Brunswick Stew

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This delicious Brunswick stew is a really excellent way to use up any leftover Instant Pot pulled pork and roast chicken. For even better flavor, you could also sneak in a rotisserie chicken instead.

Make my cornbread muffins with this for the perfect meal!

Brunswick Stew

Stews are a universally loved dish for a reason. Not only are they wonderfully comforting and enriching, perfect for a cold winter’s night, but they are also a wonderful way to use up leftover ingredients. For more great stew recipes, why not make a Guinness® Irish Stew? Or a Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe instead?

Stews are also super simple to make. Other than cooking times for certain cuts of meat, stews are the ultimate, literally “throw it in a pot and cook it!” meal.

This recipe is for a classic stew that uses a tomato-based broth. Despite its murky, confusing origins, it is a wonderful way to use up leftover meat and tastes great no matter what meat you use.    

Brunswick Stew Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

• Salted butter

• Onion

• Minced garlic

• Russet potatoes

• Corn kernels

• Baby lima beans

• Chicken stock

• Fire-roasted diced tomatoes

• Barbeque sauce

• Worcestershire sauce

• Brown sugar

• Cayenne

• Salt & pepper

• chopped chicken

• Smoked pulled pork

How To Make Brunswick Stew

• Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven

• Add the onion, cook frequently stirring until just softened

• Add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant

• Stir in the potatoes, corn, and lima beans

• Add in the chicken stock, tomatoes, BBQ sauce, and Worcestershire sauce

• Stir, and then add brown sugar to taste, as well as the cayenne, salt & pepper

• Bring to a low simmer and reduce the heat

• Simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on top

• Stir in the meat, simmering for 10 minutes more, and then serve with cornbread or biscuits     

What Is A Brunswick Stew?

Lots of recipes exist out there with all sorts of weird and strangely specific names, and Brunswick stew is no different.

The specific ingredients of a Brunswick stew are definitely not the defining quality of this stew; the only thing that really matters is that it is tomato-based, has another type of vegetable, usually lima beans and/or corn, and has some meat in it.

The origins of this recipe are basically impossible to determine, sadly. Lots of places in the USA, including Brunswick, Georgia, and Brunswick County, Virginia, all claim to have created it. However, it could also easily have come from the actual Brunswick in Germany and was then brought over to the US.

This one is probably a bit more likely, seeing as Brunswick, or Braunschweig as it was properly known, was formerly a British territory, and it was said that Queen Victoria loved this stew. It likely grew in popularity there, spread to the US, and now dozens of places fight over its origin.

What Meat Should You Use In This Brunswick Stew Recipe?

The actual choice of meat is really not the most important thing in a Brunswick stew. This is because it is really a meal designed to use up leftovers, and the meat portion of the stew is supposed to change based on your needs.

In fact, the original meat used in this stew would’ve likely been a squirrel, rabbit, or even possum meat!

However, the two most common choices in North America are definitely going to be chicken and pulled pork.

The choice of leftover chicken is going to provide a little bit of texture and the necessary protein, but not really a lot of flavors.

Pulled pork, meanwhile, is going to provide an absolute ton of unique, smoky flavor to the stew. Just make sure you don’t mind a bit of stringiness from the strands of pulled pork.

However, for a really great trick to improve the flavor, why not go to the supermarket and get one of those cheap rotisserie chickens? Dripping with flat and slightly smoky flavor, all of that richness will carry over to the stew, making it utterly delicious and filling.

Looking for more delicious Stew recipes? Try these out:

• Hungarian Goulash

• Vegetable Beef Soup

• Meatball Soup

Enjoy! And remember to keep those leftovers so you can make this stew! Freeze them and then use them in this later!

Love,

Karlynn

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