Brunswick Stew is a genuinely Southern American classic originating from Virginia to Mississippi. It's thick, hot, comforting, sweet, smokey, and an absolute must-try. This stew isn't the quickest in the world, so be sure to give yourself about an hour, but it will be well spent. I can promise you that.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
The flavor of this stew is like nothing I've ever had before and really sounds like a mash-up of so many different things. But when the smokey meat and BBQ sauce come together with the vegetables, simmering and melding, something fantastic happens that's almost unexplainable. This is an absolute must-try recipe!
Ingredients
Vegetables: All you'll need are some yellow onions, Russet Potatoes, Baby Lima Beans, Frozen Corn, Frozen Okra, and a can of Fire-Roasted Tomatoes.
Meat: While this old-fashioned stew traditionally used opossum and squirrel meat, I opted for more readily available ingredients. For this recipe, I used homemade pulled Pork that I had already smoked, pulled, vacuum-sealed, and frozen. Plus, some Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Breast(See Expert Tips).
Liquids: You'll need butter, canned tomato sauce, Chicken Stock, Worcestershire Sauce, and BBQ Sauce(See Expert Tips).
Herbs and Spices: Here, you'll need some Minced Garlic, Kosher Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, and Dark Brown Sugar.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Pressure cook the chicken breasts in the Instant Pot for 12 minutes on high and then shred the chicken once it's complete.
Step 2: Add a stick of butter to a large Dutch Oven over medium heat. Let the butter melt, then add the minced garlic, sautéing until fragrant for about 2 minutes. Next, add the onions and potatoes and stir to be sure they are fully covered in the garlic butter mixture. Sauté the potato and onion mixture until the onions become translucent.
Pour the kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne to cover the veggies fully.
Step 3: Pour in the tomato sauce and fire-roasted tomatoes. If you have fresh tomatoes available, I'd highly recommend using them, but canned tomatoes are equally as delicious and save time.
Stir the mixture to combine, and then stir the brown sugar thoroughly.
Step 4: Once the brown sugar has been mixed in, add the frozen corn, lima beans, and okra and continue stirring.
Step 5: Once you have it all mixed in, pour in the chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Simmer the stew for about 25 minutes.
Add the Worcestershire and BBQ sauce, stir to combine thoroughly, cover the Dutch oven, and simmer for another 30 minutes.
Step 6: Add the shredded chicken and pulled pork, stir it up to combine, cover it, and simmer until ready to serve.
When serving Brunswick Stew, I highly recommend pairing it with cornbread. Some like putting saltines in it as well. But I think it's plenty thick enough without the crackers.
Expert Tips
- For the chicken, I made shredded chicken in the Instant Pot. I used fresh chicken breasts. However, frozen will work fine as well. Pour chicken stock/broth into the instant pot and place the breasts in the pool. The breasts don't need to be covered by the broth; fill it to cover about half the breasts. Fresh chicken, set the Instant Pot to pressure cook, high, for 12 minutes with a natural release for 10 minutes. Then, do a manual release and shred the chicken. For frozen chicken breast, set the Instant Pot to pressure cook, high, for 15 minutes with a 10-minute natural release. Then again, manual release and shred.
- I recommend just using whatever your favorite sauce is for the BBQ sauce. However, if you don't have a favorite, I highly recommend Rufus Teague Touch O' Heat or Head Country Hot and Spicy.
Recipe FAQs
Beef stew is made with beef, vegetables, and a beef broth, while Brunswick stew has a sweet, spicy, and smokey flavor from the use of BBQ sauce and normally has a mixture of beef, pork, and chicken.
Originally, a traditional Brunswick stew would have beans, corn, okra, or other readily available vegetables and use rabbit, opossum, and squirrel for the meat.
Traditionally, cornbread is served with Brunswick stew. However, crackers, bread and butter, biscuits, saltines, etc., are all great options.
Brunswick stew is already very thick due to the amount of meat and vegetables. However, if you find that your stew is still too soupy, it can be thickened with a slurry of water and cornstarch.
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📖 Recipe
Recipe for Brunswick Stew
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Salted Butter
- 1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 2 Onions - Chopped
- 3 Russet Potatoes - Diced
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 8 Oz Can Tomato Sauce
- 14 ½ Oz Can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp. Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 ½ Cups Frozen Baby Lima Bean
- 2 Cups Frozen Corn
- 2 Cups Frozen Okra
- 4 Cups Chicken Stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 ½ Cups BBQ Sauce
- 1 lb Shredded Chicken Breast
- 1 lb Pulled Pork
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.
- Dump in Onions and Potatoes, stir to be sure they're fully covered in garlic butter, and sauté until onions begin turning translucent.
- Pour in kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne to cover the veggies fully.
- Add tomato sauce and fire-roasted tomatoes and stir.
- Pour in the brown sugar, stirring to incorporate thoroughly.
- Next comes the frozen lima beans, corn, and okra. Stir to combine and simmer for about 25 minutes until veggies have softened.
- Stir in the Worcestershire and BBQ Sauce, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the Shredded Chicken and Pulled Pork, stir to combine, cover, and simmer until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- For the chicken, I made shredded chicken in the Instant Pot. I used fresh chicken breasts. However, frozen will work fine as well. Pour chicken stock/broth into the instant pot and place the breasts in the pool. The breasts don't need to be covered by the broth; fill it to cover about half the breasts. Fresh chicken, set the Instant Pot to pressure cook, high, for 12 minutes with a natural release for 10 minutes. Then, do a manual release and shred the chicken. For frozen chicken breast, set the Instant Pot to pressure cook, high, for 15 minutes with a 10-minute natural release. Then again, manual release and shred.
- I recommend just using whatever your favorite sauce is for the BBQ sauce. However, if you don't have a favorite, I highly recommend Rufus Teague Touch O' Heat or Head Country Hot and Spicy.
Alfonzo Romel Seward says
Every year there is a " Taste of Brunswick Festival" in Brunswick, Virginia. Normally around 20 "stew master's" participate in the stew cooking competition! Several thousand people normally attend this one day event.
Jeremy says
That sounds like a ton of fun! I think I'll have to look it up and attend the festival! I would love to learn as much as possible about the history and variations of the stew.
Cheryl says
Wow, sounds amazing! Can't wait to try it!
Jeremy says
Thank you so much for checking out the recipe, Cheryl. It is definitely making it into the regular rotation in our house. I hope you love it!
Jeremy says
Thank you so much! I look forward to hearing how you like it!
Jackie Blevins says
I'm 67 years old. My mom made homemade soup ( Brunswick stew ) all my life. I remembered it being made in a big black pot over a fire in the neighbors front yard back in 1958. My dad ,mom's dad and several uncle's worked at the tungsten mine in Tungsten ,North Carolina on the border of Virginia and North Carolina. Mom recipe didn't include alcohol or barbecue sauce. She use beef in her recipe. About everything else let's throw it in that you have now. And she didn't serve it in little bitty bowls it was big bowls. She made the best homemade soup I have ever had (Brunswick stew). We just called it homemade soup.
Jeremy says
Thank you so much for reading my post and giving more history and background to this dish. I absolutely love when food can be so nostalgic and bring back memories. It's starting to sound like I really need to incorporate some beef in this recipe. I did use a bourbon bbq sauce but no other alcohol was added. Now I'm wondering though...is there a difference between Brunswick Stew in Georgia vs Virginia? Maybe one state adds the BBQ sauce while the other does not. I read a lot about BBQ sauce being added but maybe thats only common to a specific state.
Millard Irby Patton says
I've been making Brunswick stew for 50 years and have never used bar b que sauce. Where's the beef in this recipe? Never used any sugar in my recipe either. Stew the chicken till it falls off the bone. Stew the beef and pork together. Save the broth from both. Add your diced onions and potatoes and cook till done. Add white shoe peg corn butter beans and Worcester sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. It is better cooked in a cast iron pot over a wood fire all night long.
Jeremy says
Hey there! Thank you so much for checking out my recipe and adding your expertise on Brunswick Stew!
I've been making Brunswick Stew for...well...a month. So you're clearly much more experienced at this than I am. I always try and stay as true to a dishes origin as I can. In all the research I did before developing my own recipe, I didn't read anywhere that beef was the key to making Brunswick Stew. Also, if the addition of BBQ Sauce and Sugar mean this is no longer Brunswick Stew definitely let us know. From what I understood during my research on the origins it seemed like kind of a way to use up what was readily available in regard to the proteins, veggies, and overall ingredients.
Again, thank you so much for helping me and the rest of the Chicken Fried Kitchen community learn even more about the long history of Brunswick Stew!