Brunswick Stew
Brunswick Stew is a classic southern dish full of delicious smoked pork, veggies, and a savory barbecue broth. It’s the perfect way to warm up on a chilly fall day, or just when you’re craving a taste of the south!
Have you ever had Brunswick Stew before? If not, I promise, you are in for a treat! It’s a perfect one pot meal that uses smoked pork (or chicken), and combines it with a savory barbecue sauce broth and plenty of veggies. It’s the perfect way to warm up as the leaves start changing and the colder days and nights start to sweep in.
I know I’ve mentioned to y’all before about how I get pretty homesick out here in Hawaii. Of course we have beautiful surroundings and perfect weather, but when you haven’t seen your family in a year and a half…well, sometimes sunshine and palm trees just aren’t enough.
I really start to miss home this time of year, when the weather is changing (at least on the mainland, it is!) and all of the fun holidays are coming up. Sometimes you need just a little taste of home, and this Brunswick Stew is all that and a bag of chips, y’all. With every bite, it just fills me with warmth and makes me feel like I’m back home in sweet Georgia. 🙂
My husband made our smoked pork on his Big Green Egg, which I swear he loves more than me. 😉 He smoked a ten pound pork butt for our daughter’s first birthday party, and we had plenty left over. I love when that happens because then I get to make this Brunswick Stew! I made cornbread muffins to go along with our stew, and a big pitcher of sweet tea. The perfect southern meal to kick those homesick blues.
Give it a try if you’ve never had it before! I bet you’ll love it. 🙂
Recipe: Brunswick Stew
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoon butter
- 3 cloves garlic,, minced
- 1 large yellow onion,, finely chopped
- 1 (15 oz) can fire roasted tomatoes (undrained)
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce, (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
- 2 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds smoked pulled pork, (or chicken)
- 8 oz. frozen corn
- 8 oz. frozen lima beans
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the garlic and onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire, brown sugar, cayenne, smoked pork, lima beans, corn and salt and pepper.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
The best Brunswick Stew comes from Brunswick, Georgia.
My husband and I used to go to Smokey Bones restaurant and they had the best Brunswick Stew. We moved and I don’t have the restaurant near me anymore – so I went in search of the recipe and came across this one.
Fantastic!! I made it exactly as written and it was delicious. So easy to make, too.
It reminds me of the Smokey Bones recipe – and I can enjoy this whenever I want and however much I want.
😋 Won’t disappoint
I never remember to leave reviews on recipes, but I’ve been making this for years and finally did!
It’s amazing. My husband and I love it. I usually do half pork and half chicken. I’ve also used leftover smoked turkey. Highly recommend!
I too am from Ga where true Brunswick stew originated. This recipe is spot on how original Brunswick Stew is made period. I’ve had a lot of variations and liked a lot and not so much on a few. I followed this recipe just as the chef wrote it. I do this with all the recipes I make because in order for me to give it a fair evaluation, it must be prepared as the author intended. I wouldn’t change a thing, I would just suggest that you don’t skimp on ingredients, use fire roasted tomatoes, use top quality smoked pulled pork and chicken, which I used half of each use chicken stock not chicken broth and use a homemade barbecue sauce which I used my own, if you use a store-bought use a high-quality ketchup based. Also allow it to simmer for the full hour and a half so all the flavors can marry with each other you won’t be disappointed for the wait. Enjoy.
What a delicious recipe. It surpasses any Brunswick Stew I’ve ever tasted. It will be added in our family cookbook for future generations to enjoy. Thank you for sharing!
Ms. Ma’am! This is the best recipe I’ve tried. So much so that it’s going into the box. Thank you for sharing. This S. Georgia girl is happy happy!
This is an outstanding recipe!! Very easy to make and to eat. We used a rotisserie chicken and a can of corned beef for out protein and a smoke bbq sauce.
So delicious! I love everything about this recipe.
This turned out really good. Thank you!
I didn’t have any Sweet Baby Rays, so I used some key lime bbq sauce I got from a specialty store. I added some diced potatoes and used a can of tomatoes, okra, and corn, and cut corn from a cob. I used some grocery store pork barbecue. The aroma was delightful, but overall it was too sweet. I added a little vinegar and added even more to the leftovers. I hope that overnight it will achieve the tanginess it needs.
You’re didn’t even follow the recipe and you’re gonna give it 3 starts? How is that fair?
To be fair, the 3 stars is for your own recipe that you made up, because it’s nothing like the original one listed above. Key Lime BBQ sauce? No wonder it was horrible. Then you tried to fix it by adding vinegar. You need to throw that out, start over, and then correct your rating.
You literally used different ingredients and made a different recipe. Key Lime BBQ Sauce? Grocery store bbq pork? Of course, it doesn’t taste right.
Best brunswick stew recipe there is. Also, how much is a serving?
I lived on the Big Island for years. I’m from Georgia too. I remember how lonely I would get for home. After 12 years , I grabbed what I could , came home and started over. Sad thing is the kids moved back when they were older. It’s not easy having your feet in two states.
This is so delicious and very easy if you have leftover pulled pork! My husband can’t eat a lot of tomatoes so the bbq base helps as it’s not so acidic. My Mom who is from the south told me it reminded her of her childhood. Everyone loved it.
Hi there!
Long time lurker and fan of a lot of your dishes!
I just wanted to say that I have been using this recipe since we heard of of Brunswick stew when stationed in Valdosta, Georgia. This is the best recipe I’ve tasted, including a lot of the locals who we were friends with didn’t have this good of a recipe!!
When I make it, I do one or two substitutions and additions to the stew to suit our kids tastes. One of our kiddos is autistic and doesn’t do Lima beans due to texture, so I substitute carrots for it and I also like to add frozen green beans! I just add stock/water as needed to get thickness/thinness of the broth to the desired soupiness!
**you can also use your leftover corn from the BBQ, if you have any, by cutting it off of the cob**
Thank you so much for sharing this. This is the recipe I used when I want to remind my daughter what her hometown was like (we’ve PCSd to Texas since then) and she loves this so much!
Ashlyn, this is the best Brunswick Stew recipe. Thank you so much for sharing! It is as good or better than any Brunswick Stew I’ve ever had. My husband and I retired to northeast Florida a few years ago and although it’s easy to find fantastic BBQ around here, it’s not so easy to find (what I call good) Brunswick Stew. I decided to make it myself, and I am so glad I found your recipe! It is the perfect Brunswick Stew, tangy, a little sweet, and rich. I really think the fire roasted tomatoes make all the difference. I made your recipe exactly as published the first time (except that since my husband is from Clarksdale, Mississippi, he had to add some Abe’s BBQ sauce), and it was just what we were looking for. I don’t know where you got the recipe, but your Brunswick Stew is authentic and absolutely delicious.
I’ve now tweaked it for our personal taste, but the bones of your recipe are spot on. Sweet Baby James is the perfect sweet and tart BBQ sauce to use. The biggest difference is that I use two cans of fire roasted tomatoes and only 6-8 oz. of pulled pork. I also use Olive Oil for health reasons.