I’ve been all about making food with fun names these days. Blueberry Cla-foo-tee, chicken catch-a-tory, they are fun to say and even more fun to eat! As part of our back-to-school special for CTV Morning Live, Carlene and I were tasked with making easy, budget friendly meals for students. Carlene settled on making the always tasty Vietnamese cold rolls; an easy to make, inexpensive, and light meal. Taking the alternate route, I went with a comfort classic that’s easy to make and easy on the budget!
This Chicken Cacciatore makes a great meal that can be portioned into very tasty leftovers, or a delicious meal for a few friends. Feeling a little lonely after moving away to college? Craving the comfort of moms home cooking? Then this is the meal to make!
Check out the CTV episode here:
http://youtu.be/NrgpdfR6kj4
Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs or chicken breast
- olive oil
- 1/2 spanish onion sliced
- 1/4 green bell pepper sliced
- 1 cup halved mushrooms
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- italian seasoning
- oregano
- 1 can of diced tomatoes 28 oz.
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- a few pinches of flour
- 4 servings of pasta
Instructions
- If using chicken thighs, remove skin, bones, and cut into chunks.
- In a pan on medium heat, add about two tablespoons of olive oil.
- Once heated, add chicken into the pan, cooking for about five minutes, until it's cooked about half-way through.
- Remove chicken, and add onion into the pan, adding more olive oil if necessary.
- Saute onions until they begin to turn translucent (about five minutes), then add in the bell pepper and mushrooms, cooking until softened (5-8 minutes).
- Add in italian seasoning, and oregano to taste, along with the minced garlic, stirring to mix with other ingredients.
- Add a can of diced tomatoes and 1/2 a cup of chicken broth, bring to a boil, then reducing heat until liquid is simmering, add your chicken back into the pan, along with a few pinches of flour to thicken the liquid and cook for about 15-20 minutes until liquid has reduced into a sauce like consistency.
- While your sauce is reducing, cook pasta according to package directions, top with chicken cacciatore and enjoy!
- Feel free to sprinkle on some fresh parmesan cheese and garnish with parsley if you're feeling a little fancy. I know I was!
Although this dish can take some time to cook, the majority of it is spent reducing the liquid into a sauce, so all you need is a little patience! But trust me, it’s worth it!
Enjoy,
Bob
I’ve been meaning to make this for soooooo looong now and finally found the time today. It took a total age to de-skin & de-gristle the chicken thighs but despite all my grumbling, I found it was totally worth it. Can definitely see this recipe making it in to my weekly meals!
This looks so delicious! There are few things more beautiful than a big ol’ plate of pasta, I think. 😀
Did I misunderstand the directions??? It says to cook the chicken half way through and remove, no where does it say to finish cooking the chicken. I thought maybe you were gonna add it back to the sauce to finish cooking, but it does not say to do so. I wanna try this, but I like my chicken well done lol. I think I will just cook mine all the way through in the olive oil and then add it to the sauce to simmer.
Sorry Nikea, you didn’t misunderstand it. I unfortunately omitted that step on accident. I have fixed it, thank you so much for bringing it to my attention!
This looks amazing! As a grad student, I pretty much eat spaghetti for dinner Monday through Friday. Thanks to this recipe, now I don’t have to get sick of eating it!
Thanks Tess!