Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

Here’s the finished dish. I served it over spaghetti noodles, you could use any type of pasta here, regular or whole wheat of course. This really has a special depth of flavor, it is so very good. I think I will add this to my list of dishes, good enough to entertain with!

Chop your onion small y’all :), just to be sure you end up with completely softened cooked onions in your finished dish.

4-6 cloves of garlic is perfect, I left them whole you can certainly chop them if you prefer.

Fresh is best in my book, but dried herbs work just fine. I’m lucky in that in my neck of the woods (So. Cal.) rosemary bushes grow like crazy.

Here is the mix ready to cook…

After searching the web for an authentic chicken cacciatore recipe I opted to follow Ms. DeLaurentiis lead for the most part, except, my version is made in the crockpot. I adlibbed on a few things. I also took a few ideas from Saveur, one of my favorite go to recipe links.

I like the idea of having dinner done early. I started this before leaving on a date day with my husband, we went to see the Commuter, oh my Liam, great performance my man-crush. lol

Anywhoot, I set my crockpot to low. I cooked the chicken for 7 hours. It was ready for an early dinner when we got home. How convenient is that! Those of you ladies and gents that work outside the home you could start your crockpot before you leave for the day and have this dinner (perhaps cook the noodles the night before and have them ready in the refrigerator for quick reheating) on the table shortly after you get home. By using thick  pieces of chicken breasts you can let your crockpot run 9 hours.

I hope you’ll consider giving my recipe a go. I know you’ll agree it IS very tasty. The chicken just falls apart and it remains moist too.

Ingredients…

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half and cross-cut once to make thinner too
• 3/4 cup flour seasoned a bit with salt, garlic powder and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole (or chopped)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup black olives, I left them whole so those that don’t like them can easily find them and remove them
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1 28oz can stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 small sprig fresh rosemary, left whole (the rosemary can definitely be chopped here, I’d say add about a teaspoon of small chopped rosemary)
• 1  bay leaf

Process…

1. In a large sauté pan heat the olive oil to medium high
2. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour
3. Brown the chicken pieces in the oil (you are not cooking the chicken at this point, just browning it on each side)
4. Set the browned chicken pieces aside
5. Place all other ingredients into the crockpot, combine all well
6. Place the chicken pieces in the crockpot with the combined mix above
7. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for approximately 7 hours (if using thick pieces of chicken your mixture can certainly cook for 9 hours)

To serve… remove the bay leaf and rosemary spring (most of the tender parts will have fallen off in the cooking process so you will just be removing the twig at this point)

Place your noodles on a plate, place a chicken breast piece or two atop the noodles, spoon out the sauce making sure to include an olive or two.

Optional stuff… I think garnishing this dish with fresh chopped parsley and freshly grated parmesan would be fabulous.

                                                                                                                                      g.