Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore (2024)

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BY Karina | 40 Comments

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Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore With Potatoes is an EASY weeknight dinner that cooks itself! With chicken falling off the bone in an Italian stew,this is comfort foodat its finest.

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore With Potatoes is personally one of the most easy but most flavoursome recipes I’ve made!

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Cacciatore meanshunterin Italian, andalla cacciatoratranslatesto a ‘hunter-style’ meal or stew with chicken, onions, herbs and vegetables, allsimmered down in a thick and rich tomato sauce, until the chicken is falling off the bone.

A step up from my popularChicken Cacciatorerecipe, THISCacciatore has the added bonus of baby potatoes AND isso easy to make! No baby sitting a pot over the stove required because it’s all done in your slow cooker!

Included in this recipe is the option to browning the chicken first. Personally, I love searing any meat before adding it into theslow cooker, for added flavour. BUT! You don’t have too! Especially if preparing this before work and rushing out the door 20 minutes late with one shoe in hand…..never mind.

Once it’s all done, serve over pasta, steamed vegetables, spaghetti squash OR rice (um….sorry).

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore With Potatoes is an EASY weeknight dinner that cooks itself! With chicken falling off the bone in an Italian stew!

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Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 4 hours hrs

Total: 4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Serves: 6 serves

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs bone-in, skin on or off
Salt and pepper to season
2 tablespoons olive oil (more if needed )
2 pounds (1 kg) baby potatoes quartered
2 tablespoons minced garlic (or 8 cloves)
1 medium onion roughly chopped
1 small yellow pepper (capsicum), deseeded and diced
1 small red pepper (capsicum), deseeded and diced
2 carrots peeled and sliced
14 oz (410g) can crushed tomatoes
14 oz (400g) bottle tomato passata (tomato sauce or puree for US readers)*
150 ml red wine (optional -- substitute with beef broth IF DESIRED)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano
1 beef bouillon cube crushed
1 teaspoon salt (adjust to your taste)
pepper (adjust to your taste)
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup pitted black olives

Instructions

(OPTIONAL STEP): Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan or skillet. Sear skin-side down (if using skin on thighs) first for 3 minutes, until deep golden brown. Rotate and sear the other side for a further 3 minutes.
Arrange the potatoes in a 6qt slow cooker bowl in single layer. Place the chicken over the potatoes and add the rest of the ingredients over the chicken (except olives and mushrooms).
Stir to combine; cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours, until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.
Add in the mushrooms and olives in the last 30 minutes of cooking. Season with extra salt, to your tastes and serve.
Serve over rice, pasta or spaghetti squash.

Notes

*Substitute crushed tomatoes for the tomato passata or puree if you can't find it.

Nutrition

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Comments

Mike says
December 02, 2023 at 3:46 pm

This was a very good recipe. The only thing I did differently was use boneless thighs. If it’s to be fall off the bone tender, I left them out from the start. I also hate flabby chicken skin, so was nice to not have to deal w that. Nice mix of seasonings (though I added a needed bay leaf & t. of Rosemary) and wine and it was delicious made w kalmata olives! I felt the sauce was a bit thin, so next time I’ll use a whole can 6oz of tomato paste to thicken it up more. Also only had 1.5lbs baby potatoes. W a bit thicker sauce and additional potatoes, you wouldn’t need the extra carbs of pasta.
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Gertrude says
October 21, 2023 at 11:38 pm

I made a version of this recipe and it was great! I didn’t serve it with rice but I will with the leftovers. I didn’t brown the chicken, used drumsticks, forgot the carrots, added peas, no olives as my husband doesn’t like them. I wish I had used double the chicken. Next time I will.
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Kyle says
June 10, 2023 at 1:09 am

Excellent recipe! I used Boneless skinless chicken breast (seasoned and seared them a little first) instead of thighs and it was still super tender! I can’t imagine it being any better. Will definitely be making again!
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jo says
February 04, 2023 at 5:03 pm

I made this tonight, and my husband and guests loved it. Searing the skin-one, bone-in thighs before putting them in the crockpot added lots of flavor, but the skin did not stay crispy in the slow cooker.
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Lauren says
July 20, 2022 at 1:02 am

Absolutely delicious! Whole family loved it, even my picky teenager who described it as “fire.” Next time I’ll probably only use one pound of potatoes. It was just a LOT of potatoes and then to serve it over pasta or rice is like carb on carb 😁 Great recipe!
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Kathryn says
June 27, 2022 at 12:49 pm

So glad to have found your recipe but tweaked it a bit based on the size of my crock pot & what I had on hand. So yummy.
Only had 5 thigh fillets so halved the amount of potato but did add in 1 large turnip.
Seared the chicken (no salt only pepper – also omitted any further salt as thought the bacon would be enough) and then fried off the onion, garlic, added 1/2 cup diced bacon & then the tomato paste.
Only had 1 carrot so added 1 lge celery strip finely sliced.
Didn’t have passata so used 1 x 790g tin of Polpa finely chopped tomato
Also added approx 150g roasted pepper strips instead of the red pepper & dbled the amount of wine
Fried off 400g button mushrooms cut in half until golden in small amount of butter to reduce the amount of liquid in the end from the mushrooms.
Added the parsely with the mushrooms & olives at the end
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Maria B Rugolo says
March 15, 2022 at 8:26 am

Delicious recipe. I had to substitute a few ingredients and it was still so good. White wine in place of red wine, chicken paste in place of beef bullion. Changes made because it was what I had on hand. Thank you for another grest recipe.
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Andrew says
February 18, 2021 at 9:29 am

This is the best cacciatore recipe I’ve tried. Get rid of the rest, this one’s the best. Really yummy. Cacciatore should be all about tomatoes and this one certainly is. Using a slow cooker cooks out the acidity often present in canned or bottled tomatoes. Used fresh basil and oregano ’cause I grow them and had some really taste fresh chilies which also went in rather than dried flakes. First night with pasta, second night with rice and can’t wait to cook it again but might swap the potatoes for sweet potatoes next time.
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Kathy Montgomery says
October 22, 2020 at 7:41 am
Absolutely the best tasting recipe. I added the red wine (Merlot). Had it last nite and hubby wants the leftovers Tonite. I didn’t have a slow cooker large enough so I put it in a toaster pan and baked at 300° for 4 hours. If you want to bake slower try 190° for 8 hours. Really, really good!
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Peter Wright says
April 24, 2020 at 5:34 pm
If you use a cast iron pot it’s best if its enamelled as the acidity of the tomatoes in slow cooking will erode any curing you have on it and a in bare metal pot food will absorb too much iron which is not good. Also, if you have a pot with an imperfect seal then cover with aluminium foil before you put on the pot’s cover.
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