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Easy Chicken Cacciatore recipe with tender chicken and mushrooms cooked in a rustic tomato sauce is classic comfort food.
Looking for more easy dinner recipes? I think you’ll love my Classic Lasagna, Spaghetti Sauce, Alfredo Sauce, and Pasta Fagioli.
This chicken cacciatore is perfect when you are wanting a comforting meal. It is one that I can always depend on my whole family enjoying and guests asking for the recipe!
Why I Love This Recipe
- Delicious Dinner Recipe – This recipe makes a flavorful meal great for serving as a family meal or when serving guests.
- Easy One Dish Meal – Ready in less than an hour, this is an easy meal made in one skillet!
- Make Ahead and Freezer Friendly – Perfect for making ahead to have on hand for busier weeknight or to freeze for later.
What is Chicken Cacciatore?
Chicken Cacciatore is a classic Italian comfort food. The English translation of cacciatore is hunter or huntsman. In food preparation, this generally means cooking a rustic meal of tomatoes, onions, and peppers along with chicken or even rabbit.
Use whatever type of chicken your family loves – chicken thighs, legs, breasts, or even a combination – browned and then cooked in the flavorful, rustic tomato-based sauce. The sauce is made of onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper, and crushed tomatoes, all simmered with herbs and seasonings.
How to Make Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
To make this easy chicken cacciatore recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients.
- Olive oil
- Chicken – use whatever cut of chicken you prefer. I love to use chicken thighs, legs, or breasts.
- Salt and pepper
- Onion – adds flavor to the recipe.
- Celery – adds texture and flavor.
- Garlic – this recipe uses minced garlic cloves. You can substitute the garlic, salt, and pepper with 1 ½ teaspoons of Stone House Seasoning if you prefer.
- Parsley – you can use fresh chopped parsley or dried parsley.
- Rosemary – you can use fresh rosemary or dried rosemary.
- Red pepper flakes – adds flavor and a bit of warm spice to the recipe. If you are sensitive to spicy dishes, you can leave this out.
- Mushrooms – sliced mushrooms are so delicious in this recipe.
- Bell pepper – adds flavor and texture to the recipe. I prefer to use green bell pepper in this dish.
- Chicken stock or broth – adds a rich, deep flavor to the final dish.
- Crushed tomatoes – Crushed tomatoes are preferred, but if you don’t have crushed tomatoes, you can use small diced tomatoes or even tomato sauce.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Brown the chicken. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Then, add the chicken and cook until browned on one side, about 3 to 5 minutes, before turning onto the other side and browning. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and set aside. Repeat until all of the chicken has been browned.
Saute onion, celery and garlic. Reduce the heat to the skillet and add the remaining olive oil to the skillet. Stir in the onion, celery and garlic and cook until the vegetables have softened, about 3 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients. Add the parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Add the chicken stock and crushed tomatoes.
Reduce the sauce. Cook until the sauce has reduced by half.
Add back the chicken. Reduce the heat to low, add the chicken and juices from the plate back into the skillet.
Cover and cook. cover and cook until the chicken registers 165ºF when checked with an internal meat thermometer. Remove from the heat and serve.
We love to eat it with brown rice, white rice, noodles, on top of mashed potatoes, or with a slice of crusty bread!
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
To make ahead. Prepare the recipe as instructed. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four to five days. When ready to serve, reheat on the stove or in the microwave until the chicken registers 165º F when checked with an internal meat thermometer.
To store leftover chicken cacciatore. Allow to cool and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for four to five days. When ready to serve, reheat on the stove or in the microwave until the chicken registers 165º F when checked with an internal meat thermometer.
To freeze chicken cacciatore. Allow to cool completely and store in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Label and freeze for up to three months. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat and serve following the instructions for make ahead chicken cacciatore.
Here’s my Chicken Cacciatore Recipe. I hope your family loves it as much as we do!
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 pieces chicken thighs, legs, or breasts
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt divided
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper divided
- ½ medium onion chopped
- 3 celery stalks sliced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped Italian parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
- pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 1 large green bell pepper sliced into thin strips
- 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
Instructions
- Brown the chicken. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Then, add the chicken and cook until browned on one side, about 3 to 5 minutes, before turning onto the other side and browning. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and set aside. Repeat until all of the chicken has been browned.
- Saute onion, celery and garlic. Reduce the heat to the skillet and add the remaining olive oil to the skillet. Stir in the onion, celery and garlic and cook until the vegetables have softened, about 3 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients. Add the parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Add the chicken stock and crushed tomatoes.
- Reduce the sauce. Cook until the sauce has reduced by half.
- Add back the chicken. Reduce the heat to low add the chicken and juices from the plate back into the skillet.
- Cover and cook. cover and cook until the chicken registers 165ºF when checked with an internal meat thermometer. Remove from the heat and serve.
Video
Notes
Substitutions
Substitute the garlic, salt, and pepper with 1 ½ teaspoons of Stone House Seasoning if you prefer.Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
To make ahead. Prepare the recipe as instructed. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four to five days. When ready to serve, reheat on the stove or in the microwave until the chicken registers 165º F when checked with an internal meat thermometer. To store leftover chicken cacciatore. Allow to cool and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for four to five days. When ready to serve, reheat on the stove or in the microwave until the chicken registers 165º F when checked with an internal meat thermometer. To freeze chicken cacciatore. Allow to cool completely and store in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Label and freeze for up to three months. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat and serve following the instructions for make-ahead chicken cacciatore.Nutritional Information
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Can you use skinless boneless breasts and thighs/
Hi Marleen,
You certainly can! I hope you enjoy it – it’s been a favorite of ours for a long time. Thanks!
Robin, Under the ingredients, you have 1 tsp. of fresh chopped rosemary or 1 tsp. of dried parsley leaves. Is that correct or did you mean dried rosemary since you have parsley listed as the ingredient just above that?
Thanks!
Oh thank you so much for catching that, LaFern. I’d read and reread the recipe double checking it and totally missed that! Thank you for letting me know! I’ve updated it to correct. I did mean rosemary.
Made it tonight and this is so good! Thanks for the great recipe! I have way more than the two of us will eat so plan to freeze the rest in a vacuum seal bag for another meal later. 😀
can this be made in a crock pot?
Hi Grace,
It can be made in the crock pot, but will produce a considerable amount more liquid than when cooked in the skillet. It is still delicious, but you’ll want to use a slotted spoon for serving over the rice (or at least I do!)
Thanks so much for the speedy reply
Yum! Could you please tell me what type and style pan you are using to make this dish? Kinda looks like a grill pan. I want to buy a new enamel cast iron pan and that’s why I’m asking. Thanks
Looks great! Do you use bone-in or boneless chicken and does that affect the initial cooking time (5 minutes on each side)?
Hi Shari,
You can use bone-in or boneless chicken in this recipe, whichever you have on hand or prefer. It shouldn’t affect the initial cooking time as that is mainly to brown the meat on both sides. You’ll still have the chicken cooking for about 30 minutes at the final stage for this dish. You may want to use an internal temperature probe to verify the chicken is cooked to 165º F and adjust the final cooking time accordingly.
I hope you love it!
Robyn xo
Hi Robyn
In regards to the question about crock pot prep for chicken cacciatore. There are a couple ways to handle the extra moisture which results from the process of the slow cooking. Many recipes for chicken cacciatore call for adding a slurry of cornstarch and water to the sauce at the end of cooking time. The other option is to create a roux of flour and butter as a thickener for the sauce. Either way, you will need to remove the sauce at the end of cooking in the crock pot to a pan to the stove top and thicken the sauce. I hope this makes sense and is helpful.
Easy to make and delicious! I used skinless thighs and it was perfect.
I made this for dinner tonight. I used all thighs. Followed recipe to a T and it came out perfect. Everyone is pleased and it is now in our meal rotation. Thank you!
Deborah, the last time I made this recipe, I used all thighs, too. So glad you loved it.
Delicious recipe. To add a few more veggies, I sautéd zucchini and yellow squash half moons to caramelize. This is a keeper. I love your recipes.
I like your additions of the zucchini and squash, Renee.
Hi Robyn I’m on weight watchers. I’m going to make this chicken cacciatore today, I’ll figure out the points. I plan to share this recipe at my meeting this evening. It looks delicious.
Thanks, Patricia, I hope everyone enjoys the cacciatore.