Hairy Bikers Old Fashioned Chicken Stew Recipe

This Hairy Bikers old fashioned chicken stew coats leg quarters in seasoned flour, then slow-bakes them in cider with bacon and root vegetables. It comes from the Hairy Dieters cookbook, serves 4 at just 435 kcal, and takes nearly two hours of slow oven cooking.

A full 500ml bottle of cider goes in with 300ml of stock, and the headnote says it ‘adds a touch of sweetness’ stock alone misses. Smoked bacon strips reinforce that, so the base has a savoury-sweet depth before the vegetables even go in.

Shaking the chicken pieces in seasoned flour before browning is what thickens this stew without needing a separate roux or cornflour slurry. The flour toasts onto the meat during frying and dissolves into the cider as it simmers, so the sauce thickens gradually on its own.

Hairy Bikers Old Fashioned Chicken Stew Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 20 minutesCook time:1 hour 40 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:2 hours Servings:4 servingsCalories:435 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Chicken legs are skinned, halved at the joint, and coated in thyme-seasoned flour before browning. They braise in a covered casserole with smoked bacon, cider, stock, mushrooms, carrots, and leeks until the sauce turns thick and glossy.

Ingredients

For the Stew

• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 4 chicken leg quarters
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4 rashers of rindless smoked back bacon, cut into 1cm strips
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, thinly sliced
• 150g small chestnut mushrooms, sliced or quartered if large
• 500ml bottle of dry cider
• 300ml chicken stock, made with 1 stock cube
• 2 bay leaves
• 400g Chantenay or other small carrots, trimmed and peeled
• 2 slender leeks, trimmed and cut into 2cm slices
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Flour the chicken: Mix the flour and thyme with a good pinch of salt and plenty of pepper in a large freezer bag. Strip the skin off the chicken legs and put them on a board. Break the joint of each leg by bending it the opposite way, then cut each quarter in half to give 8 portions. Trim off any visible fat, then shake the pieces in the flour bag until evenly coated.
2. Brown the chicken: Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and fry the chicken, a few pieces at a time, until golden brown all over. Transfer each batch to a large flameproof casserole dish as it browns. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4.
3. Cook the bacon and vegetables: Put the bacon, onions, and celery in the same frying pan and fry for 4 to 5 minutes until lightly browned, stirring often. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes more, then tip everything into the casserole with the chicken. Sprinkle in any flour left in the bag and stir well.
4. Add the cider and stock: Pour about half the cider into the frying pan and stir hard with a wooden spoon to lift any sediment from the bottom. Simmer for a few seconds, then pour into the casserole. Add the rest of the cider and the stock, then stir in the carrots and bay leaves and bring to a simmer on the hob.
5. Slow-bake: Cover with a lid and cook in the centre of the oven for 1 hour, then remove and stir in the leeks. Put it back in the oven for another 30 to 40 minutes until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened.
6. Serve: Serve with green beans or spring greens.

FAQs

What cut of chicken works best for this stew?

The book uses leg quarters, skinned and halved at the joint, because dark meat handles nearly two hours of oven time without drying out. Each quarter splits into a thigh and a drumstick piece, which gives 8 portions from 4 legs. Breast meat would dry out long before the sauce has time to thicken properly.

Why does the recipe use cider instead of wine or extra stock?

Dry cider gives the stew a gentle sweetness that red wine would overpower and plain stock would miss entirely. The cider also has enough acidity to cut through the richness of the bacon, which keeps the dish balanced even after two hours of cooking.

Their chicken normandy also uses cider as a base, though that version goes in a different direction with crème fraîche and a brandy flambé.

Is this the same as Hairy Bikers chicken stew and dumplings?

No, these are two different recipes from two different books. The chicken stew and dumplings from Chicken and Egg uses a lighter broth with suet dumplings dropped on top. This old-fashioned version from the Hairy Dieters builds a thicker cider sauce with root vegetables and no dumplings at all.

Can I make this stew in a slow cooker?

The book uses the oven at 180°C, but a slow cooker works if you brown the chicken and vegetables on the hob first. Transfer everything to the slow cooker, pour in the cider and stock, and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Stir in the leeks during the last hour so they keep some bite.

What else from the Hairy Dieters is worth trying?

Their chicken tangle pie from the same book is another low-calorie dinner at 429 kcal, with cooked chicken under scrunched filo instead of shortcrust.

For another slow one-pot, their Lancashire hotpot layers lamb neck with sliced potatoes and bakes until the top turns crisp.