Here’s a delicious classic that’s super easy. Filling, warm, and budget-friendly, I make this on a day that I know everyone needs a real dinner. If there’s something you don’t like: peppers, capers, olives, just leave them out.
Got picky eaters? Me too. Serve them some pasta tossed with the sauce, some cut-up chicken pieces, and all mushrooms and olives carefully removed 😉.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
You can adjust or leave out any veggies you don’t like. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make this in a Dutch oven at 325°F for 2-2.5 hours, checking the chicken at the 2-hour mark.
This will make 6 servings. If you’d like to double or triple this recipe, you can make adjustments in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Just make sure your slow cooker is big enough.
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Equipment
- Slow cooker
- Large skillet
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- salt
- coarse ground pepper
- 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), trimmed of excess fat
- 8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
- ½ large onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 15 ounces
- 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, 14 ounces
- ½ medium carrot, finely grated
- ¾ teaspoon thyme, dried
- ½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon base
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- ½ cup chopped roasted red peppers
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained
- 6 Kalamata olives optional
For Serving
- 1 pound spaghetti noodles or other pasta, rice, polenta, or zucchini noodles are options as well.
- grated parmesan
- chopped fresh parsley
How to Make
You can brown the chicken and sauté the mushrooms and onions the night before, then store them in the fridge. The next morning, you can quickly assemble everything in the slow cooker.
Step One: Sear Chicken
Grab your biggest skillet and get it heating with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. While that’s warming up, take your chicken thighs and give them a good sprinkle of salt and pepper on both sides.
Once that oil is nice and hot, drop those thighs in and let them get golden – about 2-3 minutes per side. You’re not cooking them through, just getting some color on them. Set them aside on a plate when they’re done.
Step Two: Cook The Veggies
Turn your heat down to medium-low and toss in another tablespoon of oil if you need it. Add those mushrooms and let them cook for about 5 minutes until they’re nice and brown. They’ll shrink up quite a bit – that’s normal! Put them on a plate and stick them in the fridge for now.
Add more oil to that same pan (probably need another tablespoon) and throw in your chopped onion. Let it cook for 3-5 minutes until it’s see-through and smells AMAZING. Then add your garlic and cook for just one more minute – don’t let it burn!
Step Three: Add To Slow Cooker
Scrape all that onion and garlic right into your slow cooker. Now add your crushed tomatoes. For the whole tomatoes, here’s my favorite trick – just crush them with your hands as you drop them in. It’s messy but fun, and way easier than using a spoon. Add your grated carrot, thyme, a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of pepper. Give it all a stir.
In a measuring cup, pour your chicken broth and whisk in the chicken bouillon base until it’s completely dissolved. Pour this into your slow cooker and scrape every bit of that bouillon out with a spatula. Don’t waste any of that flavor!
Step Four: Add Chicken And Cook
Nestle your chicken pieces down into that sauce so they’re mostly covered. Pop the lid on and cook on high for 2 hours. Set a timer and go do something else – that’s the beauty of slow cooking!
Step Five: Add Mushrooms
When your timer goes off, add the rosemary, roasted red peppers, those mushrooms from the fridge, capers, and olives if you’re using them. Cook for another 15-30 minutes. Check your chicken with a meat thermometer – you want 165°F. Once it’s there, pull the chicken out and set it aside.
Step Six: Thickening The Sauce
Take the lid off and let that sauce bubble away for another 30-45 minutes until it’s nice and thick. This is when your kitchen starts smelling like an Italian restaurant!
Step Seven: Bringing It All Together
While the sauce thickens, cook your pasta however the box tells you to. Taste that sauce and add more salt and pepper if it needs it – trust your taste buds here. Put the chicken back in, serve it over your pasta, and don’t forget the parmesan and fresh parsley on top.
Serving & Storing
Serve over pasta or mashed potatoes with homemade Italian bread on the side.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, or in the freezer for 3-4 months. You can store the chicken and sauce separately or together, depending on what you like.
Questions and Troubleshooting
Sure. Just keep in mind that the skin might add a bit more fat to the sauce.
You can use an oven-safe pot with a lid, like a Dutch oven. Preheat your oven to about 325°F (165°C), and follow the same steps for browning the chicken and sautéing the veggies. Once everything’s ready, cover the pot and let it cook in the oven for about 2 to 2.5 hours. Just check the chicken for doneness around the 2-hour mark.
More Crockpot Chicken Recipes
Chicken is affordable, and slow cooking is easy. That makes these recipes some of our favorites for dinner.
- Crockpot chicken broccoli rice is a whole meal everyone will love.
- Mississippi chicken is just dump-and-go and has just five ingredients.
- You only need 10 minutes to prep this ranch chicken and potatoes.
Printable Recipe
Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
Equipment
- Slow cooker
- Large skillet
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- salt
- coarse ground pepper
- 6 skinless boneless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), trimmed of excess fat
- 8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
- ½ large onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 can crushed tomatoes 15 ounce
- 1 can whole peeled tomatoes 14 ounce
- ½ medium carrot finely grated
- ¾ teaspoon thyme dried
- ½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon base
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- ½ cup chopped roasted red peppers
- 1 tablespoon capers drained
- 6 Kalamata olives optional
For Serving
- 1 pound spaghetti noodles or other pasta rice, polenta or zucchini noodles are options as well.
- grated parmesan
- chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Cook chicken. In a 12-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil on medium-high heat. While the oil heats, season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Sear chicken, cooking on each side for 2-3 minutes. Set aside on a plate.
- Saute mushrooms. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add an additional tablespoon or more of oil if needed, and add mushrooms to the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes until browned and set aside on a plate & refrigerate for later.
- Cook garlic and onion. Add a tablespoon or more of oil and add the chopped onion, cooking 3-5 minutes until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Put veggies and seasoning in the slow cooker. Put the onions and garlic mixture in the slow cooker. Add crushed tomatoes. Add the whole tomatoes, crushing tomatoes with your hand when placing them in the slow cooker. Add carrots, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and stir together.
- Add broth and base. Measure broth in a measuring cup. Add chicken base to the measuring cup and whisk together. Pour into the slow cooker, scraping all of the bouillon base out with a spatula into the tomato mixture, and stir to combine.
- Add chicken and cook. Place the chicken into the tomato mixture and nestle into the slow cooker so that the chicken is covered with the sauce. Cook on high for 2 hours.
- Add mushrooms. At two hours, add in the fresh rosemary, roasted red peppers, cooked mushrooms, capers, and Kalamata olives if using. Cook for an additional 15-30 minutes. Check the chicken with a meat thermometer to see if the internal temperature is 165℉ and remove the chicken to a plate.
- Thicken. Remove the lid from the slow cooker and continue to cook the sauce until it has thickened, an additional 30-45 minutes.
- Cook pasta. While the sauce thickens, bring water to a boil and cook spaghetti according to package directions, or prepare other pasta or food to serve with chicken. Drain and transfer noodles to a serving platter or individual plates.
- Season and serve. Taste the sauce and add additional salt and pepper if desired. Return chicken to the sauce. Place chicken onto pasta, adding additional sauce to serve, and garnish with parsley and parmesan cheese.
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Notes
Nutrition
Love,
