Chicken Bog. Chicken Pilau. Chicken Perlo. Chicken Pilaf. While there are many variations (and names) of this dish, Chicken Bog is what it’s always been called at our house. This rustic, homey dish of chicken, rice, and sausage has always been a comfort food. Growing up, it was also pretty economical being that the ingredients are few but it makes a lot.
Many argue that there are actual variations between the Bog, Pilau, and Pilaf versions of the dish and most of them seem to hinge on the amount of liquid in the them. I can’t argument for or against that idea, only that Chicken Bog is what it’s always been at our house and this is the method my mom has used to make it for years.
Now, let’s get to the name. Chicken Bog. Doesn’t exactly sound appetizing, right? I’ll never forget the first time I told my wife, then girlfriend, we were having Chicken Bog for supper. A puzzled look came across her face. “You’re having what?” she asked. “That sounds terrible!” she said.
There are a couple theories behind the moniker. Some say because it’s thick and sticky, it’s called bog. Others claim that the chicken gets bogged down in the rice. Still others say that the name comes from the swampy, bog-like low country area in South Carolina where the dish originated. My mom lived in Florence, South Carolina for a while and picked up the dish from a native South Carolinian. Regardless of what you call it, I just call it delicious.
- 1 (4 to 5 lb) whole chicken
- 2 ribs celery
- 1 yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 (14-ounce) package smoked sausage
- 4 cups long grain rice
- salt
- pepper
- If included, remove and discard the chicken innards. Add the chicken and the neck (if included) to a large stock pot.
- Wash and coarsely chop the celery. Peel and quarter the onion. Peel and smash the garlic with the side of a knife. Add the celery, onion, and garlic to the pot. Add enough water to just cover the chicken. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper then stir. Simmer the chicken for 40 to 60 minutes or until cooked through, being cautious not to boil. Boiling the chicken will result it dry, tough meat.
- Once cooked, remove the chicken to a plate to cool. Then remove and shred the meat, discard the skin, bones, and neck. Set the meat aside.
- Strain the broth from the pot through a fine mesh strainer and set aside.
- In a large Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid, add the butter and melt. Slice the sausage in 1/3-inch slices and add it to the butter. Cook over medium-low heat to just brown the sausage. Add 8 cups of the reserved broth to the pot and bring to a rolling boil. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Add the rice and stir well. Add the shredded chicken. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, or until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Add additional broth if necessary. Serve immediately.
Chicken Bog
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Feeding people makes me happy. It’s just about as plain and simple as that. There are few things in this world that I delight more in than my family and friends gathered around my table enjoying a meal. Pull up a chair and join us! 
How much rice? The ingredients list left off the rice and amount needed for the recipe. Sounds good and would love to try it.
Nevermind…I’m blind! LOL! I see the 4 cups of rice now.
No worries! 🙂
How much rice is called for in this recipe? Thanks!
YASSSS!!! One of my all-time favs!! This looks perfect, Stacey!
Thank you!!!
How about adding some broccoli to it ?
Feel free to do that!! Enjoy!
this is much closer to the myrtle beach recipe. that last recipe had tomatoes in it . I grew up in myrtle beach and never had bog with tomatoes. some people later on started adding black eyed peas to it.
Interesting! Hope you’ll enjoy it!!
Yummo! I think this looks incredible!
Thanks so much, Lesli!!
Stacey, I’m impressed! This is the closest recipe to the chicken bog I grew up with in Horry County! We didn’t do the celery and garlic, and we cooked the chicken and sausage together, with some extra chicken livers added in. Other than that we’re pretty much on the same page. I like it either way, boggy or pilau. I was born in Loris (home of the world famous Loris Bog-off), lived and went to school in Conway, and worked (and played) in Myrtle Beach. I always chuckled at the Northern transplants who cooked the chicken and rice separately and then mixed it together and called it chicken bog! Our sides were sliced light bread and sweet pickles lol… Btw, I happened upon your article as I waited for my pot of bog to cook! How’s that for a coincidence!!
I would say that’s a pretty awesome coincidence, David! Glad to hear my recipes passes muster from a native! Thanks!!
Please come make me dinner ♡
The first time I had chicken bog was at my step fathers house who was an attorney in NMB for 40 years. And, I agree that this is very similar to his recipe but he didn’t onclude celery or garlic…lots and lots of black pepper though! And, always served w white bread (Sunbeam) and coleslaw. My mother has passed
Away so we don’t get down to NMB much any more so my kids (27&25) will be so excited when I make this for them!
Hi, Interesting recipe, but please state whether the rice is measured raw or cooked. 4 cups raw seems like a huge amount once cooked. Thanks!
The rice is raw. Yes, it makes a lot! 🙂
I guess it’s measured raw, Must feed an army!
I make bog all the time with home grown rabbit. It is very good.
I have even started adding shrimp to mine, it is so good!!
Yum!
Thanks ma’am
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I’ll be trying this recipe. I sorta grew up in Georgetown, so our perlo was a lot more salty and was cooked with homemade chicken stock, lots of pepper and lots of butter along with the rice, chicken and sausage. Looks really good though. I introduced my native Texan husband to perlo. He said it looked like vomit but tasted like heaven 😂 he grew up on gumbo too so I’m sure he thought I cooked it too “dry” as perlo is not a soup. Thanks for the recipe. I’ll try it tonight.
Ha! Sure hope y’all enjoyed it!
My mother’s sister and her sister’s husband cooked Chicken Bog for a get together on “the river” back when I was about 10 yrs old. I saw Uncle Edward deboning the chicken in a huge pot big enough to feed an army. Was so good I later got the recipe from a very distant relative from Marion, SC. Mother was from Mullins, SC and dad from…Florence, SC.
It’s one of my favorites!
Tonight I made a half recipe. My mistake, sort of, was to forget to buy sausage and had to use a link of British Banger breakfast sausage made kind of locally. It was not what I expected when I bought a pound or two about six months ago. I had wanted to buy small thin ones instead of fat long ones. And the taste was altogether not what I hoped to buy. Next time I’ll rectify that glitch. I think, then, the flavor will change a bit. As I remember from Uncle Edward Taylor’s bog (I’m 76 now) his had a lot of black pepper. Also, locally the Kroger had much too large heavy selections of whole chickens, so I bought 5 pounds of cut up whole chicken. It was missing one drumstick and the neck. Odd chicken there. I froze the other half for a second attempt. Thanks for the memory and recipe.
i just read all the reviews & giggled – i too grew up in scranton sc ,, but my family just called this chicken & rice,, but i married a man from penna & introduced him to southern cooking, && he loves going to church fellowships where they have chicken & rice, pork bar-b-cue,, such a small world
That it is! 🙂