Chicken Stew with White Beans and Spinach, or one of my new favorite dinners
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I was drawing a complete blank for dinner tonight. I was sure about two things: I wanted to use up a few slices of bacon in our fridge, and I wanted something simple.
Thinking back to a simple appetizer we had at an Italian restaurant recently with sausage, spinach and cannellini beans, it was starting to sound pretty good. I took that idea and ran with it, making a similar dish with chicken instead of sausage, and making it very easy on myself by using one pan. I have been making a few one-pot meals lately and they are so easy–not to mention they make clean up all that much easier.
This was so, so tasty. There are some meals I feel really surprise you with how delicious they are and this is one of them. I obviously liked all the ingredients going into it (I did make up the recipe after all, hah), but between the ease of preparation and the simplicity of ingredients, this meal really delivers some comforting, delicious goodness.
Chicken Stew with White Beans and Spinach
Serves 2-4 (but really? probably 2 🙂
2-3 slices bacon, chopped
4 chicken thighs, bone-in and skinless
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
a couple dashes of crushed red pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. oregano
1 can cannellini or other white beans, drained
4 cups fresh spinach
salt and pepper
In a large saute pan with lid, cook the bacon until it has rendered its fat. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off the bacon fat until about 1 Tbsp. remains in the pan.
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and sear it in the bacon fat, to brown, on both sides. Remove from pan.
Add the onions and cook until tender. Stir in the garlic and once the garlic becomes fragrant, stir in the tomato paste. Cook approximately one minute.
Add the wine to the pan to deglaze. Cook for about 2 minutes, scraping up the browned bits. Add the chicken broth, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil. Add the chicken back in the pan. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, mash about 1/3 of the can of beans with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon–not into a paste, but just breaking up some of the beans (this will make the texture of the final product better). After the chicken has simmered 15 minutes, add the whole beans and the mashed beans into the pan. Cover, simmering an additional 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Add back in the bacon and the spinach. Cook just until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Serve with some crusty bread to sop up the tomato-y goodness.
Nutritional Information per serving (for 2 servings and 2 slices of bacon total; based on sparkrecipes.com): Calories: 432 / Fat: 9g / Saturated Fat: 2.5g / Carbs: 17.3g / Dietary Fiber: 12.1g / Protein: 42g
Thank u thank u thank u!
I made this and it was.. oh my god… it was too good for words. I am seriously reconsidering making it again tonight!
Made some variations to cater for the fact that I am completely impatient, it turned out so deliciously amazing!
Keep it up, Ellh! x
So happy you liked it Kiki!
This is so delicious! I am making it again for dinner tonight.
Elly,
This dish is delicious! It hit the spot for the cold and rainy spring that we are having here in Seattle. Next time we are doubling the ingredients to have more left-overs… we had to control ourselves not to eat everything tonight so that we had enough for tomorrow night’s dinner. We also had home made bread to go along with the meal and it was great for swiping our bowls clean!
We are trying your Fasolada recipe later this week and can’t wait to see how it comes out.
Thanks for the great recipes!
So glad you liked the recipe, and I hope you enjoy the fasolada as well!
Hi Elly,
I just stumbled upon your site from the googling the garlic mashed cannellini bean recipe. With the exception of certain holidays and nights out that include dipping bread in mussels, I’ve come to the hard conclusion that my life is better when I live low-carb so I was trying to find a way to put low-carb mashed potatoes (way too starchy for my stomach!) into my dinner rotation for weeknight dinners. I wanted to 1. thank you for the mashed recipe; and 2. thank you for this hearty and tasty stew. My fiance and I had it tonight and we finished the whole thing. It reminds me of a meal that my mom would make — so I’ll get to show her up sometime soon. Thanks for a twist on the old!
P.S. I used chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs, in case anyone is looking for that option. I’m not a fan of thighs.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Joan!
Made this yesterday as a crockpot meal and is was FABULOUS! Multiplied recipe to feed my crew using a pound of dried navy beans I’d soaked overnight, 6 cups chicken broth for liquid. The only other changes were I added some dried sage and a can of petite diced tomatoes, seared eight boneless, skinless thighs before adding to the goodness. Didn’t have bacon so threw in a couple inches of anchovy paste, added the spinach the last 2 hours. So nutritious! Chicken was tender but not mushy. Mmm! I’m a night RN in grad school with 3 kids, aged 15, 10 and 3, and all loved it including the hubs. So nice to have another recipe I can throw in when I get home in the a.m. and wake to an exceptional family meal. Sopping it up with crusty baguette was about the best part! So glad I found your blog.
I’m so glad you liked it! I’ll definitely have to try it in the crockpot. It’s one of our favorite meals and even my toddler enjoys it too. I just started a new job where I get home later so crockpot meals are awesome for me now. 🙂
Hi Elly,
I’ve been following your blog for many years, since it was on the old site! I wanted to write to you about this recipe. It’s one of the originals I copied from your site to make myself. I wanted to let you know that this has become a fall/winter favorite in my home. My husband and I love it. I’ve tried it with boneless chicken thighs too and it’s even easier since we aren’t cutting around the bones. I made it last week and I always double it to have leftovers. My husband ate up the leftovers for lunch the next day and now I’m thinking of talking him into letting me make it again. I was also lucky enough to receive an enameled cast iron pot for a Christmas gift – my my that pot is perfect for this dish. I consider this one of your oldie but goodies! Take care!
Thanks, Allison. I’m so glad you like this dish – it still remains one of our favorites, too. No matter how many new things I make, this one will never really fall off the fall/winter list. 🙂
Hi Elly,
It is fourteen degrees outside and we are staying indoors! I always crave hearty soups in the coldest part of winter and came across this recipe while searching for another. I made it for lunch today and it was delicious! I used boneless chicken thighs and chopped them into large pieces to give it more of a stew feeling and threw in some mushrooms for good measure. Following everyone else’s recommendations I doubled the recipe to start with and we are looking forward to enjoying the dish again later.
Thanks so much for all the tasty recipes. I have yet to try one that was not on my list of dishes to repeat!
So glad you liked it, Wendy. A few years later, and this is still one of our favorite recipes!