African Peanut Chicken Stew is a delicious and comforting one pot meal that is easily made year round with canned tomatoes. I loved this dish so much that I have made it several times, and in February 2016 I updated the photographs, although I left one of the originals for posterity’s sake.
Happy New Year! What a week (or 2, or 3, or…)! I don’t know how parent bloggers stay active over the holiday–ultimately it just proved beyond me. It’s amazing how much more chaotic the holidays are with a child in school. Add to that one set of grandparents here for 5 days and then being at the other set’s house for 4 days, and it was pretty much nonstop cooking, baking, gifting, and visiting. And no I did not remember to take any pictures of anything I made!
Which is a shame because I made an outstanding Italian roast pork with sweet and sour onions this past weekend. I am hoping to recreate that–only with sliced onions because I’ve had enough of peeling cipollini onions for a very long while. I promise to share as soon as I do.
But this post is actually about this African Peanut Chicken Stew that I made several weeks ago. And I made it with Red Gold tomatoes, a tomato grown and canned here in the Midwest. They sent me a media kit this fall, complete with various “flavors” of canned tomatoes (tomatoes canned with other veggies or herbs or spices), a re-usable grocery bag, even a keychain! Their tomatoes are quite tasty and I love the fact that they are grown regionally. And if you leave me a comment telling me what your favorite dish or dessert you made this holiday season was by midnight, Friday, January 7, I will enter you into a random drawing to receive the same media kit I got. Please be sure to include a way to contact you (a blog link or email address).
I used the canned tomatoes (the “plain” ones) to make this African Peanut Chicken Stew, where I made a fantastic discovery. For some reason I have always been iffy about mushrooms in stuff with peanut butter. I don’t know why, no good reason, just one of those culinary hang-ups.
Well I’m over it. This was fantastic. John and I practically wanted to lick our bowls and the girls loved it too.
- approximately 4 lbs chicken pieces of choice (I used bone-in skin, with skin breasts and boneless, skinless thighs), patted dry and sprinkled with salt and pepper
- 2 cups peanut butter (I used creamy Jiff)
- 1-2 T vegetable oil
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 2 lbs crimini mushrooms
- 2 sweet bell peppers, chopped
- 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ t paprika
- ½ t cumin
- ½ t cinnamon (cassia)
- 2-3 T tomato paste from a double strength tube (use a bit more if from can)
- 2 15-oz cans of diced or whole tomatoes--if you use whole, gently squeeze each one to help break it up
- 4 cups chicken stock
- salt and pepper to taste
- apple cider vinegar to taste
- white rice for accompanying the stew
- Preheat the oven to 300 F.
- Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the oil and brown the chicken in batches until it is lightly browned. Remove from the pot and set aside.
- Put the onions in the pot with a pinch of salt. If more liquid is needed to deglaze the pot, add a splash of cider vinegar. Brown the onions, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute. Add the paprika, cumin and cinnamon and toss for 30 seconds. Then add the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and cook until their liquid is released and they are browning.
- Add the tomato paste with the peanut butter and cook, stirring, until the peanut butter melts and mixes in with the vegetables. Pour the stock into the pot and stir to mix. Then add the chicken back in and bring to a boil. Cover and place it in the oven to cook for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Taste for salt and pepper before serving. If the stew tastes dull or too heavy, add some cider vinegar to wake it up. Serve over basmati or Texmati rice.
Looking for a fun collage to pin? It was too big for speedy loading, but just click here to find it!
I made cinnamon rolls for the first time in my adult life. They were amazing.
I made Yorkshire Pudding for the first time and it was so delcious.
I'm laughing because I had to peel cioppolini onions tonight and you're right – total PITA.
I made Sesame Chicken Dip and served it with sesame crackers. It was a new recipe for us and well received.
I didn't have to cook much for the holidays, but my favorite dish has to be the stewed collard greens I made. Porky, spicy, vinegary, delicious.
A New York style cheesecake…and it was awesome! 🙂
This stew looks great, too, though!
I made dark chocolate cranberry cookies. YUM! tHANKS!
bridgestranslation at yahoo dot com
Lick the bowl good AND peanut butter stuffed? Delicious!
Glad to hear you had a merry Christmas Laura!
I sauteed Brussels sprouts (leaves – not whole) with pistachios, a little green onion and lemon juice and served to guests who claimed they didn't like them until they ate these.
I made an Italian style rolled roast and you cook it in 3 cups of marinara sauce, which I made using canned tomatoes.
I might try this stew, it looks yummy and warm.
did not have any celebrating this holiday season so no holiday cooking.
jacquieastemborski AT comcast DOT net
I use Red Gold to make cocktail sauce for Shrimp Cocktail, and made a huge batch for New Year's.
People tell me it's better than St. Elmo's!
This looks amazing! I'm not sure that I've seen mushrooms with peanut butter all that often myself, but I'll have to give it a try.
My favorite dish that I made during the holiday season was probably the turkey and snow pea dumplings I made for my friend's New Years Eve party. They never made it there, and we didn't feel the slightest bit guilty! (That recipe should be posted sometime in the next week or 10 days.)
This recipe looks wonderful and African Peanut Stew is one of my favs! With chcken it must be even better!
Our Holiday dish this uear (a break from the normal Prime rib meal), was pulled pork, marinated in Coca Cola, with spinach laced augratin potatoes. We probably won;t do the augratin potatoes again as they weren't what we expected. But how do youknow unless you try it out? We'll save the spinach for a stand alone dish. :o)
Happy New Year.
carolb.clay@gmail dot com
I made a chocolate coconut cake for Chritmas Eve. I could have just eaten the bowl of frosting – it was that good!
Oh I will SO make this!! Just have to wait till the BH is traveling since he's not a PB fan. I have a squash peanut soup with a similar flavor profile, and it's awesome!
nice stew, laura! i think that the best dish i made over the holidays was a fierce grape salad. it was creamy and flavorful and hit all the right buttons. 🙂
What a great giveaway! The best thing I made this holiday season was cooking my first Hanukkah dinner (for my Jewish fiancee and family), which included brisket and latkes. But of the night, the biggest hit were the homemade cranberry raspberry rugelach I made!
Sometimes we need a vacation from our holiday! 🙂 Beautiful looking stew – I can almost smell it. I need to find that tomato paste in a tube, that's a great idea and less waste than using it from a can.
The Yule Log Cake I made for my mom's birthday on new year's day!
And that's a great way to use up the rest of my PB! Thank you for sharing!
Kate @ diethood.com
Wow! What an impressive list—@Tzel–dark chocolate cranberry cookies? Wow! Mine is more plain. My favorite were the sugarplums. We actually make them all winter long because they're such a great treat for skiing.
My favorite holiday recipe was a candy I made – old-fashioned Holiday Divinity. No tomatoes in it, but I'd love to try the Red Golds!!!
My favorite dish has got to be ginger-cream scalloped sweet potatoes I made with the christmas ham. The sweet and spicy sweet potatoes were a great departure from the traditional thanskgiving yams that I always make too much of.
This looks great! Think it would work with tofu?
I haven't made African Peanut Chicken Stew in years – thanks for posting your recipe – I'm going to make it this weekend. yummy.
The best thing I made over the holidays was probably the family favorite Reese's Peanut Butter Temptations – a mini Reese's stuck in the center of peanut butter cookie dough that was baked in a mini muffin tin.
I got sick of all the rich and high calorie foods (unusual for me) so a couple of days after Christmas I roasted a chicken stuffed with lemon and garlic with some potatoes, carrots and onions and thought it was delicious!
susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com
Tiffany: if you are used to subbing tofu for meat I think it would work fine. For me something would be a little lacking because of the savory unami flavor the chicken brings, but I bet it would still be tasty.
This looks so yummy, and just the right comfort level after all the elaborate holiday dining. And speaking of elaborate, I would say the holiday highpoint was a beef tenderloin stuffed with spinach, wild mushrooms, and herb butter. It was beyond great, and totally unlike the dishes I typically serve throughout the year.