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Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Stew

Simmer up something different in your Crock-Pot today: Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Stew is full of complex flavor!

Last week’s Sunday Scratchups (your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales & affordable ingredients) featured the humble chicken drumstick — so, this week, let’s move a little further up to chicken thighs! I love using bone-in thighs in Crock-Pot recipes such as stews and chilis, because they are more flavorful and tend to dry out less easily than boneless chicken breast.

Case in point? This week’s Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Stew.

plate of chicken stew with olives and chickpeas

This hearty Moroccan-inspired Crock-Pot chicken stew recipe came together quickly using a clearance pack of chicken thighs I had in my fridge, a wrinkled bell pepper that really had to be used this week, a pack of sale baby bella mushrooms, and a few pantry items. Give yours a try over rice, couscous, or quinoa! Bonus: It made a lot of leftovers for our family of four to enjoy the next day.

Never fear: Although it may look like a lot of ingredients here, many of them are simply spices or dump-and-go pantry staples and there aren’t as many steps to this easy chicken stew recipe as it might seem. Slow cooker chicken chickpea stew comes together in less than half an hour in the morning, then needs just a few minutes of shredding time after it’s cooked through.

Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Stew

Ingredients

– for the chicken

2 Tbsp olive oil (see Note)
3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

– for the stew

1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic (about six cloves)
2 15 oz cans (or one 28 oz can) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp parsley
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional — omit if you are sensitive to spice)
2 cups chicken broth
1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (I used Italian diced with onion, garlic, & olive oil)
1/2 cup Spanish Manzanilla (green) olives with pimiento

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering, then swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Season chicken with sea salt and pepper and place in pan, skin side down. Brown for about five minutes per side, using tongs to flip easily.

add chicken to slow cooker

Meanwhile, add the chopped onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper to the bottom of your slow cooker, then top with minced garlic. Arrange the browned chicken thighs on top of the veggies, then pour in the chickpeas.

season everything in the crock pot

Season everything evenly with smoked paprika, oregano, parsley, cumin, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and cayenne.

spanish manzanilla olives

Pour in the chicken broth and tomatoes, spreading the tomatoes across the top to make sure the chicken is fully covered, then top with the olives.

chicken stew in the crock pot

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.  Carefully remove the chicken from the Crock-Pot and shred, discarding skin and bones. Stir the shredded chicken back into your stew, and serve!

Recommended: Serve your Chicken Chickpea Stew over rice, quinoa, or couscous. (I made my rice using the other half of my box of chicken broth, for extra flavor.)

Note: For those watching these things, you do leave a lot of the oil behind in the pan after removing the chicken — but I wanted to be sure to use enough to get some nice browning on both sides. You’ll also remove the skin and bones before shredding the chicken thighs back into the stew, but cooking everything together helps impart a richer flavor to the final product.

Stew… are you. Stew stew, stew stew

crock-pot chicken and chickpea stew

This easy Crock-Pot chickpea stew recipe has everything going for it: Layers of flavor from the garlic and spices, just enough underlying sweetness from the bell pepper to balance out the tangy olives and tomatoes, and satisfyingly contrasting textures in the chickpeas, shredded chicken, and mushrooms. Slow cooker chicken chickpea stew is also naturally gluten free and dairy free.

Note that this makes a lot of stew, so you’ll want to use a larger slow cooker today. (I used my 7 quart manual Crock-Pot.)

Slow cooker chicken chickpea stew, printable recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Stew

This easy gluten free Crock-Pot chickpea stew recipe sports: Layers of flavor from the garlic and spices, just enough underlying sweetness from the bell pepper to balance out the tangy olives and tomatoes, and satisfyingly contrasting textures in the chickpeas, shredded chicken, and mushrooms.
Course dinner
Cuisine slow cooker
Keyword chicken, chicken stew, crock-pot, slow cooker, slow cooker chicken
Total Time 6 hours 40 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

– for the chicken

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil see Note
  • 3 lbs bone-in skin-on chicken thighs trimmed
  • Sea salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste

– for the stew

  • 1 medium yellow onion roughly chopped
  • 8 oz baby bella mushrooms roughly chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic about six cloves
  • 2 15 oz cans or one 28 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 2 tsp parsley
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne optional — omit if you are sensitive to spice
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
  • 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes I used Italian diced with onion, garlic, & olive oil
  • 1/2 cup Spanish Manzanilla green olives with pimiento

Instructions

  • Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering, then swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. 
  • Season chicken with sea salt and pepper and place in pan, skin side down. Brown for about five minutes per side, using tongs to flip easily.
  • Meanwhile, add the chopped onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper to the bottom of your slow cooker, then top with minced garlic. Arrange the browned chicken thighs on top of the veggies, then pour in the chickpeas.
  • Season everything evenly with smoked paprika, oregano, parsley, cumin, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and cayenne.
  • Pour in the chicken broth and tomatoes, spreading the tomatoes across the top to make sure the chicken is fully covered, then top with the olives.
  • Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.  Carefully remove the chicken from the Crock-Pot and shred, discarding skin and bones. Stir the shredded chicken back into your stew, and serve!
  • Recommended: Serve your Chicken Chickpea Stew over rice, quinoa, or couscous. (I made my rice using the other half of my box of chicken broth, for extra flavor.)

Notes

For those watching these things, you do leave a lot of the oil behind in the pan after removing the chicken — but I wanted to be sure to use enough to get some nice browning on both sides. You’ll also remove the skin and bones before shredding the chicken thighs back into the stew, but cooking everything together helps impart a richer flavor to the final product.

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Recipe Rating




rachel

Tuesday 3rd of September 2019

They add both the tang and texture, but you could maybe try omitting them and then taste after you shred, then add a little fresh lemon juice to taste for tang.

MM

Tuesday 3rd of September 2019

Do you have any alternative suggestions to olives for tang? I can’t get my husband to eat them. :)

35 Cheap and Easy Crock Pot Meals Your Family Will Love! – Smart Cents For Life

Thursday 21st of February 2019

[…] Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Stew via Mashup […]

Hope

Tuesday 9th of October 2018

This was awesome! So easy to make. I was sure my husband wouldn't like it, but he was the first to say, "This is really good!" There are only two of us so I will freeze the leftovers for probably two more meals. Thank you for the free menu plans. So helpful!

Laura

Friday 5th of October 2018

Made this the other day and used my new 6qt instapot for the first time. Wow, so good and the instapot pretty much shredded the chicken for me on the stew setting. I used 1 can cannelloni and 1 can garbanzo beans as that's what I had on hand. We poured the stew over quinoa. A really nice filling meal on a cool, wet fall day. It made so much we had it again the next night! Because my kids are not fans of mushrooms I chop them up using my mini food processor. They had no idea they were eating them and neither did I. Thanks for another great recipe!

rachel

Saturday 6th of October 2018

Awesome! Yeah this should convert really well to Instant Pot -- and I've totally done that with mushrooms in other recipes before, since High School Guy is not a fan but can't taste them if they're chopped up small like that.

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