What Is Chicken Bog?

Chicken Bog is a coastal South Carolina recipe for chicken and rice. A whole chicken is boiled with seasonings and then rice is added to the pot. It almost always contains sausage as well. Such a flavorful, inexpensive meal that can really be stretched to feed a lot of people.

It is similar topilau (another South Carolina rice dish) and it is called a “bog” because the ingredients are “bogged down” in broth and the rice has a moist, creamy consistency. This one pot chicken and rice meal differs from jambalaya because it isn’t as heavily spiced and doesn’t contain tomatoes.

Southern Rice Dish

Chicken Bog is popular in South Carolina, especially the low country. Rice dishes in general are very prevalent in South Carolina. South Carolina was the largest producer of rice in the nation from the 1700s until the Civil War and it remains an important staple in southern kitchens.

Chicken and rice dishes like Chicken Creole and Chicken and Rice Casserole are very prevalent in southern cooking.

Dayna Said:

I cook for a group of friends every friday, this has become their FAVORITE meal and is frequently requested! Easy, delicious, pure comfort food!

Creamy Texture

This Creamy Chicken Bog recipe has a can of cream of chicken soup added for extra flavor and creaminess and it has double the sausage. Both smoked sausage and a pound of breakfast sausage.

Chicken Bog varies quite a bit from one cook to the next, both in the method of cooking and the ingredients. I like to serve mine with lots of hot sauce to make it spicy. TABASCO Garlic Pepper Sauceis my favorite. It’s not as spicy as regular TABASCO and has wonderful flavor.

How To Make Creamy Chicken Bog

(More detailed instructions and video in recipe card below.)

To make Creamy Chicken Bog, a whole chicken is simmered in water seasoned with salt, pepper, and celery until cooked through. Make sure the water stays at a simmer and doesn’t boil or your chicken will get tough and rubbery. The cooked chicken is shredded and the cooking liquid is saved to cook the rice.
You’ll cook the breakfast sausage in a large Dutch oven, add in the onion and the smoked sausage.
Once the onion is soft, add 2 cups uncooked long-grain rice, 4 cups of the cooking liquid, seasonings, a chicken bouillon cube, and a bay leaf.
Add the shredded chicken, cover and place in a 350 degree oven for just under an hour. The rice will be cooked at this point and all the liquid absorbed. Leftovers reheat well.