I’ve mentioned my dad before when talking about foods that I grew up loving. He actually didn’t cook all that often, but when he did it was always a deliciously big deal, usually involving the Dutch oven. Pretty much all of my happy food memories from my childhood come from my dad–Dutch oven cinnamon rolls, omelets, oatmeal on cold winter mornings, the best scrambled eggs in the world, chicken cacciatore.
Chicken cacciatore is one of my earliest food memories (that and pimiento cheese spread; chicken cacciatore is a lot better!) I must’ve been younger than 6 because I remember eating it in our house before it was remodeled when I was in Kindergarten. That first time, it was actually Pheasant Cacciatore because I also remember my brother chasing me around the house with a severed pheasant foot, pulling on the tendon to make the claw move. We had a special relationship.
As I got older, I ate it less and less frequently and kind of forgot about it until after my husband and I got married. I discovered an old recipe and tried it out for him one night and he agreed–it was one of the best things he’d ever eaten. After some considerable tweaking on my part, I got the recipe just the way I wanted it (read: easier!) and now you get to have it. Just leave the severed poultry feet alone. Serve this for the family, serve it for company, serve it for a fancy or romantic meal–this is the little black dress of the pasta world, loved by everyone who’s tried it. I’ve caught people literally licking the plate on more than one occasion. It’s that kind of meal.
Start by chopping an onion, smashing a few cloves of garlic, and sautéing it all in some olive oil.
Remove that mixture and place it in your blender or food processor. Place some flour and salt and pepper in a Ziploc bag and add some cubed chicken.
Zip the bag shut and shake well until the chicken pieces are coated in the seasoned flour.
Add chicken to pan and cook until golden.
Remove from pan and set on a paper towel.
Add chicken broth, wine (or apple juice), tomato paste, thyme, and marjoram to the onions and garlic in the blender or food processor and blend it until smooth.
Place chicken in a slow-cooker and top with a bay leaf.
Pour that delicious sauce right over it.
Cook on low for a few hours. When you have about 1/2 hour to go, add the mushrooms and the chopped green pepper.
When it’s all done serve over your favorite pasta with a little parmesan and fresh herbs if you feel like it.
Y’all. I could drink this sauce.
Chicken Cacciatore
Serve this for the family, serve it for company, serve it for a fancy or romantic meal–this is the little black dress of the pasta world, loved by everyone who’s tried it. I’ve caught people literally licking the plate on more than one occasion. It’s that kind of meal.
Servings servings
Equipment
- pressure cooker optional
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs or a combination of the two, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-sized pieces
- ¼ cup white flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 onion roughly chopped
- 5-6 cloves garlic peeled and crushed*
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 1 cup white wine or 1 cup apple or white grape juice mixed with 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- ¼ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon marjoram
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup mushrooms sliced
- 1 green pepper seeded and chopped
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add onions and garlic and stir frequently until onions are tender and garlic is fragrant. Remove with a slotted spoon (this is why you need to keep the onion and garlic pieces big), shake off excess oil (you don't have to go crazy here, a little olive oil never killed anyone!), and transfer to your blender. Increase heat to medium-high.
- In a large Ziploc bag, combine flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Add chicken pieces, seal bag, and shake to coat pieces with flour. Dump the entire bag into the hot pan and stir quickly to prevent pieces from sticking together. Saute until chicken is golden. Remove chicken with slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Turn off the heat under the oil.
- While the chicken is draining, add wine, chicken broth, tomato paste, thyme, and marjoram to the onions and garlic in the blender. Blend until smooth. Place chicken and bay leaf in your slow cooker and then pour the sauce over the chicken. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on high for 3.5-4 hours.
- When you have about ½ hour to go, add the mushrooms and the chopped green pepper. Cook until mushrooms and pepper are tender. Remove bay leaf and serve over pasta.
Notes
*The easiest way to use garlic in this dish is to remove the cloves from the head and then smash them with a meat mallet. Remove the skins and then sauté the whole, smashed garlic clove.
FREEZER MEAL INSTRUCTIONS:
Complete steps through browning the chicken. Instead of placing chicken in your slow cooker, place it in a freezer-safe container and cover with sauce. When ready to eat, place frozen mixture in your slow cooker and cook on high for 4-5 hours. You can either cut the mushrooms and peppers ahead of time and freeze them separately from the chicken and sauce or you can just plan to have those in your fridge when you're ready to make this.
STOVETOP INSTRUCTIONS:
Complete steps through browning the chicken. Instead of placing chicken in your slow cooker, place it in a heavy pot or Dutch oven, top with sauce, and simmer for about 1 hour (add the mushrooms and peppers in the last 20 minutes).
INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS:
Complete steps through browning the chicken, except brown it in your Instant Pot instead of on the stovetop. After draining, return the chicken to the Instant Pot, top with sauce, add the mushrooms and peppers immediately, and cook for 8 minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 294kcal, Carbohydrates: 8g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 14g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 50mg, Sodium: 895mg, Potassium: 436mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 106IU, Vitamin C: 20mg, Calcium: 22mg, Iron: 1mg
Calories: 294kcal
Cost: $12
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Questions & Reviews
Quick way to clean up a blender:
Refill the blender about 1/4 to 1/2 full of water, and blend on high until clean. Take blender jar back to the sink. Give it two or three vigorous shakes, then pour out. No difficult scrubbing, just disassemble and wipe down with a soapy sponge to get the last of the oil out.
Cleaning it out before it dries is probably the most important part. If you can't get to it quickly, you can fill the jar full to the brim in the sink, let it sit for two minutes. Pour the loosened chunks out, then follow the instructions above.
Remember: ALWAYS hold the blender lid down, lest the contents spread themselves all over your counters and floors!
Hi, Lindsey! Yeah…I kind of think the blending is necessary, mostly because the body of the sauce is mostly made of the pureed onions and garlic, so the sauce would be kind of chunky and separated if you didn't blend it. Sorry I don't have better news!
Question–is the blender necessary? I hate cleaning that thing, so if I can get away with not using it, that would be great. BUT, if it makes a big difference in the meal as a whole, I'd be willing to put aside my personal preferences. 🙂
Emily, one trick when browning meat is to heat your pan first. After it's hot, then add the oil. Once the oil is hot you add your meat. Also, don't turn the meat right away. It has to form a crust first and brown properly. If you try to stir it all around too soon, the crust sticks to the bottom of the pan. That sounds like the issue you're having, so try heating the pan first, then the oil, and letting the meat brown before turning it. Those tips are just for cooking meat in general, so maybe Kate has some comments about this recipe specifically.
I am having difficulties getting the chicken to brown. All the flour sticks to the bottom of the pan and starts burning before the chicken looks golden. I patted the chicken dry… maybe it's my pan? Do you have any suggestions as to what kind of pan to use? Maybe not enough oil? Or should I turn the heat up? It's still cooked, just not golden and I lose all the nice flavor when it's stuck on the bottom of the pan!
So i have made this before and loved it and wanted to make it again so I went to the recipe index and it isn't listed under poultry, it was kinda hard to find the recipe again. Just letting you know.
this looks so yummy — i cant wait to give this a try
I just put this in the crock pot and it smells really good. I was wondering if the chicken should have been cooked through or just browned? I bought the cooking wine, so I hope it turns out good.
This was fabulous. Easy and yummy.
Sara’s right, bad wine can totally ruin this recipe. In fact, the deliciousness of this recipe really hangs on the wine/cooking wine/juice factor. Not to scare you or anything! 🙂
When I lived in Utah, I didn’t really want to go to the state liquor store, especially with my children in tow, so I just used juice or cooking wine. But now I can pick it up at the grocery store and hope I don’t run into anyone I know. Honestly, I’ve had better luck with the cheapest wine at Walmart (like less than $3/bottle) than I ever did with cooking wine because cooking wine can be so hit and miss.