Best Recipe for Chicken Cacciatore - Dessert for Two (2024)

Chicken Cacciatore recipe for two, your new easy skillet dinner for two. Chicken and peppers in a rich tomato and caper sauce, all made in one pan!

What is Chicken Cacciatore?

Chicken cacciatore is Italian dish made of chicken and peppers cooked in a rich tomato and caper sauce. Cacciatore is ‘hunter’ in Italian, so this dish is a ‘hunter’s stew' of sorts.

Why you will love this Chicken Cacciatore Recipe

Any time protein is seared over high heat and finished in a warm oven with a sauce, good things happen. If that meat also happens to be on the bone and still have the skin attached--even better!

Let's talk about the basic premise of this Chicken Cacciatore Recipe. We're basically searing chicken to give it a golden-brown crust, and then nestling it back in the pan in a juicy sauce before sliding it into the oven.

You'll notice my tiny cast iron skillet (it measures slightly more than 9" across and is made by Staub), has 4 chicken thighs in it. I love bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs not only for their flavor but because they're usually sold 4 to a package--they're made for dinners for two!

Chicken Cacciatore ingredients

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thigh
1 cup of flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ of a yellow onion
1 small red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ cup dry white wine
14-ounce can of diced tomatoes in juices
2 tablespoons drained capers

How to Make Chicken Cacciatore

Prep - Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle each chicken thigh liberally with salt and pepper. Dredge each chicken thigh in a shallow dish of flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
Cook - Sear the chicken over high heat; don't worry about cooking it through. Remove the chicken from the pan, and add everything else. All of it--tomatoes, wine, peppers, onion, garlic, and herbs.
Bake - Nestle the chicken gently back into the pan. To keep the crust crisp, don't dunk it in the sauce. Bake for 25 minutes.
Serve - Serve with the same wine you used in the sauce.

Easy Chicken Cacciatore tips

You can absolutely serve this Italian chicken and peppers on its own. However, the first time we made it, we ate it plain, and then we decided it would be great with pasta.
To thicken the sauce using the cornstarch method, just whisk 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into 1 tablespoon of cold water. Once the dish is done cooking, remove the chicken from the pan and whisk the cornstarch mixture in the skillet. The residual heat will thicken the sauce; if it doesn't (or if you've waited too long to do this), just place the skillet back on the stovetop to warm through. Once the mixture comes to a bubble, the cornstarch will start to thicken the sauce. Sound like a lot?-- serve it over mashed potatoes.
Also, I want to mention that in one round of my recipe testing, I forgot to add the wine. It tasted great, so if you're out of wine or forget to add it, don't worry! It will still be amazing!
One final thing--I don't put mushrooms in my chicken cacciatore recipe, but you can absolutely add half a box to this dish, and you will love it!

What to serve with this recipe for Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken cacciatore is great served over buttered egg noodles or orzo pasta tossed with butter, salt and fresh parsley. It’s also great over mashed potatoes or polenta.

How to store Cacciatore

Room Temperature - Serve the chicken cacciatore warm or at room temperature.
Refrigerate - In an air-tight container store any of the leftover chicken in the refrigerator.
Freeze -Every time I buy meat, I pull out my Food Saver to vacuum seal and store the rest in the freezer, but not when I buy chicken thighs. I know you can get a better deal buying a giant package of 27 thighs so I like to cook them all before it gets freezer burned.

Best Chicken Cacciatore Recipe FAQs

What is another name for chicken cacciatore?

Another name for chicken cacciatore is ‘Hunter’s Chicken.'

What is the definition of cacciatore?

Cacciatore means ‘hunter,' in Italian, and the dish is believed to be traceable to the Renaissance period in Italy. Hunters would make a stew like this with tomatoes, peppers and capers using whatever they caught that day--rabbit, chicken, etc.

How do you thicken cacciatore sauce?

If you want a thicker sauce for your cacciatore, remove the chicken from the pan, and raise the heat to high. Cook the mixture until it reduces down and is jam-like. Add the chicken back in before serving. You can also drain the tomatoes before adding them to the pan to reduce the amount of liquid in this dish.

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More Easy Chicken Recipes

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Yield: 2

Easy Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 cup of flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ of a yellow onion
1 small red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ cup dry white wine
14-ounce can of diced tomatoes in juices
2 tablespoons drained capers

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
First, place the chicken pieces on a plate, and sprinkle both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Then, sprinkle the flour evenly over the chicken, turning it to coat it in the flour.
Add the olive oil to a 9" oven-safe skillet, and place it over high heat.
Once the oil is hot, add the chicken, skin side down and let it sear for 5-7 minutes. Flip the chicken when its golden brown on the first side, and sear it on the second side. Once both sides of the chicken are golden brown, remove the chicken from the pan and place on a plate. The chicken will not be cooked through at this point.
While the chicken cooks, slice the onion into half-moon shapes, and seed and slice the pepper into strips. Peel and mince the garlic cloves.
Drain off about half of the oil from the pan that you just seared the chicken in, and then add the onions and peppers. Cook for about 5 minutes, just to soften, and then stir in the garlic, thyme, oregano, wine, tomatoes and capers.
Nestle the chicken back into the pan, skin side up, and slide it into the oven for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, test the thickest part of the thigh with a meat thermometer. It should be 165°F.

Serve the chicken on its own, or with pasta, bread or mashed potatoes.

Notes

If your skillet isn't oven-safe, you can wrap the handle in several layers of foil. Use an oven mit and remove carefully from the oven.

Did you make this recipe?

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