Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken, a spicy dish with chicken legs, simmered in a pot with light coconut milk, scallions, onions, tomatoes, garlic, thyme and one very hot scotch bonnet pepper.
Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken
I served this with Jamaican red beans and rice and a simple tomato avocado salad, and boy was this delicious! I love chicken stew and make it so many different ways! My go to is my latin Pollo Guisado, but I also love Paprika Chicken Stew, and this Jamaican inspired chicken stew didn’t disappoint!!
I just love the tropical flavors in Jamaican cuisine, it’s similar to Latin cuisine only a whole lot hotter! The scotch bonnet pepper is commonly used in Jamaican cuisine, but I warn you, it’s spicy!! This small little pepper packs a whole lot more heat than a jalapeño so a little goes a long way. I like spicy foods, but I personally can only tolerate using 1/2 pepper for my taste and wearing gloves when handling the pepper is a must. If you like really spicy food, then add the whole pepper and please, keep them away from the kids and pets!!
I’m a dark meat lover so I chose the legs and thighs, but you can use a whole chicken cut up, or just the breast if you prefer white meat. I recommend using chicken on the bone, because bones give stews flavor and although it would still work with boneless chicken, it won’t be as good. My husband loved this dish, and it will absolutely be going into our dinner rotation. Enjoy!!
Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in chicken legs with thighs attached, skin removed (6 thighs, 6 drumsticks)
- 1 lime or 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 4 medium scallions, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1/2 - 1 hot scotch bonnet pepper, seeds + membrane removed, chopped
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce, for gluten free use GF Tamari
- 1 tsp coconut oil, canola would be fine too
- 1 medium carrot, chopped finely
- 2 tsp cornstarch, sub tapioca for Keto
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened light coconut milk, I like Thai Kitchen
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Squeeze lime over chicken and rub well.
- Drain off excess lime juice.
- Using gloves combine tomato, scallion, onion, garlic, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme and soy sauce in a large bowl and add to the chicken.
- Cover and marinate at least one hour.
- Heat oil in a dutch pot or large saucepan.
- Shake off the seasonings as you remove each piece of chicken from the marinade, reserving the marinade for later.
- Lightly brown the chicken on medium-high heat.
- When browned on all sides, pour the marinade over the chicken and add the carrots.
- Stir and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Mix cornstarch and coconut milk and add to stew, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and cook an additional 20 minutes or until tender, add salt to taste.
