican stew, so I’d be excited to try it.
This Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken recipe looks amazing. I am sure it would be a big hit in my house. Chicken is one of my favorites. I will have to get the ingredients I need to make this for dinner this weekend.
We love chicken too and I hope you love it as much as we did 🙂
This sounds really good. I love that it is really simple to prepare. This would be great for a family get together. I would definitely want it with the rice. My family loves rice.
Yummers! Your Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken recipe looks and sounds absolutely amazing! I do not think that I have eaten must Jamaican food before.
Jamaican food is simply amazing, you should give it a try.
I love this Jamaican brown stew recipe! As soon as I saw that gorgeous image I had to stop and pin it to Pinterest. Now I have it on my Pinterest food board so I can find it when I need it and make it later. 🙂
So sweet of you 🙂
I personally like it when people create their own version of authentic dishes so your recipe is right on the money. The Jamaican stew looks so vibrant!
Thank you Ana 🙂
This recipe looks AMAZING! I’m bookmarking for later this week.
You are right, definitely I need rice to eat this Jamaican Stew Chicken and wine please! Ahh so delicious!
I got invited to a Jamaican theme party, and everyone is supposed to bring something to eat. Me being vegan is making this darn difficult since there is meat in every main dish that I can find. It’s so hard to replace meat, but I found this recipe of yours. It should be easily adapted by swapping the chicken for jackfruit and following your same steps. Just marinate the jackfruit and treat it the same way. Thanks for making this recipe so easy to follow. I will let you know how it went. =D
Gloria, it is interesting to convert this recipe to a vegan version, please do let me know how it came out 🙂
Wow, this looks amazing. I never know what to cook so you just saved me. Thanks for the recipe. Hope I will be able to make it :))
I love how easy this looks to make! I have never had any jamaican food, but it looks amazing! I bet there is a little kick to it as well!
Yumm that chicken looks delicious! I’ve been cooking lately and I really want to try this next!
It so easy to make this dish and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Oh yummy, this looks great. Doesn’t help at all that I’m super hungry at home right now and don’t have any of these ingredients here! X
Maybe when you do you’ll let me know how you liked it 🙂
This looks mouthwatering! I wonder if I can make it in the slow cooker. Have you tried it? I guess the time would be 4-6 hours in the high temp.
Yes you can make it in a slow cooker, I never did though so I’m not sure how much time it will take.
Your photo looks very inviting! As if its real and makes me crave for some. I will try my very best to make my own and hopefully I can do it successfully too.
You are so kind Anosa, I try my best to share easy and delicious dishes to my readers and I hope you like it 🙂
I love Jamaican food. This stew chicken looks delicious. I want to make this asap. Thanks for sharing.
XOXO
I’m cooking this now. Looks very good. Do you cooking it with a top on the pot?
I do not cover it totally, this let some steam out and help thicken the gravy 🙂
Tried the recipe today and this turned out amazing. This is definitely something that’s going to be done over and over again
Thanks for trying this recipe Rob, your feedback is highly appreciated 🙂
Will be making this tonight have marinated my chicken yesterday…I added a little allspice for sweetness will let you know how it comes out..TY
Awesome! I hope that you enjoy it. Let me know how you liked it after adding allspice 🙂
Love that it seems pretty easy to make. I need to start learning how to cook for my family.
That looks so good. Will try the recipe this weekend.