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 and Substitutions
- 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.
Tasty ChefBilly thank you😁😋😋
My mother was Italian and made this frequently. NO carrots or celery in Chicken Cacciatore. And only button mushrooms!
While I’m sure it was good, I would say what she did wasn’t really that authentic.
Some years ago, my husband and I frequented a lovely little restaurant run by an older Italian couple. The food was simple, yet beautifully prepared. More often than not, we ordered the Chicken Cacciatore. The “sauce” was flavorful, yet light, the chicken succulent. Unfortunately, the restaurant no longer exists and I have spent many years trying to duplicate that wonderful dish. After trying recipes that either lacked luster and flavor, or were cloyingly thick with tomato paste and/or flour, I came upon this website and saw your recipe. I also viewed your video, and after listening to your description and watching your enthusiasm, decided to try and make chicken cacciatore… one. last. time. We had this for dinner last night and we are still talking about it. The flavor we remembered was there, the same complex, yet light hand we remembered so well. This is an extraordinarily good recipe, and one that I will continue to make Thank you for taking the time to research and develop such a splendid and authentic dish. I look forward to exploring many more such recipes from your website in the coming days, months, and years.
my pleasure and thank you for trying this!
Good day, Chef. If I do not use porcini mushrooms (none in the store) and do not have liquid from them, can I substitute 1/2 cup chicken broth or should I add more wine? Thank you for your kind assistance.
sure
Delicious!!! Beautiful flavours and so easy to make. I always forget to let the wine reduce … but it still turned out really nice. Decided to make pasta with it (I wanted something quick!) Thank you again for sharing your fabulous recipes!
you’re welcome
Wow! This has incredible flavor! It’s my now go-to recipe for Chicken Cacciatore for sure. I subbed the fresh mushrooms for chopped zucchini but still used the reconstituted mushrooms, finely chopped. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe ❤️!
We had this for dinner today with mashed potatoes and green beans. It was delicious, and definitely a recipe we’ll be making again and again!
love it!
Delicious!!
Love it!
Great recipe that was easy to follow for a very novice home cook like me. I used all chicken thighs and served it with your Creamy Polenta recipe and it all went so incredibly well with a bottle of 2017 Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino.