Drumstick Stew with Summer Savoury Gravy

Drumstick Stew. An economical, delicious, warming comfort food meal that the whole family will love. A perfect cool weather dinner.

Drumstick Stew

Our grocery budget is understandably higher than average because of what we do here on Rock Recipes. But that doesn’t mean we still shrug off a good deal at the grocery store.

This is doubly true when it comes to the weekly meat department sale items.

Living on an island in the cold North Atlantic does not come cheap. Having so much of our food shipped in by air and ferry naturally means bigger prices for even core grocery items like meats, vegetables and fruits.

I find legs and/or thighs best for this recipe.

Spouse and I have always been watchers of the weekly grocery flyers for the 3 main supermarkets in our neighbourhood. Truth be told, just like my Dad did when my he shopped for our family of six, we cherry pick the best deals from all 3 throughout the week.

Chances are one of those beautiful, but pricey, rib eye steaks you see on Rock Recipes was bought on sale.

Budget Friendly Meals

This past week, I added a new category for Budget Friendly Meals to the website because all of us need a little help stretching our grocery dollar. Prices are likely to stretch that grocery budget even further in the years to come.

Going forward I’ll be categorizing new recipes that fall into this category. I’ll also be labelling some of our older recipes that fit this category. There are quite a lot already there.

Today’s recipe for Drumstick Stew is one that I came up with when chicken drumsticks were on sale a couple of weeks ago. Even with 3 pounds of chicken drumsticks in the pot, the entire stew came in at under $12 and can easily feed 4 – 6 people.

Add a few of my dough boys (dumplings) for just a few cents more and you will have contented bellies all around.

Drumstick Stew Headed for the oven

Gravy tip for Chicken Drumstick Stew

Regular readers will know that waste is kept at a bare minimum in our household and even more so for food waste. In this recipe I’ve even used the chicken skin to enhance the flavour of the gravy.

The drumsticks in this recipe are braised without their skins, to cut the fat in the meal. I don’t throw out those skins though.

The secret to the gravy for Drumstick Stew is crispy rendered chopped chicken skin.

I take the skins and lay them flat onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake them in a 350 F degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown and very crispy, like crisp cooked bacon.

All of the fat renders out of the skins and I then blot them with paper towels to remove any surface fat. I them chop them into fine crumbs of crispy chicken skin which I add to the pot when adding the vegetables. 

The result is like adding a natural bouillon cube without the added salt. It really amps up the flavour in any gravy that you are making.

Drumstick Stew

Nov 14 update: I was quickly reminded yesterday that I forgot to post a link to the dough boys recipe. Find it here.

Drumstick Stew with Dough Boys

Looking for more tasty chicken dinner ideas?

Be sure to check out this newly updated collection of Our Top Ten Chicken Dinners from more than a decade online. These have been made literally millions of times and get the best reviews from our followers.

Like this Drumstick Stew recipe?

You’ll find hundreds of other great ideas in our Slow Cooked Sundays Category and even more in our Chicken Recipes Category.

It’s easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram. 

Plus you’ll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too. 

Drumstick Stew

You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You’ll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly  meals and desserts too!

Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.

Continue to Content

Yield: 6 servings

Drumstick Stew

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Drumstick Stew - an economical, delicious, warming comfort food meal that the whole family will love. A perfect cool weather dinner.

Print

Ingredients

• 3 lbs chicken drumsticks, skinned (see note below before throwing out skins)
• 2 tbsp olive oil or butter
• 2 red onions, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• salt & pepper to season
• 4 large carrots, cut in coins
• 2 large parsnips, optional, cut in coins
• 2 pounds red or yellow potatoes Cut in 2 inch chunks
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 4 cups low sodium chicken stock, (1 litre)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste. I like a peppery stew
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning, or 1/2 tsp powdered sage
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 Tbsp Summer Savoury, Mt. Scio Farms Brand is best
• 4 tbsp flour mixed with 1/2 cup cold water as a thickening slurry.

Instructions

1. Add the olive oil or butter to a large dutch oven over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and garlic, lightly season with salt and pepper and cook just until the onions begin to soften.
3. Place the skinned drumsticks on top of the onion and garlic and lightly season the top again.
4. Place the lid on the dutch oven and place in a 325 degree F Oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and add all of the vegetables, the chicken stock, black pepper, poultry seasoning, bay leaves and savoury. season with a little more salt if necessary. (If adding the finely chopped crispy chicken skin, add it now, See note)
6. Return to the oven for 45 minutes or until the vegetables are fork tender.

To finish the stew

1. Remove the chicken legs from the stew and strip all of the meat from the bones.
2. Bring the stew to a slow simmer on top of the stove.
3. Mix the flour and water together so that there are no lumps.
4. Slowly add to the simmering stew stirring constantly.
5. Add the chicken back to the pot and simmer for only a couple of minutes before serving. At this stage you could put the stew back into the oven if you were adding dumplings.

Notes

You can find our dough boys/dumplings recipe here.

Gravy tip for Chicken Drumstick Stew Regular reader will know that waste is kept at a bare minimum in our household and even more so for food waste. In this recipe I've even used the chicken skin to enhance the flavour of the gravy. The drumsticks in this recipe are braised without their skins to cut the fat in the meal. I don't throw out those skins though. I take the skins and lay them our flat onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake them in a 350 F degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown and very crispy, like crisp cooked bacon. All of the fat renders out of the skins and I then blot them with paper towels to remove any surface fat. I them chop them into fine crumbs of crispy chicken skin which I add to the pot when adding the vegetables.  The result is like adding a natural bouillon cube without the added salt. It really amps up the flavour in any gravy that you are making.

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1 g
Amount Per Serving Calories 406Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 118mgSodium 246mgCarbohydrates 43gFiber 10gSugar 7gProtein 34g

Did you like this recipe?

Do you love our "Real food recipes for real people'? Share the recipe on Facebook to let your friends know about us. They'll thank you for it.