Best Ever Camp Stew Recipe

Hearty and delicious, this easy old-fashioned Alabama camp stew recipe (a.k.a Brunswick stew) is made with canned meat, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, and onion. It will fill you up and keep you and your family grinnin’ like a possum eating a sweet tater!

If you happen to live anywhere near Alabama and go to the grocery store to get the ingredients for this, chances are the cashier will ask if you’re making camp stew. Mama remembers having camp stew as a child around campfires, at family gatherings, and even in the school lunchroom. This recipe is as old as the hills and is often known as Brunswick stew outside of my stomping grounds.

So, why is it called camp stew? The name came from it being so easy to make while camping since it can be made entirely out of canned goods. Yep, to make my Alabama camp stew recipe you’ll need canned meat, canned tomatoes, canned corn, canned beans… and chopped onion. The instructions are as simple as adding everything to a stockpot, letting all the flavors simmer and mingle together for an hour, and serving. My kind of recipe!

The Best Brunswick Stew (+video)

This is my easy camp stew recipe, but there are so many ways to make it your own. Some people add potatoes, some leave out the onion and opt only for canned goods, and others add Worcestershire sauce or hot sauce. Add more corn, less corn, lima beans instead of butter beans, etc. This is easily modified so go with your favorites. I would try to keep the meat the same, though, because a lot of the flavor comes from that sauce.

This is one of the most delicious and flavorful stews to ever touch a spoon. My friend Jyl has a firm policy in her family that she always doubles the recipe because folks can’t help but come back for seconds, thirds, and often fourths. The recipe below will serve about 6 people.

Make it how you like but I suggest trying it this way first because you’ll likely be hooked from the get-go and the first bite will tell you exactly why this stew is so famous in sweet ol’ Alabama.

Crockpot Medieval Viking Stew

If you are cooking this over a fire, just stoke the fire, put the ingredients in the pot, stir it a lot, and try your best not to let the bottom scorch. Eat it when you grow tired of messing with it.

If you are making my Bags To Dishes meals, this is a great addition. Simply leave out the onion and the entire recipe is shelf stable.

The main difference is that Brunswick stew or camp stew is made with beef, chicken, and pork, not just beef like a beef stew.

Traditional Brunswick Stew With Pork And Chicken Recipe

If you’re not making campfire stew, serve your Brunswick stew with cornbread, jalapeño cornbread muffins, Dutch oven bread, buttermilk biscuits, or homemade dinner rolls.

You shouldn’t need to thicken this stew, but the best way to thicken any stew is with a cornstarch slurry. Mix together 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (or flour) with 2 tablespoons of cool water and add it to the stew. Wait a minute and repeat as necessary.

Hearty and delicious, this easy old-fashioned Alabama camp stew recipe (a.k.a Brunswick stew) is made with canned meat, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, and onion.shredded pork and chicken in a tomato bbq sauce with potato chunks, lima beans and corn. Super tasty and made easy with your Instant Pot.

Quick & Easy Camp Stew Recipe

Welcome to 2020! I’m so excited about a new project I’ll be including on 365 Days this year. Each week I will post a recipe inspired by a state. That way by the end of the year all 50 states will be covered and have a recipe to go with them.

Where are you from and do you have a specific dish that you think represents your state? Please chime in on my facebook post and let me know! Or you can leave me a comment on this blog post. I can’t wait to hear of all your awesome ideas!

Today’s state is Alabama and as I searched the internet for Alabama ideas there was plenty of good southern food but the one I settled on was camp stew. Camp stew is also called Brunswick Stew. And there are a lot of versions of it! I printed off three different recipes and combined them a bit to make it my own.

Best Ever One Pot Beef Stew

My version has pork and chicken (some versions have beef), potatoes, tomatoes, worcestershire, lima beans, onions, tabasco and corn (which is optional). From what I’ve read camp stew can be made easily over a campfire. Well, if you don’t have a campfire and you want to make it at home in your Instant Pot I’ve got you covered.

I was quite proud of my version of Alabama camp stew. It tasted amazing and my whole family loved it! We served ours with cornbread, which is a must! I love this recipe for cornbread in the oven. If you have camp stew leftovers it does freeze nicely for another meal in a few weeks.

To make Instant Pot Alabama Camp Stew I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.

Best Camp Stew Recipes

The 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking website has 3-4 new Instant Pot recipes a week! If you sign up for my emails (fill out the form below) you’ll receive an email each time something new is on the site. You can also join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group which is run by my husband Greg and myself. If you’re a visual learner consider subscribing to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.

Shredded pork and chicken in a tomato bbq sauce with potato chunks, lima beans and corn. Super tasty and made easy with your Instant Pot. 

If you have leftover pulled pork (or canned pulled pork) you can skip the first three steps. Add the pulled pork into the bottom of the pot with some broth and then layer the other ingredients as stated in step 4. 

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.