Famous Alabama Camp Stew
This recipe is as old as the hills and is often known as Brunswick stew outside of my stomping grounds. Hearty and delicious this stew will fill you up and keep you and your family grinnin’ like a possum eating a sweet tater.
Famous Alabama Camp Stew
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 “You making camp stew?”.
Mama remembers having Camp Stew as a child, around campfires, at family gatherings, and even in the school lunchroom. The name came from it being so easy to make while camping since it can be made entirely out of canned goods.
Many Variations of This Stew…
Some people add potatoes, some leave out the onion and opt only for canned goods, and others add Worcestershire 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 the sauce in that.
However, I have seen other brands of this meat and they work just fine as well – we tend to stick with Castlebury’s but don’t let another brand be a deal breaker. Either way you go, this is one of the most delicious flavorful stews to ever touch a spoon and 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.
Ingredients You’ll need for this Alabama Camp or Brunswick Stew Recipe Are:
- Canned Pork in BBQ sauce and Canned Beef in BBQ sauce Or 2 cans of one or the other
- Canned Chicken in water or Rotisserie works too.
- Diced tomatoes
- Butter beans or lima beans
- Canned corn
- Onion
How To Make Alabama Camp Stew also known as Brunswick Stew
Note: Peel and dice your onion. Open all your cans and don’t drain them. Toss it all in there, liquid and all. No salt or pepper is needed unless you just really want to add it but I’d suggest tasting it first.
Put all of this in a pot over medium heat and stir often until it comes to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring from time to time, for about an hour.
*If you are cooking this over a fire, just stoke the fire, put ingredients in the pot, stir it a lot, and try your best not to let the bottom scorch. Eat it when you get tired of messing with it. 🙂
Enjoy your delicious camp stew!
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.
Ingredients
- 3-14 ounce cans diced tomatoes
- 14 ounce can whole kernel corn
- 14 ounce can butter beans baby limas, or limas
- 1 onion chopped
- 2-10 ounce cans beef bbq in sauce I use Castlebury's
- 10 or 12 ounce can chicken
Instructions
- Dump all contents into a medium sized stockpot, including liquid in all of the cans.
- Place over medium heat, stirring often, and bring just to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer, stirring from time to time, for 30 minutes to an hour.
Nutrition
You may also enjoy these stew recipes:
Lentil Stew Budget Friendly & Delicious
Ground Beef Stew (with a secret!)
Chicken Stew Recipe 30 Minutes To Your Table
Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember, amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.
I’m not sure why, but I have a mental block mixing 3 types of meats together. This looks delicious, though. I’ll try it using one or the other.
This is one of those recipes that it is kind hard to wrap your head around and imagine what it is going to taste like with so many flavors going on, but they do blend beautifully into an end product that will make taste buds VERY happy 😉
I have gone back several times and looked at the recipe and for the life of me I know I missing something, but I don’t see where the recipe calls for 3 meats. I just see beef and chicken. But can see where some folks are substituting pork for the beef, but still calls for 2 meats not 2.
Sorry calls for 2 meats, not 3.
The orginal recipe called for beef, pork, and chicken. I made a note in the photo under the recipe ingredients that we now use double beef because we don’t eat pork anymore. 🙂 when I get to a computer I’ll also put a little note in the recipe card. Thank you for the great feedback! Hope you have a great weekend!
I make this all the time. Don’t worry about substitutes!! Add what you family likes and it will be fine. I add a lot of mustard to mine because I grew up in Columbus Georgia and their barbecue was mustard based. Make it like you like it!! I don’t do canned meats so I buy a Boston Butt and always make this when we get to the end of it. I also throw in some left over chopped chicken I keep in the freezer for such meals like this. Christy is right. Be brave and experiment!! Love all your post Christy. My family is from South Alabama so many of your recipes are mine also. Love the South!!! My bonus daughter says she loves the South because we proudly do as we darn well want to!!
I love everything about this comment!
I love this recipe. I always make it in my slow cooker.
Great idea msSally!!!!
Looks delicious! It was a family tradition for us to have Brunswick stew every Christmas Eve but took my sweet Mama a couple of days to make it. Looking forward to trying this easier version.
Hope I can find the Castlebury barbecue. Last time I looked, couldn’t find it.
Thank you for the great recipes, Christy. Watched you on QVC, and you were wonderful! You
made us Alabamians proud!
What a wonderful tradition!!! I hope you will be able to find it as well, if you can’t find that brand another would work just fine!
Hi Christy, I love your site, your blogs, your emails. I especially love your daily religious inspirations and thoughts.
I was wondering though can you use regular canned meat instead of bar b q and maybe just add a little bar b q sauce and some ketchup instead? I’m really not a big fan of heavy bar b q sauce.
Have a great blessed day, love ya, Ken from Michigan.
Hey Ken! Thank you so much for your kindness, and for being here! I think your idea sounds wonderful and would work like a charm 🙂
Thanks Christy. I’m gonna try it tonight.
Could this be made as low carb?
It could but you’ll need to check the carbs in the meat. The sauces may put them up kindly high 🙂
All those beans & corn are strictly carbs — going to have to substitute a LOT of ingredients.
It really depends on how low carb she wants to go. To some people low carb is under 100 carbs per day. To some people it is under 20, still others consider it to be low carb if it is under 200. So can this be made low carb? Absolutely. By some definitions it already is. By other definitions it will never be. 🙂
P.S. Marilyn, I came home from the grocery store to the TREAT of your comments on various posts. I have not enjoyed reading through my comments this much in a long time. Thank you for the gift of your company this evening. You are a delight!
The beans, corn and sugars in the canned BBQ meats will cause this soup to be very high in carbs. However, the carbs from the beans are complex and are good carbs. The corn is more of a simple carb, but you wouldn’t be eating that much. The sugar carbs are the worst. This could be tweaked by using fresh meat and a homemade low carb BBQ sauce. There are lots of online recipes for this. Hope this helps. Remember, eating healthy takes a little more time to prepare, but the benefits are worth it.
I wish I could use words like “healthy” as a food blogger but nowadays someone will object even if you use that to describe a salad. This is a great stew and I wouldn’t deem it, as a whole, to be unhealthy. However, that depends on your diet, state of health, and several other factors. Fruit is considered unhealthy to some, as are carrots, potatoes, meat, and to some even fresh veggies. So it is important to use your own judgement. If you are looking for a homemade version of this, our family’s chicken stew recipe is often referred to as Brunswick stew by others as well. 🙂 https://southernplatecom.bigscoots-staging.com/2008/10/our-familys-chicken-stew-recipe.html
I am an insulin dependent diabetic. I would not hesitate to make/eat this stew! Simply county the carbs from the back of each can, divide it by the number of servings, and you have your carb count. My “healthier than thou” son in law (I love him to death, bless his heart!) was watching me make a pineapple upside down cake, and he bout had a coronary when I melted a stick of butter and added a cup of brown sugar to the bottom of the pan. Went on and on about how unhealthy all the fat and sugar I was using was. Finally got tired of listening to him harp about it and told him, “son, unless you are planning on being a pure d ole hog and eating the entire cake by yourself, a serving has ABOUT a half teaspoon butter and maybe a teaspoon of brown sugar. Now go away and let me finish supper, and come back and tell me how good it was after dessert!” People tend to look more at the total amount of carbs, fat, sugar, etc, in a recipe, instead of looking at what’s in an actual serving! Love everything you do, girl!
I love you Susan!!! Amen, Amen, Amen!!
This looks wonderful, but I have a probably “crazy” question. Did you mean 10 cans of 12 oz canned chicken, or 10 or 12 oz canned chicken. The first item says 3 – 14 oz cans diced tomatoes. This last item looks like 10 cans. I am sure this sounds really strange, but thanks for your help.
Oh thank you! Let me go change that to 10 or 12 ounce can. I appreciate you letting me know!