Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Pat and I had some family over for linner (lunch/dinner) on Sunday and I made chicken cacciatore in the crock pot. I'd made this in a skillet before, but this was my first time using a crock pot - as expected it was quite easy and came out very well!

Pat called his dad for this recipe, and I made a few changes to the process and ingredients.

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

(serves 10 with a lot of leftovers)

Ingredients

• 5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp dried basil
• fresh basil
• 2 cans (28 ounces) Pastene "Kitchen Ready" crushed tomatoes
• 12 ounces mushrooms, cut into thirds
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 red and 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 2 boxes pasta, cooked and drained
• fresh Parmesan and Romano cheese, grated

Prepare your chicken and vegetables.

(I recently read that lighting a candle will stop you from crying when cutting onion - this didn't work for me!)

Put chicken, vegetables, garlic, Italian seasoning, dried basil, wine, and 1.5 cans tomatoes in the crock pot (reserve the remaining 1/2 can of crushed tomatoes to toss the pasta when cooked). Mix until everything is well coated.

Cook on low/high for 4-8 hours (this depends on the amount of food in your crock pot and how long you have before you need to serve it - my crock pot was completely full, so I cooked it on high for about 6 hours).

About 30 minutes before serving I added fresh basil to the crock pot. Wash, tear, and add.

 

Then in a small bowl, stir together chicken broth and corn starch until smooth. Add mixture to crock pot, stir in, and cook on high for another 10-15 minutes or until sauce thickens.

 

Linner is served!

 

(This picture was taken before I added some of the fresh Parmesan and Romano cheese on top - definitely do this because its the perfect finishing touch!)

Everyone said that they really liked this dish, and several people went back for seconds. So either it was a big hit or I just have very polite guests!