Chicken Stew with Chickpeas

🍲 Slow Cooker Recipe

Ingredients

500g chicken (I used boneless thigh chunks)
1 x 400 ml can of chopped tomatoes (and their liquid)
1 chicken broth cube, and just enough water to fully dissolve it
1 onion, chopped (I used 1/2 cup of caramelised onions that I already had prepared and frozen)
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 cup (approx) sliced red/yellow/green peppers, as you prefer
1/2 cup olives (Kalamata olives, sliced and pitted. I used green stuffed olives, sliced into thirds)
1/4 cup white wine
1 heaping tablespoon curry powder (This makes it no longer Italian style. I skipped this.)
1/4 cup tomato paste
100 g cherry tomatoes, sliced into halves/thirds
4 x small “Sweet Bite” peppers, also called “Sweet Snack” peppers.
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sage
Black pepper, to taste
Red chili flakes, to taste
10 x dried shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped (I did not bother to pre-soak these because they’d be cooking for 4 hours.)
1 x 400 ml can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained (to add 1 hour before cooking is finished)
1.5 cups frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (to add 30 min before cooking is finished. I added it 1 hour before)

Directions

I marinated the chicken in the spices for 24 hours but this step can probably be skipped. Combine all ingredients except for the chickpeas and spinach in the slow cooker. Cook on High for 3 hours, then add the drained chickpeas and spinach. (Or you can wait 30 min longer and add the spinach for the final 30 min of cooking time, but I don’t like to keep opening the lid over and over.)
You could probably also cook this on Low for 5 hours, adding the chickpeas/spinach during the final hour, too.

My Notes

This is a combination of many chicken stew recipes because I had chicken and chickpeas and googled from there. I didn’t add any salt during cooking or afterwards. It tasted really nice, with none of the spices jumping out, taste-wise. I may trim down and only use 2 – 3 spices next time, and maybe double them.
My main concern was not making it too liquidy because I’d thrown the frozen pepper slices in there, but I think I got it just right. Definitely one to add to our rotation for a simple meal with the canned chickpeas and tomatoes that we always keep in the house! 🙂