One pot chicken cacciatore, sans olives, because olives aren't my thing. A hearty meal that comes together in one pot, perfect for a weeknight. Less dishes=less headaches.
I've been making it a point to cook more meals. It's one of those things that I really love to do but will sometimes fall by the wayside. Like sticking to a workout plan, but that's a story for a different time. It's difficult to cook for someone you'd consider a picky eater. It's also difficult to cook for yourself when you might also be considered a picky eater.
To make sure we agree on dinners, we'll page through cookbooks and tab off recipes we might like. I'm not a fan of seafood and my boyfriend doesn't like red sauce. Or ricotta cheese. Or cinnamon. Basically all the things I love.
He's also allergic to avocados (I would be so sad) and apple skins, so it's really rough to even make snacks we'll both eat. The one thing we can both agree on is chicken. Roasted, seared, fried, tenders, wings, nuggets...if it's chicken, we will eat it.
This particular recipe hails from the cookbook Guy Gourmet, a cookbook I got last Christmas as an answer to the request "we should cook more at home". We're the best at passive aggressive gift-giving. For his last birthday I got him a bunch of gifts, one of them being a new electric toothbrush because his had broken a month or so before then...oopsies.
I had never tried chicken cacciatore before trying this recipe, so I'm not really sure how it would stack up against a chicken cacciatore from a restaurant. As far as home cooking goes, this chicken cacciatore received the seal of approval. I cooked up some orecchiette pasta on the side because I wanted some carbs with my protein. Is that what people serve with chicken cacciatore?
I apologize in advance if you know the line from Billy Joel's "Movin' Out", because I kept singing "he works with Mr. Cacciatore down on Sullivan Street" on repeat until we were done eating. And as I'm writing this post, it's back to haunt me.
A few notes about this recipe: it calls for boneless chicken thighs and I accidentally bought bone-in. It took a lot longer with bone-in chicken, so keep that in mind. Also, since we had to simmer the sauce for so long to thicken, it began to separate the skins of the red peppers from their "meat".
If you don't have boneless chicken thighs, I would recommend using jarred roasted red peppers and adding them closer to the end of the simmering stage. Or you could always fire-roast and peel your own peppers if you feel so inclined.
Have you ever had chicken cacciatore? What's your favorite chicken dish?
One Pot Chicken Cacciatore
One pot chicken cacciatore, sans olives, because olives aren't my thing. A hearty meal that comes together in one pot, perfect for a weeknight. Less dishes=less headaches.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs
- salt and ground black pepper
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- 10-12 green or black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped (optional)
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 1 ½ cups chicken stock
- 1 pound Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped, plum
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Season the chicken with salt and black pepper to taste and add the pieces to the skillet, skin side down. Cook, turning occasionally, until they're deeply brown and crisp on all sides, 8 to10 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Reduce heat. Add the bell pepper, onion, garlic, pepper flakes, and olives (optional). Cook until the vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Pour in the wine and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the wine nearly evaporates, about 5 minutes.
- Add the stock, tomatoes, and chicken, tucking it skin side up into the vegetables. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium heat until the chicken is nearly falling off the bone and the sauce is reduced by half, another 20 minutes. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
HEATHER DUNNING
This looks great. Going to have to try it. Thanks for posting.
Mir
Sounds like an easy way to have a great dinner! Looks so good, Jessica!
Jessica
Thanks, Mir! It was so easy and quite delish for the little amount of effort I put in 🙂