This easy chicken cacciatore recipe is comfort food that will keep you warm on a cold day. Made in the slow cooker, you can create a heartwarming and delicious sauce and tender chicken.This chicken cacciatore recipe use white wine, fresh herbs and spices to make an easy, healthy and delicious Italian dinner.
You might also like this my mom’s homemade lasagna recipe!
Let me first confess that this is my husband’s recipe. It’s one of his signature dishes that we love but we hadn’t had it in a while.
So today I made this easy chicken cacciatore in the slow cooker and made just a few minor alterations. It was delicious as always and was perfect for after a day of shoveling snow with it’s aromatic flavors wafting from the kitchen.
It’s warm, spicy and a hearty weeknight dinner in the slow cooker. Also this recipe will feed a crowd but we like the leftovers. And the extra sauce is great to save for a pasta dinner. It even freezes well!
Recipe Ingredients I used.
The simple ingredients I used to make this dish is chicken, garlic powder, allspice, ground thyme, salt, black pepper, yellow onion, mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, white wine and tomato paste.
For the chicken we used boneless, skinless chicken breast and chicken thighs. Normally when Rick makes this on the stove he likes to have the skin on because he browns it first. But I wanted to eliminate that step. Less dishes. 🙂
Also we used a gremolata which is a combination of chopped fresh parsley, fresh lemon juice and bit more garlic powder. I don’t know why but this really adds to the dish so I would not skip it. You can even add some lemon zest and use fresh garlic if you want but this is how he makes it.
Below you can see the spice mix. I used half of this blend of spices to rub on the meat and added the rest to the tomato sauce.
How to make easy chicken cacciatore in the slow cooker.
Step 1: Mix the spices together in a small bowl and set aside. If you want you can spray the crock with cooking spray to keep it from sticking. I always forget to do this. 🙂
Step 2: Chop onions and slice mushrooms and add to the slow cooker.
Step 3: Season chicken pieces with half of the spice seasoning by rubbing all over and then place them on top of the mushroom mixture.
Step 4: Mix the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, white wine and the rest of the spices. If you want to add a bit of heat you can sprinkle some hot pepper flakes in as well.
Then pour the tomato mixture into the slow cooker and place the lid on the crock pot. Cook for 4-6 hours on high heat or until the chicken is cooked through.
For a thicker sauce you can skew the lid on the crock pot for the last ½ hour so it condenses a bit.
Cooking time may vary but just check to see it’s cooked through. It will probably fall apart which is the way we like it.
Step 5: While that’s cooking make the gremolata. Chop the parsley finely and add the fresh lemon juice and garlic powder.
When the chicken is done, place the chicken cacciatore in a large serving bowl and serve along with rice or pasta. We like to use rice and then have pasta the next day with the leftover tomato sauce.
Let everyone add the parsley gremolata to their own dishes. You can also serve with some grated parmesan cheese if you wish.
Store leftovers in an airtight container. You can even freeze them for another meal. (Please scroll down to see the printable recipe card.)
Frequently Asked Questions
I think the wine really adds to the delicious flavor of this dish but if you can’t or just don’t want to use wine I would just eliminate it altogether or substitute with chicken stock instead. Here are few more ideas of substitutes for wine.
Originally my husband used bone in, skin on chicken because he made it on the stove top and liked to brown the skin first to give it more flavor.
If you want to use this type of chicken I would suggest rubbing half of the spices on the skin. Heat up a skillet over medium high heat with a tablespoon olive oil and and brown the pieces. Then add it to the slow cooker and continue with the rest of the recipe.
This is pretty low carb but tomatoes tend to have quite a few carbs and we are using a lot of tomato products.
Normally it has 9.3g net carbs per serving but if you want to make it low carb you can use half of the tomato paste and half of the crushed tomatoes called for. This will make the carb count roughly 6.3g net carbs.
Yes you can. It’s a bit more work but you can learn how to do it on my husband’s blog. Here’s his delicious chicken cacciatore recipe so chicken it!
I made mine on high and it took just 5 hours to cook. Cooking time can vary depending on your crock pot or slow cooker. So I usually say 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 on low.
Just check an hour or so before hand and check if the chicken is cooked through. The internal temperature of the chicken should be 165°F. However I like when the chicken is fall apart tender and you should be able to see that without a using a meat thermometer.
I used 4lb of chicken so I estimated 10 servings. Plus you will have quite a bit of sauce leftover that you can freeze or use for pasta.
You could also add a bit more chicken to this recipe and there will be enough sauce to cook it well. This is a good dish to serve for a dinner party.
What to serve with slow cooker chicken cacciatore?
As you can see below we like to serve this with white rice. You could also use any type of cooked pasta but I think just plain old spaghetti works best to make a complete meal.
If you wanted a lower carb option, cauliflower rice would work fine as would zucchini noodles, Palmini pasta, spaghetti squash or wonder noodles. It also tastes delicious as is with no starch because it’s a hearty meal on it’s own. Just serve a nice green salad along side it.
Well I hope you enjoy this delicious heart warming slow cooker dinner. It’s an Italian dish that is a family favorite and my husband gave his seal of approval so I have that going for me!
The nutritional information for 1 serving is 260 calories / 3.7g fat / 12.4g carbs / 3.1g fiber / 20.5g protein = 9.3g net carbs
Easy Slow Cacciatore Slow Cooker Recipe
The easy slow cooker chicken cacciatore recipe is a hearty and delicious chicken dinner with cooked in wine, spices and tomatos. Serve over rice or pasta and freeze the leftover flavorful sauce for another meal.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts
- 1 cup onion, chopped (medium onion)
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
- 1 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder (divided)
- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 8 oz can tomato paste
- 1 cup of white wine (can substitute chicken broth)
- ½ cup parsley, minced
- juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix together the spices. Save 1 teaspoon of the garlic powder for the gremolata.
- Chop up the onion and slice the mushrooms. Place in the bottom of the crockpot.
- Use half of the spice mixture and rub all over the chicken pieces and then place in the slow cooker.
- Take the other half of the spices and mix with the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and white wine. Pour into the slow cooker and then place the lid on top. Cook for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low until the chicken is tender.
- In the meantime, mince the parsley and add to a small bowl. Pour over the lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
- When the chicken cacciatore is done, place into a large serving bowl. We like to eat this with white rice but you can use pasta too. Serve the parsley gremolata alongside the chicken cacciatore for people to put on top of their own servings.
- If you have extra sauce you can freeze it for another meal.
Notes
The nutritional information for 1 serving is 260 calories / 3.7g fat / 12.4g carbs / 3.1g fiber / 20.5g protein = 9.3g net carbs
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 260
Liz
Yum! I have some extra chicken in the fridge that I have been looking for recipes to use it up! I believe I found that recipe! Thanks for the share!
Denise
Hop you like it Liz!