Chicken Cacciatore – A Slow Cooker Favorite
We have multiple Chicken Cacciatore recipes. I finally had to book mark and write in the pages of the book to remember THIS was the one we really liked! With easy prep early in the day, allowing for the chicken to cook all day in the sauce, making the house smell absolutely FANTASTIC, this is easily one of our favorite meals.
Cacciatore translates to hunter in Italian (or soccer player if you ask google translate). Alla cacciatora prepared dishes cook in a sauce made of onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and herbs. Some recipes add red or white wine. While we nixed the wine this time, because we didn’t have any, I think it would be a delightful addition next time. Alla cacciatora style dishes became popular during the Renaissance.
Sauce Ingredients:
- Roma Tomatoes
- White Onion
- Salt, Brown Sugar, Italian Seasoning, Ground Turmeric, Dried Basil, Black Pepper, Dried Thyme
- Lemon Juice
- Carrot
- Tomato Paste
- Garlic Cloves
Chicken Cacciatore Ingredients
- Tomato Sauce as made above.
- Chicken
- Mushrooms
- Green Bell Pepper
- Black Olives
- Red Cooking Wine
Putting It All Together
You CAN use store bought sauce, we’ve done it plenty of times. BUT, if you have the time and equipment, take a stab at making your own sauce. You can use it for so many recipes!
The sauce can also be made a day or two ahead of time, even the night before. This will save you time.
You’ll want to add the ingredients to your blender as listed for more efficient blending. If using in another dish, you’ll have to also cook it some additional time, but in this recipe it’ll cook for a few hours extra. Set aside once your sauce is made; or store until ready to use.
Brown your chicken in batches until all sides are browned and add to your slow cooker. Then add the vegetables and cooking wine. Finally, add your sauce and give everything a stir.
Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours then serve over your favorite pasta. We alternate between spaghetti and linguine.
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Chicken Cacciatore
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
Sauce
- 6 md Roma Tomatoes halved
- ½ cup White Onion chopped
- 3 tsp Salt or more to taste
- 1 tsp Brown Sugar firmly packed
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice fresh squeezed
- 1 tsp Turmeric ground/dried
- 1 tsp Basil dried
- ½ tsp Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Thyme dried
- ½ cup Carrot chopped
- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 2 Garlic Cloves peeled
Cacciatore
- ¼ cup Vegetable Oil
- 2-3 lbs Chicken cut into bite size pieces
- 2 cans Mushrooms drained
- 1 Green Bell Pepper chopped, optional
- ¼ cup Red Cooking Wine optional
- 1 sm can Black Olives sliced, optional
Instructions
Sauce
- Place all ingredients into blender in order listed. Start on lowest speed and slowly increase to highest speed, and blend for about a minute or until desired consistency is achieved.
Cacciatore
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium-low heat. Brown chicken in batches on all sides. Transfer chicken to slow cooker when browned.
- Add sauce, vegetables and cooking wine.
- Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.
- Serve over cooked pasta of your choice, we always go with spaghetti or linguine.
Enjoy this dish by itself or with your favorite salad, or perhaps some garlic bread. Impress your guests and serve all three! Perhaps prepare some Danish Apple Cake for dessert afterwards!
*DISCLAIMER* I was FORMERLY a big fan of slow cooker liners. They were easy, enabled quick cleanup, and saved me time on scrubbing my slow cooker. However since then I have strayed from the unnecessary plastic usage from slow cooker liners. Honestly, just use a silicone spatula to empty everything into a glass dish for storage, and make sure to wipe out any sauce left immediately. That is what will make clean up faster and more efficient. I’ll be taking liner free photos next time I make this dish.
Make it vegetarian/vegan
If you want to make this dish meatless, it’s quite simple to do.
First, the only thing you’ll need to remove is the chicken. Sub in your favorite prepared tofu or soy protein slices.
Next add a few more vegetables to your cacciatore – think of yellow bell pepper, lentils, keep the carrots out of the sauce and add them in whole to the slow cooker in larger chunks.
I wonder if eggplant could work. Have you tried it that way? I’m curious now.
Let us know in the comments below if you’ve tried this dish and what you think!!!
