Simple & Delicious Peruvian Style Chicken Stew
This easy-to-make chicken stew is perfect for a weeknight meal. It’s loaded with potatoes, carrots, green peas, and raisins, and it’s not spicy, so even the kids will love it!
Simple and delectable, this is the way every meal should be served. But too often, meals are laden with ingredients that only get in the way of simpler, more basic flavors. This super simple and delicious Peruvian-style chicken stew is full of really nice flavors from the seasoning, red wine, chicken stock, and especially the raisins. It’s also pretty tasty, with a side of white rice for soaking up all the flavors. Now, you don’t have to be a fan of Peruvian culture to enjoy this scrumptious chicken stew — but it just might make you one!
Peruvian chicken stew is the perfect stand-alone dish for a cozy night in, or it can be used as a hearty main course to any meal. Aromatic herbs and spices like cumin, oregano, and paprika are used to impart the traditional flavor of Peruvian food. This stew is usually served with rice or pasta, but you can also enjoy it on its own if you’re looking for something light.
This recipe is versatile; it can be enjoyed for lunch or dinner. I recommend cooking this dish on the weekend with your family. It’s a very easy dish to make, and it doesn’t require any previous cooking experience.
How to make Peruvian Style Chicken Stew
This dish is simple but full of flavor and it’s a comfort food for sure!
The ingredients needed for the recipe
- Chicken legs and thighs: skin on or off, your preference
- Salt and pepper: kosher or sea salt and cracked fresh pepper if possible.
- Vegetable oil: this is to pan fry the chicken. You can also use olive oil if you prefer
- Onion: preferably yellow onion
- Garlic cloves: fresh is always pepper.
- Tomato paste: I don’t usually cook with this ingredients, but I always have a can available for certain recipes. A perfect substitute is tomato puree.
- Red wine (sweet or dry), your preference. A good wine is always recommended for cooking.
- Chicken stock: this ingredient is needed to cook the chicken. Choose a low-sodium chicken stock if you’re watching your sodium intake.
- Bay leaf: this herb is perfect for stew as it ads a nice flavor and aroma.
- Potatoes: white or yellow preferably.
- Carrots: a vegetable with some essentials vitamins perfect for any picky eaters.
- Green Peas: this adds a nice color contrast and also full with vitamins. Use frozen peas for best option.
- Raisins: adds a nice nuance of sweetness to the seasoned sauce.
- Parsley: fresh is better for this dish
- Additional seasoning added to the recipe: Haitian epis, paprika, cumin and oregano
How to make this dish
As always, clean the chicken before starting. Season generously with salt and pepper. The chicken is then pan-fried to a golden color. The sauce comes together by cooking the onion, garlic, and tomato paste first, and the chicken pieces are added back to the pan for coating in the tomato mixture. The wine, chicken stock, and bay leaf follow. The chicken is cooked for 30 minutes, and the potatoes, green peas, and raisins are added to complete the dish.
Notes and Tips for the Chicken Stew
- Skinless chicken legs or thighs is my preferred way to make this dish. The pieces stay firm and absorb the seasoned sauce nicely.
- The mixture will thicken as soon as you add the potatoes.
- You can choose to add mini potatoes as well.
- For the carrots, regular or baby carrots are fine.
- If you want to substitute the green peas for lima beans, go ahead and improvise. We cook with what we have in our pantry and refrigerator.
This recipe is simple enough to add your preferred seasoning. I add my Haitian Epis blend when cooking the onion, garlic, and tomato paste for more flavors. You can also add your own seasoning blend.
With every recipe, adding your spin is a great way to create new recipes and save them in your repertoire. Peruvian Style Chicken Stew is incredibly easy to make. This Peruvian chicken stew recipe is a great way to introduce a new taste to your family’s diet without complex recipes or hard-to-find ingredients.
Here’s the recipe:
Peruvian Style Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 4 chicken legs and thighs or just legs or thighs
- Salt and pepper
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup onion finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste or 4 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 ½ tbsp Green Seasoning Blend or Haitian Epis
- ½ cup sweet or dry wine
- 2 cups chicken stock low sodium, preferably
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp oregano
- 4 medium-sized potatoes peeled and cut into halves
- 1 cup carrots peeled and cut into thin slices
- ½ cup frozen green peas – thawed
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Clean the chicken with lemon or vinegar (your preferred way). Pat dry thoroughly.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Sear the chicken pieces on all sides until golden brown. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the saucepan, and when hot, add the onion and garlic. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until soft (about 5 – 7 minutes). Add the tomato paste and Haitian Epis if using, and stir, cooking for 3 minutes.
- Put the chicken pieces back in the saucepan, add the wine, bring to a boil, and add the chicken stock, cumin, paprika, oregano, and bay leaves. Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, carrots and peas, and raisins. Continue cooking for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
- Remove from the heat and serve with rice, and pasta and garnish with parsley sprigs.
Notes
- Skinless chicken legs or thighs is my preferred way to make this dish. The pieces stay firm and absorb the seasoned sauce nicely.
- The mixture will thicken as soon as you add the potatoes.
- You can choose to add mini potatoes as well.
- For the carrots, regular or baby carrots are fine.
- If you want to substitute the green peas for lima beans, go ahead and improvise. We cook with what we have in our pantry and refrigerator.
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
