Crock Pot Jamaican Spiced Chicken Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make stew thicker in a slow cooker? ›

A slurry is a mixture of flour and water, whisked together until smooth and added towards the end of cooking; it's a super-simple way to thicken any soup. For slow cooker soups, add your slurry with at least 30 minutes of cook time left so that the raw flour can cook and thicken the soup. Need a gluten-free option?

Use cornstarch to thicken your stew towards the end of cooking, as cooking it for a long time can break down the starch and your stew will thin out again.

okay, secondly, you can put a tea towel under the lid. that will capture some of the moisture, it stops it circulating in the slow cooker. and then thirdly, you can use a corn flour slurry, so into a bowl, a little bit of corn flour, cold water, mix it with your finger, pour it in, stir it. you're done.

The meal's origins are Jamaican; in “Caribbean Cooking,” John DeMers even refers to stew peas as the country's national dish. Red peas, as kidney beans are known in Jamaica, are cooked down and mellowed with coconut milk, then stewed with beef, pork or even vegetarian alternatives.

In Jamaica, jerk chicken is famous for its pungent marinade, marked by allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers, which are similar to habanero chili peppers. (Holes are usually poked into the meat to enable the marinade to spread.)

“Beef may be tough in the slow cooker if you haven't added enough liquid, or haven't cooked it for long enough,” Kristen Carli, M.S., R.D., owner of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness, tells SELF. “For cuts of meat, the fattier cuts are often the ones that get juicy and tender.

this is the easiest hack for thickening soups stews sauces and it does it instantly. instead of a roux or flour use cornstarch or arrowroot . equal parts water to cornstarch and arrowroot. mix that up and then you add it to simmering sauce or whatever.

Place the cooker on a high setting, and open the lid for 30-45 minutes to let excess moisture cook off. The liquid will reduce, leaving you with a thick and delicious gravy or sauce. (Tip: This trick can also be applied for thickening stews, or when you've accidentally added too much liquid.)

Add a Starch

One common way to add starch to a dish like beef stew is by adding uncooked potatoes or rice part way through cooking, allowing them to fully cook in the stew. This has the added benefit of turning your stew into a complete meal in itself.

As a rule of thumb, dissolve 2 parts cold water and 1 part cornstarch. Add the slurry to your sauce as it simmers in the slow cooker. Cornstarch is always a good way to thicken a sauce or soup but personally I would recommend going a different route as the cornstarch slurry may change the flavor of the meal.

What can I use to thicken my stew if I don't have cornstarch? ›

This moist environment allows you to leave food to cook for hours without risking it drying out. But because there is no evaporation, the liquid isn't able to reduce and thicken naturally in a slow cooker, often resulting in watery sauces and loose gravies.

Waiting until the last 30 to 40 minutes of cooking to remove your lid will allow the liquid to thicken and be ready to serve. If you thicken your liquid too early, you could risk it returning to its more watery state. Not every dish will require you to remove your lid.

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef, pork, venison, rabbit, lamb, poultry, sausages, and seafood.

Thyme, rosemary, parsley, and bay leaves are my go to spices for most soups and stews. Oregano, basil, marjoram, would all work well. Basically, you can season up your stewing hens however you like, but I prefer to keep the flavors rather neutral then jazz up the recipe that I use the resulting meat and broth in.

Ital is a hearty Jamaican stew that is associated with the Rastafarian movement. The name ital is derived from the word vital, referring to the fact that ital food should be vegetarian and unprocessed.

A stew's meat or vegetables are barely covered with cooking liquid (usually water, broth or stock, oftentimes enhanced by wine or beer for additional flavor) and, during cooking, the liquid reduces to a gravy-like base that is sometimes thickened by flour, cornstarch or a roux.