Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Gentse Waterzooi
A creamy Flemish chicken stew from Ghent, thick with julienned root vegetables and potatoes, finished with an egg-yolk and cream liaison.
Belgian (Flemish) · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 60 min
~790 cal · 58g protein · 46g carbs · 39g fat · 6g fiber · 6g sugars · 20g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Waterzooi is a classic Flemish stew whose name comes from the Dutch "zooien", to boil or . It is closely tied to the city of Ghent, so much so that the chicken version is usually called Gentse waterzooi. Historically it was a fish dish, made with whatever freshwater fish the rivers around Ghent gave up, but as those waters became polluted and fish grew scarce, chicken took over and is now the more common form.
It sits somewhere between a soup and a stew: chicken gently poached in broth, then combined with vegetables cut into fine julienne, leek, carrot, celery, often fennel, and chunks of potato, all softened in butter. A gives it body.
What makes it luxurious is the finish. A liaison of egg yolks whisked into cream is tempered with hot broth and stirred in off the boil, turning the broth velvety and slightly tart, and it must not boil again or the yolks will curdle. It is served in deep bowls with plenty of chopped parsley and crusty bread to soak up the broth.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
800 g chicken thighs (or a jointed chicken)
40 g butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1.5 litres chicken
1 thick leek, cut into fine julienne
3 carrots, cut into fine julienne
4 sticks celery, cut into fine julienne
800 g waxy potatoes, cut into chunks
200 ml cream
1 egg yolk (for the liaison)
1/2 bunch parsley, a few sprigs thyme chopped parsley and thyme
to taste salt and white pepper
Instructions
1
Simmer the chicken (or mushrooms and beans) gently in the stock for 20-30 minutes until cooked. Lift out, and if using chicken, remove the skin and set the meat aside. Strain and reserve the broth.
2
Melt the butter in a large pot, stir in the flour and cook briefly, then whisk in the reserved broth a little at a time until smooth.
3
Add the julienned leek, carrot and celery and the potatoes, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Return the chicken.
4
Whisk the egg yolk into the cream. Temper it with a ladle of hot broth, then stir it back into the pot off the boil.
✎ Chef’s note
Add the egg-yolk-and-cream liaison off the heat and do not boil again, or the yolk will curdle.
5
Season with salt and white pepper, scatter with parsley and thyme, and serve in deep bowls with crusty bread.
Traditional stew of Ghent, Flanders.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Flanders. Flanders cooks with beer the way other regions cook with wine, most famously in carbonnade, beef braised slowly in dark ale until sweet and deep. Endive, waterzooi stews, mussels, twice-fried potatoes, and some of the world's most serious chocolate round out the table.
🗺️
Belgium. Beer culture in Belgium was inscribed by UNESCO in 2016, and the inscription counts almost 1,500 beers made by several different fermentation methods, notes the Trappist breweries that pass profits to charity, and records that beer goes into the cooking as well as the glass, including cheeses washed in it. Liege and Brussels waffles are two different products, not two names for one.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Belgium
Carbonnade FlamandeBeef braised in dark Belgian beer with onions and a mustard-slathered slice of bread, sweet-sour, deep, and made for frites.
Belgian WafflesDeep-pocketed waffles, crisp outside and fluffy within, dusted with sugar or topped with fruit.
Moules-FritesA steaming pot of mussels cooked in white wine and shallots, served with a heap of crisp Belgian fries.
Browse all Belgium recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Whisk.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Belgium meal
SpeculoosDessert
Moules-FritesLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Gentse Waterzooi?
A creamy Flemish chicken stew from Ghent, thick with julienned root vegetables and potatoes, finished with an egg-yolk and cream liaison.
Where does Gentse Waterzooi come from?
Gentse Waterzooi is a Belgian (Flemish) dish from Flanders, Belgium.
Can Gentse Waterzooi be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Gentse Waterzooi recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Gentse Waterzooi safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Gentse Waterzooi take to make?
About 90 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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