As Long As I Have You Brunswick Stew

Brian Theis
Jan 5, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Sep 27

Are you hungry tonight? "The King" would have been 90, this January 8, 2025. His family cookbook's "Chicken Brunswick Stew" inspired me to develop my own recipe. I named it after a favorite song of his from the 1958 film "King Creole." (Recipe from: The Presley Family Cookbook, Vester Presley and Nancy Rooks, first printing 1980)

I call this crave-worthy dish: "As Long As I Have You Brunswick Stew." A classic Brunswick has a lot of potato in addition to the tomato. Mine is more rib-sticking barbecue lowcountry and bean-ey than potato-ey, perfect on rice with a crusty baguette. My taste testers say: 11 out of 10 stars!

This recipe is a website exclusive. You might see it in an upcoming cookbook. Meanwhile, there are dozens of other easy-to-follow, tempting Southern main dishes to choose from in my first best-selling cookbook. Order your copy today.

This Brunswick has ingredients common to a Cajun/Creole gumbo as well. The sausage, chicken, celery, onion, and red kidneys align with New Orleans cuisine. Kitchens from Virginia to Georgia (even Northern Germany) lay claim to the original recipe. It was first cooked up with squirrel, rabbit, even possum! But chicken is common now. Where the Presleys' recipe had bacon, I use the sausage, and instead of potatoes I start with a quick roux like a gumbo to thicken the mix. The addition of barbecue sauce gives mine a lowcountry tang.

As Long As I Have You Brunswick Stew

Makes 8 servings

1 large (4 pound), bone-in, skin-on, chicken, cut up

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup canola oil

12 ounces smoked sausage, cut in ½-inch slices

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sweet onion, chopped fine

4 ribs celery, chopped fine

3 cups chicken broth

1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 can (15 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, drained

1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, drained

1/3 cup barbecue sauce

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Season chicken generously with salt and pepper.

In a big (7.25 quart) Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add 1/4 cup oil, sausage, and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, remove sausage from pot and set aside.

To same pot, quickly add flour, stir till flour combined but not deeply colored, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, onion, celery. Cook, stirring, till vegetables coated, 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes. Add Worcestershire sauce, bring to a boil. Add chicken, reduce to a simmer. Cover and stir occasionally, 15 minutes.

Remove chicken, shred meat off the bone in bite-size pieces, return meat to pot, discard all skin and bones. Stir in sausage, corn, both beans, barbecue sauce, vinegar. Bring to a boil then simmer 15 minutes. Let sit 45 minutes, covered. To serve, re-heat and ladle over rice with your favorite hot sauce nearby.

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Let the stars fade and fall

And I won't care at all

As long as I have you

Every kiss brings a thrill

And I know that it will

As long as I have you

Let's think of the future

Forget the past

You're not my first love

But you're my last

Take the love that I bring