Chicken Bog

Chicken Bog is a hearty, comfort-food Southern classic from South Carolina’s Lowcountry, made with simple ingredients that pack big flavor. This one-pot dish features tender chicken, smoky sausage, and aromatic vegetables simmered in a rich, savory broth with lots of fluffy rice. It’s easy to make in under 45 minutes, making it a perfect choice for a satisfying weeknight meal.

There’s a lot to love about Chicken Bog

It’s nearly Mardi Gras at the time of publishing this post, and even though I’m not particularly religiously aligned with the season, my culinary cravings start drifting towards the hearty fare of the South, with Jambalaya Soup, Gumbo, and Shrimp Etouffee topping my menu of personal cravings.

So, it’s not a big leap to make to South Carolina Lowcountry and its famous dish, Chicken Bog, which is a cousin to NOLA’s cuisine, sharing a similar African and Spanish heritage. Named for its appearance more than its location — the chicken appears to be “bogged down” in the rice — it’s very close to a pilau or pilaf or perloo, with smoked sausage being the key flavoring ingredient. There are many variations across South Carolina, but when creating mine for the first time many years ago, I went straight to my soup-maker’s instinct: lots of aromatic veggies to create a flavorful base for the dish.

Which brings me to my easy version of chicken bog. Here in 2025, we’re having some issues with the chicken supply, due to an expanding outbreak of avian flu. In the weeks that I wanted to test and photograph this recipe for the blog, I had a heckins time finding the kind of chicken I wanted: Quality bone-in, skin-on leg quarters and breasts to make the cooking broth. In fact, one week, my only real option within a five-mile radius of my house — I live in Kroger’s hometown, so that means a five-mile radius includes not one, but four, Kroger stores lol — was rotisserie chicken.

And so this easy version came about. I’ll also include instructions for making the homemade broth that is a classic part of the traditional dish. But honestly, Chicken Bog is so flavorful that I didn’t regret the shortcuts at all and really appreciated the quick cooking time.

I know it can be controversial to say, but there are fairly decent options for commercial bone broth these days. And don’t forget that a little Better Than Bouillon goes a long way to creating a well-seasoned broth. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m 100% pro-soup. And if that means using a store-bought broth to get it started, just do it.

I hope the shortcuts of rotisserie chicken and store-bought broth encourage more people to try this big, beautiful dish!

Chicken Bog is —

• Big Flavor, Simple Ingredients: Smoked sausage and aromatic vegetables create a rich, savory broth.
• One-Pot Convenience: Everything simmers together for easy cooking and minimal cleanup.
• Quick & Easy: Ready in under 40 minutes, perfect for busy weeknights.
• Crowd-Pleasing: Hearty, filling, and sure to satisfy the whole family, and is the perfect casual meal for entertaining.
• Budget-Friendly: Uses affordable ingredients that deliver lots of flavor.
• Authentic Lowcountry Flavor: Experience a taste of South Carolina’s culinary heritage.

Main Ingredients and Substitutions

Smoked Sausage — The recipe starts with smoked sausage sauteed in butter, to bring out the best of its savory flavors. I used a simple, plain smoked sausage, but you can put your own twist on it with andouille sausage or cajun sausage. Smoked sausage used to come in one-pound ropes, but shrinkflation has been reducing the package size to anywhere from 12 to 14 ounces. My recipe below reflects that; don’t stress about the exact quantity. Twelve to 16 ounces will work just fine.

Chicken — As I mentioned above, this easy Chicken Bog version uses a store-bought rotisserie chicken (out of necessity as well as convenience). Traditional Chicken Bog — including my own go-to version — usually starts with raw, bone-in chicken breasts and leg quarters (or a whole chicken) to make a batch of homemade broth, before starting the actual bog part of the recipe. See section below if that’s the route you choose to take.

Aromatic veggies — For extra flavor, I saute a mirepoix of onions, celery, and carrots. Onions-only is probably more universally traditional, but I can’t ignore my soup-maker’s instincts by starting with an aromatic blend. Lol.

Bone broth — In place of homemade broth, I use a quality chicken bone broth. It’s pricier, for sure. As a lower-cost substitute, use regular chicken broth with a teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon (chicken or roasted chicken flavor).

Long-grain rice — Long-grain white rice cooks up fluffy and perfect, and absorbs the tasty broth like a champ. I would say, though, that you can use just about any rice you prefer, but you might need to adjust the liquid-to-rice ratio and the cooking times (use the package’s directions as your guide). Long-grain white rice is 2:1 on broth for 20 minutes.

Seasonings — To keep things simple and affordable, I stick to a basic blend of seasoned salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lots of pepper. Oh, and hot pepper to serve! I’m not even particularly a fan of hot pepper sauce, but a few shakes over the bowl sets everything off just right.

Homemade broth

Making your own homemade broth takes about an hour. You’ll need additional veggies: an onion sliced into quarters; a rib of celery roughly chopped; a carrot roughly chopped; and, a few cloves of garlic. A leek is a nice touch (clean it well, and use the dark green leaves, too). Don’t forget a bay leaf or two, plus a few black peppercorns. If you have some sprigs of fresh thyme and/or rosemary, all the better (but no need to buy those expensive clamshells of herbs).

You’ll need a whole chicken, or skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts and leg quarters (which include the thighs and drumsticks). Aim for 3 to 5 pounds, to account for the bones that will later be removed.

If using a whole chicken, remove any loose parts (e.g., giblets that are packed separately inside the bird). If you have a few extra minutes, you can brown some of the skin sides of the chicken or chicken parts right in the pot with some butter, for extra flavor (optional).

Place the chicken, veggies, and herbs in a large soup pot and cover with water (at least 8 cups). Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to maintain an active simmer. Cover the pot with a lid, leaving it cracked open. This will cook for 45 minutes to an hour. Check the pot every once in a while. You can skim off any foam that rises to the surface.

At the end of cooking time, carefully remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Strain the broth and discard the solids. Measure out the liquid you’ll need for the Chicken Bog, and refrigerate or freeze the rest.

When the chicken is cool, remove and discard the skin, and pick the meat from the bones. Then shred into smaller pieces.

In the photo above, I took a medium shortcut: After removing the meat from the rotisserie chicken, I simmered the bones in the store-bought bone broth and some water while I was prepping the other ingredients, for some extra flavor.

How to Make Chicken Bog

Ready to make the recipe? Skip to the recipe card now to get the full ingredient list, quantities, prep/cooking times, and printable, detailed instructions. Or, keep scrolling for a visual walk-through of making the stew.

Prep notes

Here are some helpful guidelines for prepping the recipe ingredients. Anything that simply needs to be measured out of a container – such as dried herbs and liquids – are not addressed here. Note that you can absolutely measure everything out into separate bowls or containers ahead of time. It’s a classic organizational technique called mise en place — literally, “everything in its place” — that helps the cooking workflow run smoothly.

• Slice the rope of smoked sausage into thick coins.
• Peel and dice the onion.
• Rinse and dice the celery. It goes quicker if you first slice the celery rib lengthwise once or twice. Then hold the long slices together and cut them cross-wise into dice.
• Scrub and peel the carrots. As with the celery, dicing carrots goes quicker if you first cut the carrot in half lengthwise (and again in half if it’s a thick carrot) and then chop from there.
• Remove three garlic cloves from the bulb. Peel and mince each clove
• Break down the rotisserie chicken. Concentrate on the meat-heavy portions – the leg quarters and breasts (wings don’t have much meat on them). Peel off the skin from each section, and then pull off the meat, inspecting carefully for small bones. Shred the meat (I mix white and dark meat together).
• Remove parsley leaves from their thicker central stems, rinse under running water, and pat dry. Then chop finely.

Step 1: Brown the sausage

Saute the sausage slices in butter until they take on golden surfaces and edges. The sausage is already fully cooked, so you’re simply caramelizing the edges while drawing out flavor into the pot. Transfer to a bowl.

Step 2: Soften the aromatics

Cook the aromatics in the remaining butter until softened. Be sure to scrape up the lovely fond left behind by the sausage. Big flavor! At the end of cooking, stir in the garlic until fragrant.

Step 3: Combine everything

Pour in the broth and rice, along with the shredded chicken and browned sausage. Season with plenty of seasoned salt and black pepper. Cover and cook for twenty minutes.

Step 4: Finish and serve!

Resist the temptation to check the rice during cooking. You want to trap all of that heat and steam inside to create beautifully finished rice.

At the end of cooking time, carefully lift the lid and give it all a stir. Season with more salt and pepper as desired, sprinkle with parsley for color, and serve with hot sauce on the side.

Chicken Bog is a family favorite here at Casa SoupAddict, and I hope that if this is a new-to-you recipe, you’ll give it a try soon. It’s a three-season meal, I think, as it easily transitions among fall, winter, and spring. Any day where a hearty, sticks-to-the-ribs entree is called for.