Smoky Mountain Camp Stew Recipe

Smoky Mountain Southern Camp Stew is a delicious dish any time of year! photo credit : Susan Vickery

Smoky Mountain Camp Stew Recipe. Camp stew is a Southern favorite any time of year but especially in the cold winter months. This dish is easy to make, delicious and a real crowd pleaser during the big game on Super Sunday.

All you need are a few simple ingredients and about thirty minutes of prep time. This dish goes great with a pan of buttermilk cornbread. We love to “sop up” the stew liquid with a big piece of cornbread while others like to crumble their pone into the stew. We call them crumblers. Either way it is a tasty addition to the stew.

This stew can be mobile too! We often fill up a thermos with hot stew and head to the hills for a picnic. Some of our favorite places to picnic in the Smokies are Cades Cove, Cosby, Big Creek and Cataloochee. All you foodies be sure and send us a pic of where you enjoy your stew!

Cades Cove in the Smokies is the perfect spot for a picnic! Photo credit: HeySmokies.com.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chicken stock

• 3 cups of frozen whole-kernel corn

• 2 tablespoon brown sugar

• 4 tablespoons of white vinegar

• 1/2 cup of no salt tomato paste

• 2 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes

• 2 15 ounce cans of medium sized lima beans (drain and rinse)

• Two cans of white (cannelloni) beans (drain and rinse)

• a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce to taste

• 1 rotisserie chicken or 3-4 boiled on the bone chicken breasts

• 1 large diced onion

• 1 pound of shredded barbecue pork (Lloyds from the grocery is a good substitute if you don’t have a good local source for BBQ, it is a little sweet so think about less brown sugar if you go this route.)

• 1 half stick of butter

To prepare:

1. Dice onion and sauté with butter in a large pot until translucent.

2. Combine first 8 ingredients and hot sauce, if desired, to the onion. Cover and bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. While soup simmers, skin and bone chicken.

3. Shred chicken to measure 5 1/2 cups; add chicken and bbq to soup. Cook till warm.

4. Serve and enjoy!

Culinary bonus tip: This dish can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for several days or frozen. The further in advance you make it the tastier it will be. If you are serving it while entertaining, having it prepared in advance leaves you free to enjoy your guests!