Chicken Stew with Sweet Potatoes + Black Beans

This stew is one of the best things I've made this winter. The mix of flavors is delicious - smoky, a little sour, and a little sweet. The combination of  black beans, sweet potatoes, and chicken makes for a hearty and healthy stew packed with protein and nutrients. 🍠🫘

This stew is the roundabout result of the chicken I roasted for dinner late last week. After we'd eaten our fill, I stripped the meat off of the carcass and made a pot of stock with it (simple directions here if you want 'em.) 

The next day, I had leftover chicken and a mason jar full of great stock. Normally, I'd make a pot of my go-to chicken soup (celery, carrots, onions, lots of fresh dill, and noodles) but I'm really tired of it and decided to put my spin on a recipe I spotted on Bowl of Delicious, a blog I've recently discovered and am enjoying written by Elizabeth Lindemann. I've made a few small changes to her recipe like swapping cilantro in for the parsley and adding lime juice to the mix. 

You'll need chicken, stock, black beans, sweet potato, onion, celery, garlic, tomatoes (stewed, pureed, fire roasted will all work), smoked paprika, cilantro, salt and pepper, and a lime.

Since the chicken is already cooked, the prep is pretty easy - just mince garlic and onions, cut up the sweet potato, and prep the cilantro.

Once the soup is done, stir in the cilantro, squeeze some lime juice on top and serve with sliced avocado. This stew goes really well with this cilantro lime-spiked brown rice or, if you're pressed for time, you could also just top with some tortilla chips.

I tried this stew and rice out on my book club this afternoon and both were a hit. 🥣Enjoy!

-- print recipe --

Chicken Stew with Sweet Potato and Black Beans (adapted from bowl of delicious)
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 2-3 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1 onion, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 pint tomato puree or a can of fire-roasted tomatoes
• 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsps sea salt (or more to taste)
• 2 tsps freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 cups (or 1 can) cooked black beans, drained
• 1 cup cilantro leaves and stems, washed and dried
• Juice of 1 lime

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a good-sized pot over medium heat until it shimmers, then add the onion, celery, garlic, and salt and sautee, stirring frequnetly, for a few minutes until aromatic and somewhat softened.
2. Add the chicken broth, tomatoes, black pepper and smoked paprika, and bring to a simmer then add the sweet potatoes and cook until the cubes are soft enough to pierce with a fork, about 10-12 minutes, depending on how large you've cut the potato.
3. Add the black beans and the chicken and cook for another 3 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and stir in the chopped cilantro and the lime juice. Taste and adjust the seasonings, as needed.

You might also like:

Curried Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew

Dinner Party Black Bean Soup

Greek Lemon & Chicken Meatball Soup

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