Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Stew

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

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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.

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.

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.)

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

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

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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 hours 40 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Rachel Singer

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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