Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore is seasoned chicken thighs nestled and slow-cooked in a tomato-based sauce full of herbs and vegetables. Once you add in all the ingredients, you let the slow cooker do the work and come home to a meal that is ready to eat! It’s delicious on its own, just like my Chicken Cacciatore recipe, but without the hassle! Add it to a pile of pasta noodles like my homemade egg noodles.
Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
Cacciatore is an Italian word for ‘hunter’. Alla cacciatore means ‘hunter-style meal’, a meal prepared with vegetables and herbs, and sometimes wine. Cacciatore is usually served with chicken or rabbit, and in this recipe, I went with bone-in chicken thighs. All the ingredients are added to a slow cooker and are left to cook while you go about your day!
Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore Ingredients
Chicken: I used skinless, bone-in chicken thighs. You could use chicken breasts, but I recommend sticking with bone-in chicken since the bone gives it so much flavor.
Pasta: I used spaghetti noodles, but this would also be delicious on homemade noodles or rice.
The nice thing about this recipe is that if you are not a fan of one or more of the vegetables, simply leave them out or replace them with some of your favorite veggies.
How to Make Chicken Cacciatore
I love slow cooker recipes because once you have all your ingredients put in the slow cooker, you can walk away and forget about it until you are ready to eat! Once you smell all the flavors in this Chicken Cacciatore meal, you will be adding this recipe to your dinner rotation.
To Make Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore:
- Wash and pat dry your bone-in chicken thighs and season them with salt and pepper. There is no need to sear the chicken before you put in in your slow cooker, which makes this meal that much quicker and easier to put together.
- After you have put the chicken thighs in your slow cooker, add the rest of the ingredients, from the olive oil to the chicken broth.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender. (Internal temperature of cooked chicken is 165°F.)
- Serve over spaghetti noodles or homemade egg noodles and garnish with parsley.
Can I Thicken the Sauce?
If you want the sauce to be a little thicker, there are a couple of things you can do. The first thing you could try would be to adjust the slow cooker to the high setting and let it simmer for about an hour with the cover off.
Another option to thicken the sauce would be to make a slurry to add to the dish. After the cooking time, in a separate bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of corn starch and 1 tablespoon of water, making sure you use cold water. Drizzle and stir that into the cacciatore mixture, cooking for 20 more minutes.
Slow Cooker Recipes
Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
- 8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs, washed and patted dry
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 8 ounces baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, diced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, diced
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, diced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 box (16 ounces) spagetti noodles
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry each chicken thigh.
- Season chicken evenly with salt and pepper and add to slow cooker.
- Add oil, tomato paste, garlic, onion, diced red bell pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, oregano, red pepper, and chicken broth.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender.
- Serve over spaghetti noodles.
- Garnish with fresh parsley.
Did you make this recipe?
You can tag me at @iamhomesteader.
Oh my goodness, this was delicious! The little store close to my house only had skin-on, bone-in thighs, but I couldn’t wait to make this so I browned them in olive oil before putting them in the crockpot. They also didn’t have fresh herbs, so I subbed dry. (They’re really hit and miss). Otherwise, I didn’t change anything about the recipe, and served it over basmati rice. My husband loved it so much he shared our leftovers with our friends and then asked me to make it all over again tomorrow so he can keep the rest for himself. Definitely a keeper and will be in our regular rotation. Thank you for a great recipe!
I loved this recipe! The instructions were easy to follow! It came out delicious! Highly recommended!
Do you use the same amount of dry spices if you don’t have fresh?
Generally, you use 1/2 of the amount for dried herbs
Can I make this with bonless thighs? Would cooking time be the same?
I’m wondering the same. Did you wind up trying it?
I’m sure you could, but using bone-in gives it a deeper flavor
That’s also why you use stock rather than broth
Chose your recipe because I’m a working mom looking for simple but delicious options for the chicken thighs I had on hand. Trying it tonight. We’ll let you know how it goes.
My family would want more than one thigh. Is it okay to double the amount of meat?
Sure
Just had this for dinner. The only thing I did differently was add fresh basil, marjoram and a bit of sugar and it was to die for. My hubby said this is a keeper. Best we have ever had. Cheers to the person who came up with this recipe. Two thumbs up.👍👍
Awesome to hear Karen! Thank you!
My mother would make this ages ago, and nothing was left afterwards, big hit always. I make it and use breast, legs and thighs, it’s alway a big hit.