This perfect chicken cacciatore can be baked or strewed and either way it results in perfectly tender chicken in a buttery tomato sauce.
This fall-off-the-bone perfectly cooked chicken cacciatore is to die for. My whole family eats it up including my one-year-old. Well not everyone, the picky eater will still only eat the pasta but four out of five isn’t bad at all.
This chicken cacciatore is made without wine as it traditionally might be but as you know we like to keep it simple.Â
This dish makes great leftovers so be sure to make extra so you have leftovers for the week.
I have also made this dish for a party of 20 and it made it so easy. I prepared the chicken and sauce the morning of the party. Then finished the baking while the party was going on. I used large aluminum baking trays for baking and for serving.
Preparing Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
Meat
Chicken thighs: Â Use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for this dish. They are easy and quick to cook and always turn out moist.
Produce
Yellow onion: Â Onion is a very common vegetable that is used both raw and cooked in food preparation. It has a sharp flavour raw that often sweetens once cooked. There are many varieties of onions, some that are milder than others. We use the common onion or yellow onion in this recipe.
Green bell pepper: Â Green bell peppers are the most bitter of the bell pepper varieties because they are harvested the earliest in the growing season. They are a deep green colour and are extra crunchy. Though they pack less nutritional value than their red pepper counterparts they contain a similar amount of protein only slightly less fiber. Green peppers also give your daily required dose of Vitamin C per every 100g consumed.
Button mushrooms: Button mushrooms are immature fungi that come in two colours – white and brown. These mushrooms are one of the most popular mushrooms around the world and as such have many different names. Button white and cremini are the names I’ve come across most often here in Canada.
Garlic: Garlic is a bulb that is edible and is grown in soil. Though the green shoots it sprouts, called garlic scapes, are also edible, we are referring to the actual bulb that the scapes grow from. Garlic bulbs are made up of multiple cloves and depending on the variety you may have anywhere from 4 to 10 cloves, if not more. This is important to know because recipes will often call for a specific number of cloves which can vary in size greatly.
Parsley: Parsley is a dark green herb that is used as a garnish or as a flavouring. The two varieties that are most common are flat-leaf and curly parsley. They are very similar in flavour however their leaves and texture are different. As the names suggest, flat-leaf parsley has flat leaves that are very similar to cilantro, whereas curly parsley has rougher and curly-looking leaves
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Pantry
Canned diced tomatoes: These tomatoes are chopped and cooked then canned. Canned doesn’t necessarily mean in a can although this is how you are most likely to find them in the grocery store. Canning is a process of preserving food like the ones I used which are in a jar that I canned myself.
Olive oil: I use olive oil for this recipe because of its mild flavour. Olive oil is the fat extracted from olives. The least processed is extra virgin olive oil, which I use in this recipe.
Dried Thyme: Made from fresh thyme, this herb is has an amazing flavour that goes so well with most meats. I don’t recommend using fresh thyme in this recipe as it is used to coat the chicken which makes the herb susceptible to burning.
Italian seasoning: Italian seasoning is a mixture of multiple spices. Typically it includes oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary and marjoram.
Kalamata olives: Named after a city in Greece, these fruits are small, oval-shaped and have a purple hue.
Passata: Passata is strained tomatoes which has the consistency of tomato sauce. Once cooked down it thickens slightly but not too much as it doesn’t have too much excess liquid.Â
Sugar: White or granulated sugar is refined sugar made from either cane sugar or beet sugar. It is completely freed of molasses through the refining process and ground to granules smaller than salt.
How to Make Perfect Chicken Cacciatore
I will preface this by saying that this recipe is all about the sauce. And since the sauce is the focus, there is a lot of it relative to the chicken. If you prefer more chicken than sauce add a few extra thighs to the recipe.
Step 1: Cook the Chicken
In a large deep pan with a lid heat up 1 tablespoon of oil.
While the oil is warming, season the chicken generously with salt and pepper.
Once the oil is hot, at the chicken to the pan and cook for 5 minutes per side.
Once the chicken is seared, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
Step 2: Cook the Veggies
While the chicken is cooking, dice the onion and bell pepper, slice the mushrooms and peel the garlic.
 
Add the onion, green pepper and mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add minced garlic and cook for another minute.
Step 3: Prep the Sauce
Add the diced tomatoes, passata, herbs, remaining salt and pepper, olives and sugar. If you like you can cut the olives in half or into threes. Stir everything together until well combined.
Add the chicken back to the pan making sure it’s tucked under the sauce as much as possible.
Stovetop Chicken Cacciatore
Cover the pan and lower the heat to simmer for 40 minutes.
Once the chicken is cooked through stir in chopped parsley.
Baked Chicken Cacciatore
If you prefer to make baked chicken cacciatore, you will need to use an oven-safe dish for the prior steps or move the sauce to one now. Then add the chicken back in.
Preheat the oven to 400ËšF and bake the chicken cacciatore, covered, for 40-45 minutes.
The best way to reheat this dish is definitely by baking it.
Substitutions
Chicken Thighs: You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead if you’re not a fan of bone-in meat in a sauce. You can of course use any other bone-in cut of chicken as well.
Serving Chicken Cacciatore
I love serving this chicken cacciatore with orzo pasta. It has all the features of rice and all the flavour and texture of pasta. Of course, you can serve it with any pasta you want but I do recommend you use smaller pasta. Try it with farfalle, rotini, ditalini, or even gemelli.
If pasta is not what you’re looking for, you can definitely serve chicken cacciatore over rice. The beautiful creamy sauce will be perfectly complemented by any long-grain rice. Try it with basmati or jasmine rice for the perfect meal.
Lastly, you can keep it really simple and serve this chicken cacciatore with a side of fresh baguette. This is usually a big hit, especially at a party.
Let us know in the comments if you have any other questions. And if you like this recipe be sure to leave us a five-star rating below.Â
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Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Equipment
- Knife and cutting board
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt (divided)
- ½ tsp pepper (divided)
- 1 lb chicken thighs (4-6 chicken thighs or drumsticks)
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 oz onion (½ medium onion)
- 4 oz green bell pepper (½ large pepper)
- 5 oz button mushrooms (5-6 mushrooms)
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- â…“ cup pitted kalamata olives
- 8.5 fl oz passata
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp parsley
Instructions
- In a large deep pan heat up 1 tablespoon of oil.1 tbsp olive oil
- While the oil is warming, season the chicken generously with salt and pepper.½ tsp salt, 1 lb chicken thighs, ½ tsp pepper
- Once the oil is hot, at the chicken to the pan and cook for 5 minutes per side.
- While the chicken is cooking, dice the onion and bell pepper, slice the mushrooms and peel the garlic2 oz onion, 4 oz green bell pepper, 5 oz button mushrooms, 2 cloves garlic
- Once the chicken is seared, remove it from the pan and set it aside. Add the onion, green pepper and mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add minced garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the diced tomatoes, passata, herbs, remaining salt and pepper, olives and sugar. If you like you can cut the olives in half or into threes. Stir everything together until well combined.1 can diced tomatoes, ½ tsp dried thyme, ½ tsp Italian seasoning, 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, 8.5 fl oz passata, 1 tsp sugar
- Add the chicken back to the pan making sure it’s tucked under the sauce as much as possible, cover and lower the heat to simmer for 40 minutes.
- Once the chicken is cooked through stir in chopped parsley.1 tbsp parsley
- Serve on a bed of freshly cooked orzo.
