Chicken Cacciatore is full of flavor and very versatile. It can be eaten as is or on rice or noodles. I even chop up some of the leftovers the next day and put it on some greens for a salad at lunchtime.
You can use thighs or breasts, bone-in or boneless, whatever you happen to have, just remove the skin if it is still on the chicken. This time around I had 2 bone-in thighs and 1 chicken breast that I cut in half.
First gather and prep all your ingredients. The next steps go fast so you want to have everything ready.
Remove the skin from the chicken, chop the veggies, mix the flour and seasonings and make sure you have chicken stock.
Heat the pan with the oil, dredge your chicken in the flour and seasoning mix and add it to the pan. Brown it on both sides, then remove from the pan. Don’t worry about any flour or chicken bits that may be left in the pan.
Lower the heat and add a little more oil then the onions, peppers, and mushrooms.Scrape the brown stuff off the bottom of the pan as you are sauteing the veggies for a few minutes. Don’t worry if you don’t get all the brown stuff off the bottom, you’ll get it in the next step.
Now add your red wine or vinegar, chicken stock and garlic. This is when you want to make sure you really scrape the bottom of the pan to get anything off.
Now add the diced tomatoes, parsley, capers and Italian seasoning. Mix all of this together.
Now add the chicken back to the pan and get it all sunken into the sauce. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Flip the chicken, cover and simmer for another 10 minutes. It should be done about now, but check to ensure the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Now it’s time to enjoy! Depending on my mood or how hungry I am I might have this on rice, in which case I’ll start cooking that before I start anything with the Cacciatore recipe. Or if I want it on noodles, I’ll cook those while my chicken is simmering. Sometimes I’ll just make some garlic toast to go with it.
Chicken Cacciatore means Hunter’s Chicken. In which case I think you could really add any vegetable you want to this and turn it more into a stew. Any way you make it and serve it, Chicken Cacciatore is very delicious!
Chicken Cacciatore
Equipment
- 4 to 6 quart stainless steel deep pan
- Cutting board and knife
Ingredients
Chicken
- 4 pieces chicken thighs bone-in, skinless or 2 chicken breasts cut in half
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Veggies and Sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup red onion or shallot, diced
- 1 each bell pepper chopped
- 2 cups mushrooms sliced
- 1 tbsp garlic fresh, minced
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar or red wine
- 15 ounce can diced tomatoes in sauce
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 tbsp Italian parsley chopped
- 3 tbsp capers
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Combine the flour and seasonings and dredge the chicken in the flour mixture. On medium high heat, heat a deep, wide bottom pan (a 4 quart pan will do) and add the olive oil. Add the chicken to the pan and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes – add more oil if you need to.
- When the chicken is brown, lower heat to medium and remove chicken from the pan. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and the onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Sauté for a couple minutes then add the red wine vinegar, chicken broth, and garlic. Scrape all the brown stuff off the bottom of the pan (this is flavor and thickener for the sauce).
- Reduce heat to medium low and add the diced tomatoes, parsley, capers, and Italian seasoning to the pan and combine. Return the chicken back to the pan, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Flip chicken over, cover and simmer another 10 minutes. Remove the lid, flip the chicken one more time, leave the lid off and simmer another 10 minutes to reduce sauce and finish cooking the chicken. Check the internal temperature of the chicken to ensure it reached 165 degrees.
- Serve with a side of pasta in marinara sauce or on top of some cooked rice or egg noodles, and some garlic toast.
- Enjoy!