Classic Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Published January 31, 2023. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This authentic Chicken Cacciatore Recipe is a delicious braised chicken dish loaded with mushrooms and vegetables in a tomato and herb broth. The flavors in this simple-to-prepare dish are so good.
I’m Sicilian, so making and eating Italian food in my house is commonplace. If you want to try out some new recipes, you must try Aglio e Olio or Bucatini All’Amatriciana.
Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken cacciatore Is an incredibly simple recipe consisting of chicken and mirepoix cooked and braised in a simple tomato broth with herbs. Cacciatore translates from Italian to English as “hunter.”
Cacciatore is a cooking style so hunter-style would include certain ingredients such as mushrooms, onions, herbs, tomatoes, and sometimes wine. This very traditional recipe sticks to the dish’s original intent, which is a few ingredients and simple procedures. You will not find bell peppers or olives in my recipe, which would veer from the classic version.
Ingredients
- Chicken – I prefer to use a whole chicken fabricated into wings, thighs, drums, and breasts. Classically this dish would have featured a rabbit.
- Mushrooms – Any wild mushroom will work. However, I used porcini, portabella, and button mushrooms.
- Onion – You can use white, sweet, or yellow onion. In addition, some garlic is needed.
- Celery – A few ribs of celery will help add some more flavor to this dish.
- Carrots – I love using carrots as they greatly enhance the braising sauce’s flavor.
- Wine – You can use Sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or shiraz.
- Tomatoes – You can use fresh, whole peeled, or canned tomatoes. I especially like to use San Marzano tomatoes.
- Herbs – I like the combination of parsley and rosemary in this recipe as those would be classical to use.
How to Make Chicken Cacciatore
Pour 2 cups of boiling water over ½ ounce of dried porcini mushrooms and sit for 20 minutes.
Finely strain the mushrooms and reserve ½ of the liquid.
Rinse the mushrooms and squeeze out all the liquid.
Roughly small chop the mushrooms.
Season the chicken parts well on all sides with salt and pepper.
Heat the olive oil into a large rondeaux pot over medium heat and brown the chicken parts well on each side, about 4 minutes per side.
Remove the chicken and set aside.
Next, add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and mushrooms to the pan and sauté for 6 to 7 minutes.
Deglaze with the wine and cook over medium heat until it is almost gone, about 5 minutes.
Pour the reserved porcini mushroom liquid, tomatoes, herbs, salt, and pepper, and stir.
Add the browned chicken back in, add a lid to the pot, and simmer over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes.
Garnish with chopped parsley.
How to Serve it
Chicken cacciatore can be served with various things such as rice, pasta, or polenta. I like finishing my chicken cacciatore recipe with a ton of chopped parsley.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 30 minutes ahead of time. Just keep it covered over low heat.
How to Store: Place this covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This will freeze covered for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of chicken cacciatore to a rondeau pot and cook over low heat while occasionally stirring. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper and serve.
Chef Notes + Tips
- Feel free to use chicken breasts, thighs, or drums.
- When searing the chicken, be sure not to crowd the pan too much so you can get a good sear. If you need to sear it in batches, then please do it.
More Italian Recipes
Video
Classic Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup of reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 whole chicken broken down into parts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ peeled and small diced yellow onion
- 3 small diced ribs of celery
- 2 peeled and small diced carrots
- 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
- 1 cup sliced baby portabella
- 1 cup sliced button mushrooms
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 28- ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with your hands
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pour 2 cups of boiling water over top a ½ ounce of dried porcini mushrooms in a medium-sized bowl and let them sit for 20 minutes.
- Finely strain the mushrooms and reserve ½ of the liquid.
- Rinse the mushrooms well under cold water and then squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Roughly small chop the mushrooms.
- Season the chicken parts well on all sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat the olive oil into a large rondeaux pot over medium heat until it begins to smoke likely.
- Add chicken parts and brown them well on each side, which takes about 4 minutes per side.
- Remove the chicken and set aside.
- Next, add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and mushrooms to the pan and sauté for 6 to 7 minutes or until browned over medium-high heat.
- Deglaze with the wine and cook over medium heat until the liquid is almost gone, which takes about 5 minutes.
- Pour in the reserved porcini mushroom liquid, tomatoes, herbs, salt, and pepper and stir.
- Add the browned chicken back in and add a lid to the pot and simmer over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped parsley.
Notes
Nutrition
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I agree with you 100% Chef Billy. I think simple is a way to go on most things. This recipe looks so beautiful. I love rabbit but it’s a little bit harder to find than Chicken is.
I can’t wait to try this recipe for dinner, I have always been very happy with all of your recipes. They have all came out perfect for me. Tons of flavor and easy to put together. I have always love to cook, but I was more of a baker. I was a baker like you are Chef. I have been learning a lot more about BBQ because I love the food and flavor. Thank you Chef, I appreciate all your recipes. God Bless.
My pleasure.
Simply amazing! Just like Grammy made.
Excellent recipe! I omitted celery and doubled the carrots. I used chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. The flavor is divine. I will serve it with Capellini and a Caesar Salad. Any left-over sauce will be a meal in itself. Thank you, Billy.
Hi Billy…I’m going to try this recipe of course and have made your Braised Lamb Shanks and Chicken Francese so far…My question is…I buy these Roasted chickens from Costco…Can I take the skin off of them and Sautee and use the parts that I don’t eat right away…? Or will that not work without the skin and because they are already cooked? Thanks Billy…
don’t use those for this.
Hi Billy!
I’m a 67 year old home cook; from New Orleans, and LOVE watching you cook. I was listening to you speak about the history of chicken cacciatore, in particular the dish being a hunters dish and the use of celery. I had thought celery was a summer type food, long ago before we started cultivating it year round. Any thoughts about this?
I made your recipe for tomato soup last night was it was a hit!!
Thank you,
-Susan Hayes
Brunswick, Maryland
Yes, however it took more than 30 minutes to braise. The flavor is killer. I served it over homemade fettuccine.
Made this last night. Delicious! I didn’t have any polenta so served it with mashed potatoes 😋
I’m thinking i should take the skin off before i fry it. ??
Nope!
Hi, Chef!
Do you have a video on breaking down a whole chicken? If not I’m sure I can find one.
I think there’s a typo in the article using “bread” instead of “break”. It’s correct in the recipe, though.
Fantastic!!! I’m going to try this !!
Thank you for this delicious recipe!!!
Thanks,
Phyllis
I completely agree re: your concern about losing traditional recipes. Thanks for this one!
I recently discovered your site and have found it to be the most informative, basic, and useful culinary site in a long time. I can’t wait to see what you have new to teach. So awesome and thank you.Keep it coming. It is definitely a site worth sharing and telling other food enthusiasts about.
I made this for my partner and he’s normally very fussy but he loved it. Thank you!
I just found your website! I watched the video for Chicken Cacciatore and I can’t wait to make it! Just watching you cook it up made my mouth water. I’m looking for your book book now!
I just found you on facebook, and I’m glad I did! I’ll be following you and cooking some things you suggest. My grandfather was born in Italy, so I have that same connection. I already make a lot of Italian food, but some of your suggestions and WAYS of doing things are so helpful. Alway looking to improve!
This was amazing even with the substitutions I had to make. It was late on Sunday evening and my local market didn’t have any packaged mixed bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces or whole chickens. Nor did it have any dried porcini mushrooms. I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and just omitted the porcini mushrooms all together. To mimic the crispy skin-on crust, I dusted the chicken breasts in flour and browned on medium-high heat just long enough to form crust. Then followed the remainder of the recipe reducing the cooking time to accomodate for the difference between skin-on, bone-in and skinless, boneless. I served with roasted cauliflower with garlic. I look forward to preparing the recipe with exact ingredients. A couple nights later I warmed the sauce and the one remaining chicken breast shredded over fresh pasta. Another delicious meal! My husband suggested that the sauce would be great with snapper or flounder too. Thank you Chef Billy for an amazing recipe.
Thank you so much for responding to my inquiry regarding “no boil” lasagna. It turned out perfectly delicious.
Marcey
Like someone said Jesus was there lolll delitful in every way your simplicite is an art ,I have made cacciatore before and it was good bbut not good like yours thank you sir xxx
Without your explicit times & temps. I would be unable to adjust mine. I felt like a chef, thanks to your details. What entertainment for my tastebuds.
Impressed her with this on date 2!
My and Mother and I following in her footsteps, roll the chicken in seasoned flour then brown it on all sides. Your thoughts as I do value them.
You can if you want to do that, but it’s not necessary.
This sounds and look delicious and will try it. What kind of red wine do you use, so I can get it or if I don’t use red wine, will it make a difference in taste?
I like Sangiovese, but you can use a cab or a merlot as well.
Hey Billy….i dont keep alcohol in my house…what can i substitute it with?
Grape juice???? Or what??
Definitely not grape juice. I would simply skip it.
One of my favorite recipes as it was my papà’s favorite.
Ciao!
I was served true cacciatore when I was 21 years old living and working in Rome. I remember the dish distinctly. It was at a home out in the country and I was traveling with an Italian friend who was related to the lovely people who welcomed us into their home. It was like a stew, very thick and had very dark red sauce. There were large chunks of meat (like a roast)in it with a few vegetables.
It was delicious! My friend told me it was wild boar and rabbit they had hunted on their own land. He said they don’t make theirs with chicken.
His aunt who served mine to me looked in my eyes, pointed to the dish and said with a little smile, “Questo è il vero cacciatore”.
That was 50 years ago. I remember it like it was a week ago.
I learned to make Chicken Cacciatore myself and I think it’s pretty good but non è il vero cacciatore!
Thank you for your recipe!
This is the true recipe for cacciatore that I remember from my grandmother and my Irish but adopted into Italian cooking mother.
It’s perfect for those cold nights and always great as a leftover – if you have any!!!
Thanks Barbara!!
This is one of the few recipes tat my whole family will eat! Love it!
Awesome, thank you!
This is a winner winner chicken dinner! So awesome!
yes it is for sure!
I just got back from a trip to Italy but sadly never tried this dish there. I’ll have to make it at home!
Well you can make it now 🙂
This is a delicious recipe!! It is always a hit with everyone, even my kids!
So delicious!
I know this sounds crazy, but I turned this vegan with potatoes and sweet potatoes….the shrooms give it the umami
great idea!
Oh my goodness, this is absolutely amazing! I have no doubt that this will soon become a family favorite!
Thanks Jessica, it is super good and so easy to make!