Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore with White Wine

Slow cooker chicken cacciatore, my lighter take on an Italian hunters chicken cooked in white wine and tomatoes, makes a perfect summer meal.

Cooking this dish takes around 4½ hours, but only 20 minutes of that is spent cooking; the rest of the time you get to drink in the aroma!

Slow Cooker Italian Hunters Chicken

Chicken Cacciatore is a dish that means many things to many people. It has morphed greatly as it has spread across the globe.

The name cacciatore is often taken to mean "Hunters", and as such it is an Italian version of chicken chasseur... or vice versa, of course.

My version is very much lighter than some, taking a great deal of inspiration from my rabbit cacciatore recipe.

This version uses white wine rather than the more often-seen red wine. I also scale back the tomatoes a great deal to avoid it becoming a tomato and chicken stew.

Don't worry, though, if you have a bottle of red wine, you must check out my classic coq au vin recipe.

My slow cooker version of this recipe uses just the legs; this is primarily because they are a convenient size to serve two people.

But they also offer more flavour to the stew as it slowly cooks in the crock pot.

They also make the dish easier to scale up in size, and you don't need to worry about the delicate breast overcooking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use chicken breast?

You could, but you would be sacrificing a great deal of flavour; it will also need cooking for less time.

I would suggest 90 minutes on low as a starting point, but depending on the size of the breast, it could be shorter.

Does the skin get crispy?

No, because cooking in a slow cooker is a wet environment.

If you are not keen on the texture of non-crispy chicken skin, you can remove it. Although I would do it after the dish has been cooked, because the skin adds a great deal of flavour to the dish.

What wine should I use?

As with all wines, the main consideration should be "would I drink it"?

However, this dish very much suits a dry white wine, whether you would usually drink a medium wine. Chardonnay is the obvious answer, but a pinot gris or even a viognier works well.

You have the chicken drumstick "French" trimmed, do I need to do this?

Not at all, I went through a phase of doing this, it adds nothing to the dish other than looking a bit fancy.

Serving Suggestions.

As far as I am concerned, this dish is best served with a cheesy polenta, I would use a nice nutty gruyere cheese.

But as with all dishes, there are options, and this slow cooker chicken cacciatore is no different!

This is comfort food, and it would work wonderfully with mash, mashed potato of course, although celeriac mash would be even better.

If you wanted to stick with the hearty theme but go a little lighter than a butter-laden mash, then these puy lentils with bacon would also work a treat!

Equipment Used

I only recommend specific brands of equipment if I believe they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.

• Hob/stovetop.
• 28cm or 11" frying pan or skillet.
• Slow cooker, this recipe is best made in a 3.5-litre or 1-quart-sized crock pot.
• Stirring and serving spoons.
• Kitchen tongs.
• Chopping board.
• Kitchen knife.
• A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.