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There is nothing quite like homemade Chicken Vegetable Soup, mmmmm…. Unless it’s Stewing Hen Chicken Vegetable Soup with Kale made from a stewing hen, with homemade chicken broth, and tons of vegies and herbs. Yum, Yum, Yum! Cooking a stewing hen is very different from cooking a regular chicken. This full tutorial will walk you through how to cook a stewing hen, why you want to, and what to do with it when you’re done.
What is a stewing hen?
Before we get ahead of ourselves, what exactly is a stewing hen?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service, a Stewing Hen is, “A mature laying hen 10 months to 1 1/2 years. Since the meat is less tender than young chickens, it’s best when used in moist cooking such as stewing.” (source)
Typically, a stewing hen is an egg laying hen who is past her prime. A rooster could also be cooked in the same manner as a stewing hen. Either way, the meat is usually tougher, more stringy/ropey, with lean body fat. Stewing hens require “low and slow” cooking, but are oh so flavorful.
Stewing hens just do not work to cook in your traditional roasting or pan frying methods. Anyone else remember the turkey from Clark Griswold’s Christmas dinner in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? Try to roast a stewing hen and you will end up with something quite reminiscent to that turkey! Yuck!
Why would you want to cook a stewing hen?
Okay, got it: tough, stringy, dry, sinewy chicken. So, why on earth would I want to bother cooking a stewing hen?
Well, there are actually a number of reasons:
- Economical: Pound for pound, stewing hens are typically much cheaper than regular hens. At my local farm stewing hens are $3/pound vs $4.50/pound for regular whole chicken chicken.
- Availability: Currently, the farm we use is out of regular whole chickens, so I am super happy that I am already familiar with working with stewing hens. If we didn’t have the stewing hens, we would be eating TONS of beef!
- Waste not, want not: If you raise chickens, you will likely have your own stewing hens at some point. Why not allow that lovely hen who has been providing you with eggs, to feed your family one last time. Whenever someone gives me food of any kind, I try to figure out a way to use it, even if its not our usual fare. If someone graced me with a stewing hen, I would jump at the chance to make a batch of Stewing Hen Chicken Vegetable Soup with Kale.
- Flavor, flavor, flavor: While stewing hen meat is a little chewier, not as plump and juicy as young chicken, it has SOOOO much more flavor.
Personally, I started using stewing hens to save money. Lets face it, good pasture raised (and soy free) meat is not cheap. With being on one income and lots of medical expenses, every little penny counts. At my local farm, you can get two stewing hens for $16-$18 vs one regular hen for about $20. As you will see below, I make two large 8 quart stock pots (one for each bird) of stewing hens which equates to about 8 quarts of chicken (soup) stock, the chicken meat from each bird, and about 4 quarts of bone broth from these two little stewing hens.
Stewing Hen Ingredients and Options
There are tons of different options of vegies, herbs and spices that you can use when cooking your stewing hen. Thyme, rosemary, parsley, and bay leaves are my go to spices for most soups and stews. Oregano, basil, marjoram, would all work well. Basically, you can season up your stewing hens however you like, but I prefer to keep the flavors rather neutral then jazz up the recipe that I use the resulting meat and broth in. For example, I would make the stewing hens as written in the recipe below, then when I make soup from the meat and broth, I would change up the herbs, spices, and vegetables to suit a Mexican flare or Italian style, etc.
Just like the herbs and spices, you can change up the vegies to suit your tastes and what is in season. My preference is celery, carrots, and parsnips. Pretty much any root vegies would work, like rutabaga, celery root, turnips, etc. If you are not following a Low FODMAP diet, then by all means use some onion and garlic as well. Believe you me, I would if I could. 😉
How to cook a stewing hen
Okay, enough chit chat. Lets get down to business and talk about how to cook a stewing hen. Stewing hens require “low and slow” cooking. You can do this in numerous ways but my favorite is on the stove top in a big stock pot like this one. You could also cook in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker like an Instantpot. As I am currently dreaming and drooling over owning an Instantpot (hint, hint honey), I can’t provide you any tips or tricks for pressure cooking a stewing hen, LOL!
One thing to note, this is not a quick process. When I cook stewing hens, I do the stewing process for the hens, start a batch of bone broth, and then make a batch of soup. Start to finish, it takes me about 7-8 hours to do all of this. However, most of this is hands off time! I like to prep my vegies all at once, at the beginning of cooking, so that all I have to do is stir and drop in additional ingredients as I go. Don’t let the long cook time deter you, I only mention it so you can plan your cooking accordingly. 😉
Blanch the stewing hen
Its not 100% necessary to blanch a stewing hen, but I prefer to do so. Rinse the stewing hen and remove any remaining visible “residue” like little bits of feathers, etc. Place your bird in the stock pot and fill with cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to keep at a low boil for about 30 minutes. Once the pot has come to a bubble, you will start to notice foam developing on the surface of the water. Skim off this foam every few minutes. After 30 minutes, strain the chicken and discard the water. I even rinse the sides of the pot to get some of the scum off.

During the first half hour of cooking, blanch your stewing hen. Skim off the grit and sediment for a clearer broth.
So, why do I prefer to blanch the stewing hen? Well, first you get a much clearer broth when you can remove the scum and grit that rises to the surface of the broth. Secondly, when you cook raw chicken in liquid, there is a very distinctive smell that I really don’t like (Like really, REALLY don’t like!). By blanching the chicken, dumping the water, then starting again with clean water, that smell doesn’t happen. Yay!
I like to use bottled spring water or filtered water for the next step but its not 100 percent necessary. I’m really sensitive to chemicals (and can smell the chlorine and such in our tap water) so I prefer to use filtered/bottled water for the next step.
Prep your vegies and herbs
While your stewing hen is blanching, clean and prep your vegies and herbs. Of course, all the vegies are washed, scrubbed with a brush and then sprayed down with Produce Wash. I like to prep the vegies for the stewing hens, soup, and bone broth all at the same time so I have less work to do later. If adding potatoes to your soup, wait to chop those until closer to cook time, but celery, carrots, parsnips, turnips, etc all do well chopped then refrigerated until ready to use.
Cooking the stewing hen
Now that you have blanched your stewing hen, refill the pot with cold water to within about three inches from the top of the pot and turn back on to bring to a boil. Add in your vegetables, herbs, and seasonings. Once back at a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer. Remember, stewing hens need low and slow cooking. You do not want to boil the chicken, you want to keep it at a low but steady simmer (bubbles just breaking the surface but not a rolling boil).
Cover the stockpot, but leave the lid cockeyed/cracked to allow some of the steam to escape. Simmer for about 3-4 hours, until the meat is falling off the bone. Depending on the size of your bird, you may need to adjust the cooking time a little.
If your bird tends to float up out of the water, then make sure to give it a flip a few times throughout, to ensure even cooking. You may need to add additional water during the cooking process.
To make sure the stewing hen is tender enough, wiggle the drumstick and wings with tongs. If the drumsticks move freely and the wings wiggle easily, then your stewing hen is now ready.
Straining the stewing hen
Do not just dump the pot! The water, that your chicken has been stewing in, is now fabulous chicken broth that is wonderful for soups, stews, and sauces.
Using tongs, remove the stewing hen from the pot, then let cool for a little while until you can comfortably handle it. With a slotted spoon, remove the vegies from the pot and discard. Strain the chicken broth through a fine mesh sieve, or colander lined with cheesecloth. Side note: if you want to eat the vegies used in cooking the stewing hens, you certainly can, but most of the nutrition and flavor has already been leached out of the vegies into your broth. Do not reuse these old vegies in your soup! They are already spent and will be really squishy and bland if you try to reuse them. You are not being wasteful, these vegies have already done their job!
Set the broth aside to use for your soup. If you aren’t going to use it right away make sure to refrigerate or freeze your broth promptly. When I make stewing hens, I have two stock pots with a bird in each pot. One pot of broth gets used right away in a batch of soup and the other pot I freeze in quart sized bags to use in future recipes. Typically, I will get about 4 quarts of chicken stock from each stock pot. If you are going to freeze your broth, put it in the fridge to cool for several hours before bagging up the broth. Make sure to leave some head space in the bag as it will expand as it freezes.

This stewing hen is fully cooked and ready to be made into soup. Notice the color and how much leaner the stewing hen is in comparison to a traditional hen.
Pull stewing hen meat
Now your ready to deal with your cooked stewing hens. This part of the job isn’t the most fun, but not overly difficult either. Personally, I like to use the bones to make bone broth, so I will set up a dish to hold the cooked chicken, a crock-pot for the bones, and bring my trashcan close by for all the skin and any “icky” bits. Use a fork and the best tools god gave us (your hands, Lol!) to remove the meat. I like to take care of the wings and drumsticks first, then work on the body of the chicken. Try to remove and separate as much of the meat as possible. All the bones and bits of cartilage just goes straight into the crock pot.
When I make two stewing hens, I will use the meat from one bird to make a big batch of soup and freeze the rest for a future batch of soup.
Stewing hen meat uses
The meat from cooked stewing hens is a little different than we are used to. I like to use it in stews and soups, like this Low FODMAP Chicken Vegetable Soup or Stewing Hens Chicken Vegetable Soup with Kale. Since I am now off grains as well, I eat soup for breakfast. As you can imagine, I eat a LOT of soup!
The cooked stewing hen meat would be great as filling for tacos or burritos, chicken enchiladas, in casseroles, or shred and add barbecue sauce to make barbecue pulled chicken. Really, any recipe where you would use cooked chicken, would be great.

How to cook a stewing hen (full tutorial)
Ingredients
Blanch Stewing Hen
- 1 each Stewing Hen or rooster
- 6-8 quarts water more or less as needed
Stewing Hen
- 6-8 quarts filtered or spring water
- 2-3 each Bay Leaves, dried
- 1 Tablespoon Thyme, dried crushed
- 1 Tablespoon Rosemary, dried crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt (Himilayan Sea Salt or Coarse Salt to preference
- 2-4 each carrots peeled and chopped in 1 - 1 1/2" chunks
- 2-4 each celery
- 1/4 cup Parsley, fresh optional (small handful or 1/4 of a bunch)
Instructions
Blanching Stewing Hen
- Rinse the stewing hen and remove any remaining visible "residue" like little bits of feathers, etc. In a large 6-8 quart stock pot, place the bird and fill with cold water.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to keep at a low boil for about 30 minutes.
- Once the pot has come to a bubble, you will start to notice foam developing on the surface of the water. Skim off this foam every few minutes.
- After 30 minutes, strain the chicken and discard the water. I even rinse the sides of the pot to get some of the scum off.
Cooking Stewing Hen
- Refill the pot with cold water to within about three inches from the top of the pot and turn back on to bring to a boil. Add in your vegetables, herbs, and seasonings.
- Once back at a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer. You do not want to boil the chicken, you want to keep it at a low but steady simmer (bubbles just breaking the surface but not a rolling boil).
- Cover the stockpot, but leave the lid cockeyed/cracked to allow some of the steam to escape. Simmer for 3-4 hours, until the meat is falling off the bone. Depending on the size of your bird, you may need to adjust the cooking time a little.
- Using tongs, remove the stewing hen from the pot, then let cool for a little while until you can comfortably handle it.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the vegies from the pot and discard. Strain the chicken broth through a fine mesh sieve, or colander lined with cheesecloth. If not using the broth right away, chill and then freeze.
- Use a fork and the best tools god gave us (your hands) to remove the meat. I like to take care of the wings and drumsticks first, then work on the body of the chicken. Try to remove and separate as much of the meat as possible. Save the bones and bits of cartilage for making bone broth and discard the skin, fat and icky bits.
- Ta da, you now have stewing hen chicken meat, soup broth, and a big crock pot worth of bones for bone broth. Enjoy!
Notes
Enjoy your cooked Stewing Hen!
There you have it folks! You now have beautiful nourishing chicken broth perfect for soups, stews, and sauces, super flavorful cooked chicken, and a slow cooker full of bones to make gut healing, nutrient dense bone broth. Check out the next recipe Stewing Hens Chicken Vegetable Soup with Kale to see how I’m using this batch of Stewing hens, or How to Make Bone Broth for the tutorial on how to use the bones to make bone broth (recipe coming soon).
I hope you like Stewing Hens as much as we do. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments. If you try this recipe, please snap a pic and share on Instagram #naturallyliz
~Naturally yours~
Liz
Congrats! So few people seem to know and/or appreciate the value of stewing hens! I found out about them in French cookbooks many years ago but was consistently unable to source them in my area. I now have a local market that stocks them intermittently but in small numbers so I buy for the freezer. SO much better than regular for stews and soups anything that needs good stock or shredded chicken.
PS: I eat soup for breakfast too.
Thanks Jocelyn! I just made another batch a few days ago. Glad to hear someone else eats soup for breakfast! Lol!
Have a wonderful day.
Can anyone tell me if they have ever cooked a 7lb frozen hen?? I roasted one but I think you should boil it for stock? Tasted gamey, legs and thigh were inedible, and breast was just okay. Can I now boil the roasted hen for stock? I really don’t want to waste it
Hi Deb,
Stewing hens and regular hens have to be cooked differently. Stewing hens prefer to be braised. If I’m understanding you correctly, you already roasted it and are now wondering if you can use the bones for stock. Absolutely! Just follow your favorite bone broth recipe.
If you are saying you have more stewing hens to cook, you can follow the steps in this tutorial.
I have cooked chicken from frozen, but only in the Instant pot. I have cooked 3 lb frozen stewing hens for 1 hour 10 minutes at high pressure with a 10 minute natural release. For a 7 lb stewing hen you would need to cook it for a longer time.
I hope this helps and answers your question. If not, please reach out again with more specifics.
Have a great day.
~Liz
Hello,
yesterday I got my brand new Instant Pot Duo 8qt.
I bought the pot mainly for making chicken stock/broth/soup from old stewing hens
Currently I make it in the regular stove top pressure cooker. I cut the old stewing hen into pieces because I aim for gelatinous broth, thats most important to me.
Then I cover the chicken with water, bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat and let it pressure cook for 75 minutes. The stock is always very rich and gelatinous, always
Yesterday I tried it in the instant pot, 75 minutes on high pressure with 10 minutes natural release.
The broth is like water, not gelatinous at all.
What did I wrong?
Thank you very much for your help
Sorry for the delay in responding.
When I cook my stewing hens in the instant pot, I usually cook from frozen/partially thawed for 2 hours on high pressure with 10 minute natural release.
How was the texture of the meat? It may be that you need to cook longer.
When I am making bone broth from just bones, I cook at high pressure for two hours with 10 minutes natural release.
I would say the difference is probably the difference between the two types of cookers.
Another trick that I have heard of but have not tried myself is to use chicken feet in your broth. Supposedly, that is supposed to greatly increase the gelatin in the broth.
Regardless, even if your broth isn’t gelatinous, it is still very healthy for you.
I hope this helps.
Liz
Hi this week I bought 2 hens and was very excited in preparing them with the assistants of your recipe. I blanched them for 30 min and skimmed the broth after thirty minutes I took them out dumped the water and placed them in a large pot with vegetables ( carrots celery garlic onion salt )and water proceeded to simmer for 5 hours the chicken just fell off the bones removed the chicken and vegetables but unfortunately after all that work the soup had absolutely no flavor so disappointing
Hi Margaret,
I’m sorry you were disappointed. I’d like to troubleshoot with you if possible.
This tutorial shows how to prepare the broth and stewing hens themselves. Once the hens and vegetables have simmered for several hours, all the flavor of the vegetables has now infused into the broth and the chicken meat itself. If you eat this as soup it will be quite bland as the vegies are “spent” at that point.
It sounds like you did all the steps for preparing the stewing hens and the broth.
Once you have strained the broth and removed the meat from the bones, then you start making your soup with fresh vegetables, herbs, and spices.
Is this what you did when you prepared your stewing hens?
What recipe did you use to make your actual soup?
I hope this helps. Please let me know. I hate for anyone to be disappointed in one of my recipes.
Liz
Hi! Thanks for the great directions! I’m trying it right now. Second time using a stewing hen. My question is why are you not supposed to boil the hen after the blanch if it already has been on a boil for half an hour? Just curious!
Thank you!
Emily
Hi Emily,
With a stewing hen, we are going with a slower cook time in fluid in order to make the bird tender.
If we outright boiled the hen the meat would be tougher. Great question!
Liz
I just made the chicken broth and then the Chicken and vegetable soup with kale.
They are delicious!!!!!!
I have never blanched a chicken before, but I will never do broth without blanching again.
Yay!!! I am so glad that you like it!
I have been searching for a recipe, let alone a way to cook a hen that’s been sitting in my freezer. My goal is to replicate my grandmom’s fricassee chicken and dumplings. She did pass on her recipes to us but she, (purposely?haha) always omitted an ingredient or step. Your tutorial and recipe is the closest I could find anywhere so thank you. In my quest, I couldn’t find any stewing or fricassee hens at my grocery stores. I went to a butcher shop, explained my quest, and was handed a 7.2 pound ‘baking’ hen (southern hen is on the label) and was told this was what I needed. After reading your article, now I’m not so sure. Your instructions are exactly how I remembered it being cooked, scum and all. Please, can you let me know if I can use your recipe for chicken fricassee dish or was I mislead by the butcher? Any suggestions would be so appreciated. I’m sorry for my long post and I hope you can help. Thank you.
Hi Clancy,
So, I really am not sure if you have a “stewing hen” or a regular broiler. From the weight alone it sounds like you have a regular broiler hen. However, when I google “baking hen” it gives the same description as a stewing hen (I believe Southern Hen might be the farm/company based on a quick google search, no promises, lol).
Bottom line, you can still use either one to make chicken fricassee. The main difference is going to be how long and the method you cook your chicken. A regular broiler chicken can be cooked in the same manner described I described but your cooking time (after blanching) would be MUCH shorter. For a regular broiler hen you would be looking at about 60-90 minutes.
What does your chicken look like? Is it big and plump? If so, you probably have a regular broiler hen so just adjust your cooking time accordingly.
I hope this helps! Let me know how your dish turns out 🙂
Liz
Thank you!!!!!! Finally! A clear description of how to use a stewing hen. Other recipes I have found– even by the big name chefs– were not helpful for helping me understand what to look for in determining whether the meat is done. This recipe does a great job of explaining the process, and is not dependent on the weight of the bird. This 2 step blanching and poaching approach is fantastic! The broth is better and the results are wonderful. This is marvelous and I greatly appreciate your help with this.
Your welcome!!! I am so glad this was helpful for you!
Enjoy
Liz