Brown Stew Chicken

Name: Brown Stew Chicken
Prep time: 18 min
Cook time: 34 min
Total time: 52 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Jamaican
Ingredients: 1 whole Chicken; 1 chopped Tomato; 2 chopped Onions; 2 chopped Garlic Clove; 1 chopped Red Pepper; 1 chopped Carrots; 1 Lime; 2 tsp Thyme; 1 tsp Allspice; 2 tbs Soy Sauce; 2 tsp Cornstarch; 2 cups Coconut Milk; 1 tbs Vegetable Oil

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Chicken recipe with Jamaican flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 54 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 52 min total

1 whole Chicken
1 chopped Tomato
2 chopped Onions
2 chopped Garlic Clove
1 chopped Red Pepper
1 chopped Carrots
1 Lime
2 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Allspice
2 tbs Soy Sauce
2 tsp Cornstarch
2 cups Coconut Milk
1 tbs Vegetable Oil

Step-by-step instructions

Squeeze lime over chicken and rub well. Drain off excess lime juice.
Combine tomato, scallion, onion, garlic, pepper, thyme, pimento and soy sauce in a large bowl with the chicken pieces. Cover and marinate at least one hour.
Heat oil in a dutch pot or large saucepan. Shake off the seasonings as you remove each piece of chicken from the marinade. Reserve the marinade for sauce.
Lightly brown the chicken a few pieces at a time in very hot oil. Place browned chicken pieces on a plate to rest while you brown the remaining pieces.
Drain off excess oil and return the chicken to the pan. Pour the marinade over the chicken and add the carrots. Stir and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Mix flour and coconut milk and add to stew, stirring constantly. Turn heat down to minimum and cook another 20 minutes or until tender.

Why this works on a weeknight

Brown Stew Chicken lands at about 52 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Quick Soups & Stews collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Brown Stew Chicken actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥣 Quick Soups & Stews Chicken Jamaican Stew