This post may contain affiliate links. You’ll love this hearty, easy chicken cacciatore recipe with mushrooms and bell peppers in a flavorful tomato sauce. You’ll love this hearty, rustic chicken cacciatore recipe with mushrooms and bell peppers in a chicken dish easy tomato sauce.
Fall apart tender chicken with all the comforting aromtics and Italian flavors the family loves. And you can make it stovetop or in your crockpot! Be sure to watch the video below for how to make it. But especially during the cooler months, I love to serve something rustic, extra saucy, stewed to tender perfection, like today’s chicken cacciatore recipe! Add a side of crusty bread and call it good.
Cacciatore” actually translates from Italian to “hunter. And chicken cacciatore is a rustic, hunter-style braised chicken with onions, herbs, tomatoes, and sometimes chopped vegetables. It is one of those classics my Italian-American friends grew up with. And true to hunter-style cooking, almost every household has their own version of it. Aside from the chicken, the basic ingredients in chicken cacciatore are: onions, herbs, tomatoes and sometimes mushrooms. Some variations will call for carrots and celery, while others call for bell peppers or other vegetables.
Some even flavor the tomato sauce with anchovies, which I haven’t tried yet. For the comforting, rustic finish it’s best to use bone-in, skin on chicken pieces. Extra virgin olive oil for browning the chicken. A combination of dry oregno with fresh thyme and parsley. 1 cup of any dry red wine that you like, it does not need to be expensive.
Crushed tomatoes from a 28-ounce can. Return the pan or braiser back to the heat. Now cook the onions, celery, peppers, mushrooms, and garlic, over medium heat. Toss the veggies around until they soften nicely. Add in the garlic and cook a little bit more. To the vegetables, now add the red wine and cook for about 5 minutes to reduce.
Nestle the chicken in the sauce and cook over low heat, covered, for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through to tender perfection! Add a little garnish of parsley if you like. Brown the chicken in the extra virgin olive oil. Once browned, transfer the chicken to the slow cooker. Add the onions, celery, bell peppers, mushroom and garlic on top of the chicken.
Season with kosher salt, black pepper and the rest of herbs and spices. Pour the wine and crushed tomatoes all over the chicken and vegetables. Cover and set the slow cooker to LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. JOIN MY FREE E-MAIL LIST for weekly meal plans and more! You’ll love this hearty, rustic chicken caccaitore recipe with mushrooms and bell peppers in a flavorful tomato sauce.