Easy and delicious, chicken cacciatore is a one-pot classic everyone will love.
This is a rustic chicken recipe with chicken thighs, peppers, onions, and mushrooms in a rich and savory tomato sauce.
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Holly’s Highlights For Chicken Cacciatore
This chicken cacciatore recipe turns basic ingredients into a hearty meal in just one pot.
- Flavor: This rustic dish has a rich tomato sauce full of bold flavor as it’s been slow-cooked with wine, herbs, and vegetables.
- Difficulty: Although it takes time, this recipe is relatively easy to make—many people forget to add the capers before serving, so measure them and set them out near the serving spot!
- Preference: I prefer dark meat chicken pieces—they’re easier to cook and have lots of flavor.
- Technique: This recipe braises the chicken, which means it is browned over dry heat and then cooked in a little liquid. It makes it very juicy.
- Stretch it further: It’s a budget-friendly favorite, serve it over pasta with bread and salad to stretch it even further.
Ingredient Tips & Swaps For Chicken Cacciatore
While this recipe is made with chicken, Italian chicken cacciatore (hunter-style) was often made using rabbit or lamb.
- Chicken: Use bone-in chicken such as thighs or drumsticks. I prefer dark meat for cacciatore as it is more forgiving and easier to cook, but split chicken breasts (bone-in/skin-on) can also be used.
- Vegetables: Onions, peppers, and mushrooms are cooked in the sauce, adding flavor to this meal.
- Wine: Any bold red wine works in this recipe—merlot or cabernet are good choices. It can be replaced with beef broth.
- Sauce: The sauce is made with diced tomatoes and tomato sauce—the juices from the chicken add flavor.
- Seasoning: I add a variety of dried herbs—you can replace them with Italian seasoning if you’d like.
- Capers: Capers add a pop of briny, salty flavor. Swap them for kalamata or manzanilla olives.
How to Make Chicken Cacciatore (overview)
- Brown the skin of the chicken. (full recipe below)
- Soften peppers, onion, and mushrooms, then add sauce ingredients.
- Add the chicken and simmer until the sauce is thickened.
- Remove bay leaf, stir in capers, and serve over spaghetti.
Storage and Leftovers
- Store leftover chicken cacciatore in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Reheat chicken and sauce on the stovetop, in the microwave, or in the oven until heated.
- Freeze chicken cacciatore with veggies and sauce in freezer bags for up to 4 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
What To Serve With Chicken Cacciatore
My favorite sides to serve with this chicken cacciatore recipe are a fresh salad and some bread for sopping up the sauce.
Did you enjoy this Chicken Cacciatore? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and/or drumsticks
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup dry red wine or beef broth
- 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juices
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- ¾ teaspoon dried rosemary or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- ¾ teaspoon dried oregano or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons capers drained, or chopped kalamata olives
- shredded Parmesan cheese for serving, optional
- salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Season the chicken thighs with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
- In a deep 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken for about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
- In the same skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Stir in the diced bell peppers, onion, and mushrooms. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.
- Add the red wine and let simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in the diced tomatoes with their juices, tomato sauce, bay leaf, rosemary, oregano, and red pepper flakes.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.
- Add the browned chicken, skin side up on top of the sauce. Cover and gently simmer for an additional 40 minutes.
- Remove the lid and if the sauce is not thick enough, let it simmer uncovered for a few minutes until it thickens.
- Remove and discard the bay leaf, stir in the capers, and serve the chicken cacciatore with pasta. Garnish with Parmesan cheese if desired.
Video
Notes
To Oven Bake:
- Prepare the recipe up to step 4.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish and bake covered for one hour.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 632 | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 189mg | Sodium: 878mg | Potassium: 1296mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 1761IU | Vitamin C: 89mg | Calcium: 113mg | Iron: 5mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Holly I’m asking on behalf of Apron Angels, a group of home cooks who volunteer to cook for the residents at Ronald McDonald House in Morgantown, WV. We have 21 pounds of bone in skin on chicken drumsticks in our freezer. How do we brown such a large amount of legs to make skin crispy? Would dusting with baking powder then put in 400 degree oven work? How long? Your calculator in the recipe goes up to 12 servings, but we are making 40. We can do the math on the other ingredients. We dont have enough burner space so we have to do the sauce with chicken part in the oven, probably in foil chaffer type pans. Temp? How long? What are your suggestions? Chris
Hi Chris! What a wonderful thing Apron Angels is doing.
For that much chicken, I’d skip stovetop browning and brown the drumsticks on sheet pans instead. Pat them very dry, season well, and roast in a single layer at 425°F for about 35–45 minutes, until browned.
Then place the sauce and chicken in foil chafing pans, cover tightly, and bake at 375°F until the chicken reaches 165°F, about 45–60 minutes depending on pan depth and oven space.
Baking powder can help crisp skin, but since this cooks in sauce, the skin will soften again. I’d rely on oven browning instead.
Like it used butter noodles. It would be good if recipes were able to switch to metric
We don’t have the option to convert to metric so I recommend using an online converter to help determine the proper amounts. I hope that helps!
I am glad you enjoyed this recipe Don!
Made this for dinner last night, it was excellent everyone raved about it. Love your recipes!
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit Diane!
Wow, this was amazing! My husband (who is not much of a cook) made this following the recipe except, added more of the spices. We omitted mushrooms & capers/olives cuz neither of us like them. It was sooooo good & easy to cook even for a non-cook. Definitely going into our regular rotation.
I thought my chicken cacciatore was great, but yours is better! Easy with a a more complex flavor. Thank you so much!
So glad you loved it Rachel!
My husband can be a real snob with cacciatore, I’m not going to lie! I made this the other night and he said “please do not lose this recipe!” He has made several comments on it since, thank you for making me look good! I love your simplistic recipes yet the complex flavors they produce!