How To Make Chicken Cacciatore In 35 Minutes

Chicken Cacciatore is a classic dish with loads of flavour. Today I am going to show you how to make this classic chicken recipe in 35 minutes from start to finish. But first, you may be wondering, what exactly is Chicken Cacciatore? That's a great question. Let's answer that, then get to cooking.

Jump to:

• What Exactly Is Chicken Cacciatore?
• 6:45 pm - Getting Started
• 6:47 pm - Seasoning
• 6:48 pm - Let's Get Cooking
• 6:50 pm - Onions and Garlic
• 6:52 pm - Red Bell Pepper
• 6:54 pm - Flip the Chicken
• 6:56 pm - Cook the Onions and Garlic
• 7:00 pm - Wine
• 7:01 pm - Chicken Stock
• 7:03 pm - Chicken and Herbs
• 7:08 pm - Basil
• 7:10 pm - Peppers and Olives
• 7:20 pm - Chicken Cacciatore
• Final Thoughts
• Recipe

What Exactly Is Chicken Cacciatore?

Cacciatore means "hunter-style." Imagine you live in the Italian countryside. You've been out all morning hunting rabbits or birds. You come home with a big appetite and some small game. What do you make to eat? Well, you use whatever kind of meat you have: chicken, rabbit, quail, pheasant, whatever it might be. You sear it in a pan, add some onions, garlic, maybe bell peppers, a bit of wine, some herbs and tomatoes, then you cook it nice and slow for an hour or two. That is cacciatore, and that is what we are going to make. The only difference is that instead of doing it in one or two hours, we are going to make our chicken cacciatore in thirty-five minutes.

This dish is a perfect example of the kind of rustic cooking I love. If you want to understand the principles behind building a dish like this, have a look at my posts on tomato sauce and braising. The techniques carry over directly.

Let's get to it.

6:45 pm - Getting Started

It is pretty common to serve cacciatore with pasta or even polenta, but I'm serving mine with rice. Serve yours with whatever you'd like. To get started, combine 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water and a bit of salt and pepper in a medium pot and put it on high heat. Leave the rice alone until it comes to a boil about 3 minutes later. Once it boils, put a lid on the pot, turn the heat down to low and set a 17-minute timer.

Right before you put the rice on, turn a large skillet on medium-high heat to preheat.

6:47 pm - Seasoning

With the rice coming up to the boil and the skillet heating, turn your attention to the chicken. Use six bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Chicken thighs have much more flavour than chicken breasts, and they also retain more moisture when cooked, which makes them perfect for this type of dish. Season the chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper.

6:48 pm - Let's Get Cooking

When the rice boils, put a lid on the pot, turn the heat down to low and set a 17-minute timer. Your skillet should be hot by this point, so add in 2 teaspoon of olive oil and place the chicken thighs in skin side down. Leave the chicken alone to cook for about 6 minutes. The idea here is that you want to get a nice deep golden brown colour on the skin before you flip it.

6:50 pm - Onions and Garlic

While the chicken and rice are cooking, prepare your other ingredients. First up, slice 1 onion and 3 cloves of garlic, then set them aside.

6:52 pm - Red Bell Pepper

Next up, cut the lobes off of 1 red bell pepper by starting at the top of the pepper, and using your knife to cut down while following the natural curve of the vegetable. Once you have all 4 lobes cut off, cut them in half, then slice them about a ¼ inch thick and set them aside.

6:54 pm - Flip the Chicken

At this point, the chicken should be golden on the skin side. Flip the chicken and let it cook for 1 minute, then take the chicken out of the pan and set it aside.

6:56 pm - Cook the Onions and Garlic

Once the chicken is out of the pan, drain off all the excess fat leaving about 2 teaspoon then add in the onion. Cook the onions for about 3 minutes before adding in the garlic and cooking for 1 more minute.

7:00 pm - Wine

Add a ½ cup of white wine along with a ¼ teaspoon of dried red chilli flakes into the pan. If your pan is still hot the wine will cook down very quickly. You want the wine to almost entirely evaporate before you move on to the next step.

7:01 pm - Chicken Stock

With the wine and chillis in, it is now time to add in a ½ cup of chicken stock, 1 ½ cups diced canned tomatoes (I used baby San Marzano tomatoes) and 1 tablespoon of dried oregano.

7:03 pm - Chicken and Herbs

With the base of the sauce now firmly established, it is time for the chicken to go back into the pan. It's also important to pour in any drippings that have accumulated on the plate the chicken was resting on. This can add a surprising amount of flavour back into the dish. Along with the chicken add in 1 sprig of rosemary and 2-3 sprigs of thyme.

Put a lid on the skillet, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it cook for 5 minutes.

7:08 pm - Basil

While the chicken cacciatore simmers, take a small handful of basil leaves, roll them in a tight "cigar" shape and slice them very thin. This technique is called a chiffonade and it gives you beautiful, delicate ribbons of basil.

7:10 pm - Peppers and Olives

Let the cacciatore simmer for 5 minutes, then add in the bell peppers and 12 green (cerignola) olives. Put the lid back on the pan and let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Your chicken may cook a little faster or a little slower. It's essential to confirm that your chicken is cooked all the way by checking the temperature with a thermometer. The temperature of the cooked chicken should be a minimum of 165 degrees F.

7:20 pm - Chicken Cacciatore

To finish the chicken cacciatore, add in the fresh basil and serve it up over the rice.

Final Thoughts

Chicken cacciatore is one of those dishes I make when I want something that feels like it took hours but really didn't. The combination of crispy chicken skin, a rich tomato sauce, and those bright pops of olive and basil is genuinely soul-filling comfort food, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Recipe