With tender, fall-apart chicken, this Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore is flavorful and easy to make. It’s always popular at my house, and with others I have served it to.
The recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken breasts, but thighs would work well too, or a combination. You should use skinless pieces, but it would be okay to use bone-in. In fact, if you like moist chicken, bone-in chicken thighs are a great economical choice. But the meat will likely fall off the bone, and you would need to remove all the bones before serving. When using breasts, you can ensure they turn out moist by brining them first.
Most chicken cacciatore recipes include mushrooms. I enjoy them, but not all of my family does, so sometimes I use them (diced small) and sometimes I omit them. (They were omitted in the pictures.)
Chicken Cacciatore (Slow Cooker)
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup diced mushrooms
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3-4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 can (14.5 oz. diced tomatoes)
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup white wine (or additional broth)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 Tablespoon corn starch or arrowroot starch
- 3 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- Place the onion, pepper, mushrooms, and garlic in the bottom of your crock pot. Then place the chicken pieces on top.
- Combine the tomatoes (with juice), tomato paste, chicken broth, wine, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and bay leaf and pour over the chicken.
- Cook on high 3 hours or low 7 hours, or until chicken is done, but allow extra time for the following steps before eating.
- If cooking on low, turn the heat setting to high. Remove the chicken pieces.
- Combine the corn starch and water and whisk it into the liquid. Heat on high for 30 - 60 minutes or until slightly thickened. (See note for alternative suggestion.)
- Serve the chicken and sauce over pasta or rice.
Notes
- I sometimes use orange or yellow bell pepper in this. They all work great.
- If you are short on time, you can remove the chicken and carefully pour the remaining liquid and veggies into a pot. Then add the water and corn starch mix and heat until thickened.
This post was originally published October 2010 and has been updated.
I have made Chicken Cacciatore many times but never tried it in the crock pot. This looks really good. Always looking for new crock pot recipes. Thanks for sharing.
This looks great! I will have to try this recipe soon. I'm not sure I've ever made chicken cacciatore before…
Hi Linda,
I wanted to let you know that I added your chicken cacciatore to my blog's favorite recipes from last week post. Looks really good! 🙂
~Aubree Cherie
Mmm. It sounds really good. It sounds like the chicken cacciatore that I picture, except for maybe the bell pepper. Too bad I don't have a slow cooker to try it in, though.
This sounds good. I have never made chicken cacciatore, suprisingly. I think that needs to change!
Your chicken cacciatore looks sooo good. I must try it!
this looks great, I think I found tonight's meal!
Hi Just wondering, what’s recommended as a side for this. Do you use it over noodles or rice? We try to limit carbs.
Hi. I usually serve the chicken cacciatore over rice and have a salad with it.
How many servings is this recipe? and do you have any nutritional info?
It looks very yummy!
No, I don’t have nutritional information. I would say about 8 servings. It depends on how much chicken you use. It’s easy to adjust it to make more or less, but be sure your crock is at least half full. We love this recipe.
Made this with bonein thighs last night, an hour and a half in the oven @350. Family loved it. Thanks
Would it be okay if I did this in the pressure cooker?
That’s a good question, Molly. I have a pressure cooker, but have never tried this recipe in it. You might want less liquid in the recipe since there is some evaporation with a crock pot. I would probably drain the tomatoes and save the juice, then add it after cooking if it needed it. You could also use more corn starch to thicken it if needed.
Also, you should probably cut the chicken into pieces before cooking. Otherwise the veggies will be way over done. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out.
I am making this tonight and was wondering if I can use frozen chicken?
I’ve never used frozen chicken, but it would probably work. It would just need a little longer cooking time.
Thank you for the reply. On the safe side, I will just use thawed out chicken. Making this tonight 🙂
Just want to verify, I am going to cook it on low for the 7 to 8 hours. After that, thats when I take out the chicken and then turn up the heat to high for 30 minutes and add in the corn starch and water mixture?
You could make this in a dutch oven on the stove. I’ve traded a crock pot for the dutch oven when I’m home and “started” cooking later. But I absolutely love the crock pot. Will definitely try this. Thanks
I make a similar dish and add zucchini sautéed. Over Ronzoni GF Pasta. The Geandkids tear it up. Not to mention my hubby.
I tried this recipe yesterday and it was DELISH! Thanks for a great recipe!
Just been told that I must not eat anything with wheat or gluten. Would love if you could share dinner recipes .
Many thanks
Looks delicious will try it out
This part of the recipe is a little confusing. It looks yummy though!
If cooking on low, turn the heat setting to high. Remove the chicken pieces.
In order to thicken the sauce with the corn starch, the crock pot needs to be on high and the cooked chicken should be removed so the corn starch can be whisked into the liquid.
It looks realy easy I will try it on a cold or rainy day the house will smell yummy
Is there anything in this that I could not prepare it ahead of time and freeze for use later?Can you think of any reason that wouldn’t work?
Hi Lori. I can’t think of any reason it wouldn’t freeze well.
I see that you’re adding cornstarch; however many people who have problems with gluten cannot tolerate corn products either. Apparently the body recognizes and processes corn as a gluten product in many cases. What would you recommend in its place?
I have gone grain free since I posted this recipe. I now use arrowroot starch in place of corn starch.
Recently, I bought a crock pot, so I would like to try making this sometime!
I’m so disappointed. I made this tonight and it was disgusting. No one in my family could stand it.
I’m sorry to hear that, Autumn. Was it that particular ingredients in the recipe or something else?