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This Brunswick Stew is a hearty dish made with veggies, poultry, pork, and an out-of-this-world barbecue-flavored broth. It’s just the thing to keep your belly full on a cold night!
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If you’ve never heard of it, Brunswick Stew is an old and traditional Southern dish with a rich tomato/barbecue broth filled with beans, vegetables, and meat. Back in the day, people made it with critters you could easily hunt out in the wild, like squirrels, rabbits, and even opossums!!
But wait, don’t leave this page just yet! Nowadays, folks make it with the usual supermarket trio of pork, chicken, and/or beef. I’m no different. My recipe uses pork and chicken or turkey! When thrown together with ingredients like barbecue sauce, tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, and tabasco, you get a nutritious and delicious stew that will keep you warm and full through the winter.
Additionally, this recipe for Brunswick Stew is a great way to use out all of those barbeque leftovers in your fridge. It’s also easy to adjust for various tastes, and you can experiment with whatever’s in your pantry and fridge to make it. Think of yourself like the mountain men of yore who first invented this recipe, they took advantage of what they could hunt and forage, too! Enjoy!
Brunswick Stew: Ingredients & Substitutions
To make Brunswick Stew, you will need …
Ingredients
- butter – for sauteing your onions and garlic.
- onion and garlic – the base of any good stew or soup generally involves these two ingredients.
- diced tomatoes, frozen lima beans, frozen corn – your stew’s veggies! If these don’t fill you up, nothing will.
- tomato sauce, tabasco sauce, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce – let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like the broth in Brunswick Stew. It’s something special! And these ingredients are what make it special.
- barbecue sauce – use your favorite for this recipe, homemade or store-bought. I like Sweet Baby Ray’s, for example!
- salt, black pepper, thyme – a dash of herbs and spices rounds off the taste of this stew.
- pulled pork, shredded chicken, or turkey – your meats. Make sure whatever you use it’s already cooked!! You can also use leftovers. Brunswick Stew was made to be economical that way!
How to make Brunswick Stew
Cook the onion and garlic. Melt the butter in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute.
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Stir in ingredients. Stir in the tomatoes, lima beans, corn, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, and thyme.
Cook. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower to maintain a simmer, and continue to cook for 15 minutes.
Add meats and heat through. Stir in the chicken and pork. Continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the meats are heated through.
Brunswick Stew: FAQs
It only takes about 40 minutes. You’ll need 10 minutes to prep your ingredients and 30 to actually cook the stew.
It should make 8 servings, more or less. Enough for the whole family!
If you want something REALLY filling, add okra, celery, and/or (of course) potatoes!
You can keep leftovers for 3 days in the fridge. Use an airtight container as always.
Yes!! It freezes very well. I recommend keeping any leftovers in freezer bags or airtight freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat it again, thaw it out in the fridge overnight, throw it in a bowl, then reheat it in the microwave or on a stove.
It is often served hot with cornbread or crackers on the side. It’s a common dish at Southern barbecues and family gatherings.
Yes, a slow cooker is a great way to prepare this recipe. It allows the flavors to come together beautifully over several hours.
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Brunswick Stew
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion
- 2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz.
- 1 ½ cups frozen lima beans
- 1 ½ cups frozen corn
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz.
- ¾ cup barbecue sauce
- 3 – 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 ½ cup diced or shredded cooked chicken or turkey
- 1 lb. cooked pulled pork
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the tomatoes, lima beans, corn, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, and thyme.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower to maintain a simmer, and continue to cook for 15 minutes.
- Stir in the chicken and pork. Continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the meats are heated through.
Notes
- This is a great way to use up leftover chicken and pulled pork.
- Make this soup more filling and stretch it further by adding potatoes, celery, or okra.
- Feel free to use your favorite BBQ sauce for this recipe. I usually use Sweet Baby Ray’s or a Kansas City-style BBQ sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a delicious southern style Brunswick stew like what I grew up eating in the home of my father who was an avid hunter. Thank you for sharing. I did add potatoes because that’s how we always had it. This is a definite keeper for my family.