Peasant Stew

This has been one of our chilly winter go-to recipes for years now. It's impossible to find Mexican stewed tomatoes anymore, so I use a can of Rotel and often throw in an extra can of mostly drained diced tomatoes. There are a lot of beans, so I often add a couple more chicken thighs too. The cilantro and dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt really add a lot to it. This is a flexible recipe, but delicious as is, and simple to make. What's not to love?

Chill the soup. Skim off fat.

Problem solved.

It's easy and the preparation is quick, but the cooking is slow. My family and I do not eat spicy foods. So, I used diced tomatoes without the Mexican chiles. I found the stew to need more spice and found myself relying on salt due to blandness. In spite of a sort of blandness from the lack of chile pepper, it was good. The chicken, of course, falls off the bones.

This was a great, spicy soup dish. My family does not like beans, so I added some quinoa noodles at the end. I also browned my chicken and onions before putting in the crockpot. Great dish, very filling.

I loved this recipe although I did make some tweaks. Delicious and so easy to make. It is clearly Mexican flavors and reminded me of chili, but it isn't. I used boneless skinless chicken breast (you could probably omit the chicken and it would still be yummy). I also used a little extra cumin and ended up adding a little cayenne pepper at the end, it didn't necessarily need it but my husband likes spicy. The only other change I made was to add a cup of chicken stock to make it a little soupier. Cooked this on the stove top instead of the slow cooker for a little over an hour (probably could have been ready sooner). I don't think I would serve this to company but I'll definitely make this again. This was sooo simple. Hubby and I both loved it!!

Really good, surprisingly. I cooked on hi for 2 1/2 hours, putting the beans in during the last hour & that was perfect--the thighs would have cooked to death at 4 hours. Next time I will up the number of thighs I use since most everyone eats 2, & the amount of bean mixture would support that. Browning might be nice, but the combo of the spices & the sauce gave the chicken a nice color. A little spicy, I might change the tomatoes to diced with chiles instead of the mexican stewed & leave out the extra can of chiles. Quick & easy to prep, this will be a regular. Served with a salad & sugar snap peas.

Delicious! An easy Sunday night supper. The boneless, skinless thighs are perfect.

I have made this several times. Good suggestions from others: adding garlic and browning garlic, onion, and chicken before adding to the crockpot, and also adding extra chicken broth. Another suggestion--FORGET the canned green chiles (why do recipes even call for them anymore???) and add frozen roasted chiles. Even if you don't live in the west many grocers carry frozen chiles. If you can find them, Poblanos are the best!

This was pretty good! I used boneless chicken breasts instead of thighs and cut them into chunks. I also realized I didn't have an onion so I "substituted" with 3 chopped garlic cloves. My husband really liked it and the guest we had over said there was a lot of flavor to it! I will definitely be making this again.

So quick and easy to assemble...and delicious!! I used boneless, skinless thighs which made it very easy to serve and eat. Served over steamed rice and topped with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and dollop of sour cream. Definitely will have this yummy dish again!

Delicious and simple, very solid repeater recipe. My America allows for lots of different tastes and ingredients. How fortunate we are to live in such a large country with lots of different heritages and food availability. Of course, if you were in Mexico, you would possibly think this absurdly simple and Americanized, but we all need something quick and flavorful once in a while. By the way, Pennsylvania family prefers it more spicy, served with more low fat Greek yogurt than the sour cream, probably about 1/4 c. apiece, more cilantro, corn on the side that some like to add to the stew, sometimes chips, and yes, tortillas. And I use what beans I have, for example, black beans are a nice option.

Ignore the 1 star reviewer. This is an easy and delicious recipe. My family loves it, I've shared the recipe with others and they have all enjoyed it as well. Certainly you can adjust it to suit your taste but this is a simple, solid winner every time.

I've made this soup several times now and my family loves it. Perfect to warm you up in the winter! The only thing I did differently was add 1 cup and a half of chicken broth to give it some juice. And I serve it on rice.

excellent...filling but not heavy.

Easy and delicious

I've made this recipe since I read it in the Cooking Light Five Star Recipes(2008). I have a 6 qt. crock pot so I have added ingredients to fill it up (for leftovers to freeze). I added: 1 can Diced Tomatoes (14.5oz) 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, and a little Ancho Chili Pepper. I increase the chicken thighs to 2 lbs.

This is a delicious stew. After reading the ingredients; I thought I was going to get chicken chili; I was pleasantly surprised to find it did taste more like a stew, a different stew. The family loved it & went back for seconds. Note: I did not use a crockpot and sauteed the onion & browned my boneless chicken thighs before adding everything else to the dutch oven. Simmered the chicken/tomatoe mixture (also added 1 cup of chicken broth) about 40 minutes, then added beans & simmered another 20 minutes. Served with brown rice...perfect! Also good over roasted cauliflower.

I used skinned and boned chicken thighs - so no problems with bones in the stew - and served in bowls over rice and topped with fresh chopped lettuce and tomatoes and shedded cheddar cheese.

This is a very good and very easy recipe. I didn't change a thing. Company loved it.

Beware chicken thighs with overmuch fat. Essentially, all the liquid in this stew, aside from the undrained ingredients which don't account for much, are chicken juices. That's fine except when you have fatty thighs. My liquid was predominantly chicken fat. Yuck. I about threw up. Nothing wrong with the recipe but use chicken breasts with some supplementary broth instead.

The whole family loves it!

I am definitely going to try this recipe with ground beef, chicken breasts (I just don't care for thighs) and pork. This can be a very versatile recipe and I look forward to experimenting with it...starting today! :-)

This turned out to be outstanding. I truly enjoyed this reciper. My husband loved it and he is not a chicken fan unless it is fried. We followed the recipe exactly. It was extremely easy to make. The chicken did start to fall off of the bone, so it was a little hard to determine the serving size. My husband wants to try this again with other types of meat.

Yummy recipe! This is incredibly easy to make and very tasty. Even my husband, not a fan of beans, loved it. It was a bit spicy for me so I added about 1/2 cup of chicken broth, which helped a lot. Definitely make again, double even. Might try some brown rice with it next time as well.

Love it! Made it for my parents while I was visiting them, and later on Mom called me at home asking for the recipe. A perfect wintertime meal!

Easy and delicious. I used a 2-quart crock pot and the ingredients only filled it halfway. About 1 1/2 pounds, skinned boneless chicken thighs (chopped) and 1 can of beans. I thought 2 cans was too many beans.

Easy, delicious, satisfying. I used the stewed tomatoes undrained, a can of drained Rotel tomatoes in place of the chilis. Also,had some sliced frozen okra which I put in the microwave for 4 minutes. I served this with rice, topped with some okra, and then the chicken and veggies and cilantro. Not sure it needed the sourcream. Crusty bread and a glass of Merlot. Does not get too much better.

My family and I LOVED this dish. I altered the ingredients and instructions. I took the advice of a reviewer and seasoned and seared the chickan thighs on both sides before adding them to the crock pot. I added 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 2 garlic cloves, and used 2 cans of Rotel instead of the other tomatoes. Served over rice. Delicious!! Will definitely make this again.

Three stars = "good solid recipe" and this is . . . especial good on a cold, wet winter evening. Although this recipe called for a crock pot, it was just as easy (and faster) to make on the stove top! I browned the onions (added garlic, how can there be NO garlic in this recipe???), then the chicken and garlic, added the rest of the ingredients (plus a bay leaf and tomato paste) and brought to a simmer while preparing the garlic bread. Better the second day (of course)!

I made quite a few changes based on what we like and what was in the house. Beef stew instead of chicken, added a can of corn and small can of v8 juice, used chili & black beans instead of pinto/kidney, no cilantro, no chiles - I think that's it. All in all - great recipe - easy to make. We really enjoyed it!

This is a fantastic recipe. I could definitely serve this as a casual dinner with friends, especially on a cold winter night, but it was so quick to throw together that I will be much more likely to make it for an everyday meal. It was more of a soup than I thought it would be. I made mine with boneless chicken breasts because we don't like dark meat, and I cooked on low for eight hours while I was at work instead of on high for three. A delightful smell greeted me at the door! This is now one of my go-to recipes.

Good, filling. Might make again - it goes together quickly. Chicken was very tender, we used boneless thighs.

I made this stove top, about 1 1/2 hours. Turned out REALLY good, but, WHERE'S THE GARLIC! So I added some. This was very easy, all the flavors blended well, the sauce even thickened up a bit. I served it with flour tortillas. Deffinately a go-to meal from now on! (maybe use hominy too..)

Fixed this for my boyfriend. He not only liked it, he asked for more. It was simple to make and very delicious. I have recommeded it to several people and will definitely fix it again. Great for those watching their weight too. I didn't have any kidney beans but just doubled the pinto beans, otherwise, I followed the directions.

The chicken was very tender. However, the dish was absolutely dry. I think I will definitely reduce the time after adding the beans. This is a good recipe, but it did not get my family excited :(

This was very easy to make, healthy and so good! I will definitely make this again

This comes out as chili with a chicken thigh in it. I'm not sure why I didn't expect that based on the ingredients! I won't make this again; will make one of my usual chili recipes instead.