Ellen's Chicken Cacciatore

This is my recipe, and I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed it. A couple comments after reading your reviews: substituting an ingredient within the sauce will change the character of the dish. The orange juice mixed with white wine, tomatoes, and rosemary is what gives this dish a different taste than other Cacciatore recipes. This is not intended to be a thick "hearty" sauce. Feel free to add some tomato paste to give it a little body, but it's meant to be a "runny" sauce. The pasta or rice will soak some of it up, but it's a good idea to have a nice loaf of bread to dip in the sauce as well.

Great recipe, thank you! 3 changes...Omit orange juice, add 1 - 8 ounce can tomato sauce added, along with 1 can Italian diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil instead of the regular kind. Oh yeah, I added a few spices, crushed red pepper flakes, pepper, seasoned salt, garlic powder, oregano, Italian seasoning, parsley flakes and way less rosemary. It tasted like my mom's, which I haven't been able to have for many, many years. But, I remember folks, and it's yummy! ;)

This is a fabulous recipe and so easy to make. Thanks for sharing, Ellen. The only change I made was to use dry Marsala instead of white wine and I thickened with a roux at the end. We had it with whole grain rice with parmesan cheese and it was absolutely delicious. This will become a regular in our house too!

I got some chicken thighs on sale and looked here for a different recipe on cooking them . I thought this recipe looked good and tried it . WOW ! It was not only easy and quick , but so delicious . We put it over a bed of long grain rice . the only thing I added was 1/2 tsp of tyme . I shared 1/2 of it with my brother and his wife . He called me the same night and told me it was the best cacciatore he has ever had and wanted the recipe . I can wait to make it again ! You won't be disappointed I promise. Doug

I really liked this! I'm big on improvising with what I have already in the house, so I made some changes. I didn't have mushrooms, orange juice, or rosemary. I used zucchini, mango juice, thyme & tarragon. It turned out great! I'm not suggesting the changes, I'm just saying that you can be flexible with what you've got =)

Definitely add a small can of tomato paste. Even if the original recipe is meant to be a thin sauce it really does work out better with the paste. Easily makes enough sauce for 12 oz of penne pasta, probably enough for 16 oz. depending upon the ratio of sauce to pasta that you prefer. This has a nice mild flavor but is not bland at all. Be sure to top it with grated parm. Even my mushroom hater of a teenage son gobbled it up!

Thank you for the recipe. It was delicious! I saved the leftover sauce in the fridge overnight. The next night, I combined it with a large can of chicken broth, brought it to boil, added half a package of spaggetti, cooked until done and served it up in bowls with wedges of fresh lemon squeezed over the top. It was the easiest and best tasting soup EVER! Yum!

I loved this! I made it exactly except for putting in fresh rosemary since we had it in the garden. It was lovely! I started the whole thing on the stove, and tranferred it to a dutch oven and baked it for about 45 minutes at 350 because I had things to do and couldn't watch it on the stove. It turned out fantastic and I will definitely be making this again! Great recipe, easy and fast and incredibly tasty!

This is #$^!@#%$ amazing. Had to use thyme because I didn't have rosemary, but followed the recipe exactly otherwise, and it was delicious. Worked great with polenta and parmesan cheese!

Made exactly as written except I used fresh rosemary. Delicious!

This is excellent and only needs a few ingredients. My kind of recipe! As I was short on time I added a spoonful or two of tomato paste to thicken up faster. Sure made everybody at my table happy.

I love chicken cacciatore but my family hates peppers and any vegetables I try to slip in. This recipe is not only simple, but so flavorful! Everyone Loved it- even the picky kids! Great recipe!!

This was really good!! I didn't have any orange juice or white wine, so just made it without and it was still delish! I used herbs de provence as that is what I had on-hand. I'll make this again.

Absolutely delicious ! Even my husband loved it and told me to use this for our family gathering. I followed the recipe exactly and will again. Loved it.

With all the great rave reviews, I was looking forward to something really yummy. What a let down. Totally disappointed. No need to keep this recipe.

This is so good you may have to stop yourself from licking the plate. Whatever you do, don't leave out or substitute the OJ, wine or rosemary. Ellen's right about the mix forming the character if the dish. That said, I did take another reviewers recommendation to cut the rosemary in half, and that was perfect for my tastes. It worked great with boneless chicken breasts and they were falling apart tender. I decided to add just a small roux at the last minute to bind the sauce, but it didn't really need it.

Tried this recipe today. It was very good. I made my own changes due to time constraints today. After I browned the chicken and sauteed the onion, garlic mixture, I put everything in a slow cooker for 4 hours. I also added some spaghetti sauce (about 3/4 cup). Since my husband is not crazy about rice or pasta, this was served over mashed potatoes. A real hit with him.

This was a very easy and tasty recipe. I had to tweek the recipe but only because I did not have mushrooms, white wine or orange juice. I used a whole cut up chicken, skin and fat removed, except for the wings which were left in tact. I washed, dried and seasoned both sides with salt, pepper and rosemary. I browned in oil and butter and after removing added the onion and garlic and red bell pepper slices, I used red wine (all I had on hand) and had I used crushed or plum canned tomatoes in place of the diced, the sauce would've been thicker for the side of the pasta I made for this. Despite the thin consistency, which is what this recipe aims for, the flavor was excellent. A keeper and remake for sure.

I used chicken breast and didn't use the white wine but it turned out wonderful

This was incredibly good, a true keeper. I had to make one substitution because I didn't have white wine. I used the juice from a can of peaches with 2t of Apple cider vinegar. Next time I'll have the white wine. Delicious!

Love this! Lots of liquid, so I chopped up the chicken, served it in bowls and called it soup! Superb! Even better the next day. I will make this all the time.

This recipe was fantastic - although a bit heavy on the rosemary for me - I think 2 teaspoons would be sufficient. I let the sauce reduce for a bit, then served it with bow-tie pasta, broccoli, Italian bread, & a nice salad. Will definitely be serving this one again!

Great recipe! Thank you!

Followed recipe pretty close but omitted wine (I am alcohol-free, no longer touch the stuff) and only used 1 Tb crushed rosemary because 2 seemed excessive. The sauce was perfect, not watery as some claimed (maybe due to no wine so less liquid). Husband had seconds! Note to self: use non-stick pan next time, the chicken thighs stuck to my Calphalon pan even with oil. Everything got scraped up in the end but it was a bit of a mess when I removed the cooked thighs from the pan. Will make again.

Ellen I do not know where you came up with the bizzaro idea to use orange juice but it was brilliant. The only things I changed was to substitute chicken broth for wine and to cut way back on rosemary as I do not like it. The dinner was amazing. For those who thought the sauce was runny just take the lid off during the last 20 minutes of cooking. I thought it was perfect.

I followed the recipe exactly interms of ingrediants, I did throw it in a slow cooker though because of a busy day. I thought it was great, my husband thought it had a little too much wine in it so for his preference I would in the future cut that back a bit but that might have just been because it was in the slow cooker or I did not have as much meat cooking in it. Thanks for a great meal!

Excellent recipe! VEry good,, and easy to make. very tasty!

I followed the recipe exactly except for mushrooms which I didn't have. I thought it was delicious, runny yes, but I actually love runny sauces that you can sop up with bread. The chicken came out very tender. My husband and 10 year old son thought it was a bit acidic (the tomato taste was over powering for them) so next time I will try it with half the tomatoes. My 3 year old twins inhaled this and one of them rubbed his tummy and said mmmmm. I served it on white rice and a side of bread. The Rosemary did not seem like too much for us, it gave it a good flavor. Thanks for the recipe!

This was fantastic. I made it without the mushrooms because I completely forgot them at the store and didn't go back... will not do this again as I REALLY missed them. But everyone loved the taste. Splurged and used fresh squeezed orange juice. Definitely a keeper!

This recipe was a good base. I modified it by using boneless, skinless chicken breasts, low sodium chicken broth instead of white wine, and onion powder instead of chopped onion. The chicken was very tender. I served it over white rice. I will cut back on the Rosemary next time. It was a little overpowering. Thanks for the recipe!

I made this recipe as written and was a little hesitant about the orange juice, but I loved the final flavor!

This was delicious! My husband hates tomatoes so I used crushed tomatoes and added chopped red & orange peppers. Will go on my favorites list!

Didn't have wine so used chicken broth. Added a small can of tomato paste...very good...will make again!

Had no OJ, so zested and squeezed a lemon, added 1 Tblsp sugar, reduced a little longer than called for, served with angel hair pasta. Very very simple and very very delicious.

I was very pleased with the results of this recipe. I am a picky eater and some ingredients I can't handle. However, I made this recipe and used the onion and garlic at the beginning, but took it out before adding tomatoes and chicken. I left a very small amount in the skillet and the results were still very good. The chicken was very tender, and the recipe was easy to follow, with not too many directions or ingredients. This is a great recipe in taste, easy instructions, ingredient that are mostly in cupboard, and minimal time overall in preparation to actually eating.

I used bone in and skin on thighs. Easy to make, thighs were very tender and sauce had a well balanced flavor. Browned thighs to crisp up the skin and to reduce fat in the dish. I would make again

The whole family really liked it a lot! I diced up fresh tomatoes, squash, and zucchini to put our garden vegetables and fresh rosemary to use and cooked with other veggies, but the squashes did make it more liquidy. Will make again. For fresh rosemary or other fresh herbs, use 3 times the dried amount. Any cheaper wine will give this dish a very nice flavor- same as the expensive kind. Served over linguine 'cause that's what was in the cupboard, and isn't this an Italian dish?! Yum.

This was great!!!! it's really a 4.5 star!!!! I did cut back on the rosemary to 2.5 teaspoons and added a can of tomato paste. I also cut up the thighs in to small pieces sure it boosted the flavor level. Served on top of egg noodles with butter biscuits, Cant wait to try the leftovers, I bet it will be better the 2nd. time around.

it was good.... but missing a lot of flavor we felt. Chicken comes out very tender which was awesome.

I had everything on the list but this is very bland.

Good recipe, but not amazing. It was MUCH better the second day. I used ten (10) boneless skinless chicken thighs. There was plenty of sauce for that number of thighs. I'm very glad I used the larger amount of chicken because the leftovers were fantastic.

This is a wonderful, tasty recipe...I have no idea how anyone could claim otherwise ....

I have made this several times already and I read the reviews before making it the first time. We LOVE this dish! Firstly, the orange juice makes this recipe stand out for me. Also, without the tomato paste, it is a soupy dish which lends well to making a soup dish with the leftover sauce. I like my sauce thicker so I do add tomato paste. With my left over sauce, I make a tomato soup the next day and add some chicken broth, lemon juice and shredded chicken to it. Really, you can also add vegetables in it but what makes it for me is the base sauce. Enjoy!

Made this last night for my family. They absolutely loved it. I did not use mushrooms only because I didnt have them. It had a very nice flavor and I used 1/4 cup of OJ because I didnt want it too sweet. I did add more garlic than requested and I added basil. Would definately make again.

This recipe was a hit, I used chicken broth instead of wine, but other than that followed it exactly. My 14 year old who usually hates mushrooms and tomoatoes, had seconds and said he loved it! Thank you! Served over elbow macaroni. leftovers for lunch were great too!

I'm not a fan of rosemary so I put in thyme instead and it seemed to be missing flavor when I did that. Also, I had to uncover the pan to get it to reduce down enough that it wouldn't be so soupy. I probably won't make this recipe again.

I have not ever made Cacciatore before. This was a great first recipe. It turned out wonderful, the whole family liked it. I used fresh squeezed OJ and the white wine that we had at the house, it was not a dry wine, and I could see how the dish would change based on the wine used, but it was great. I will be using this recipe again. Thank you for sharing.

I've been searching for a homemade cacciatore recipe for years that was as great as my Sister's she made when I was young! I add a trio of red,yellow,and orange bellpeppers,&that gives it a ton of extra flavor,along w/fresh Rosemary etc! My Hubby loves it so much! 10 out of 10 w/2 thumbs up!!

I made this tonight. The only thing I changed was, that I didn't add the dried rosemary. I added one sprig of fresh. I did add a few shakes of italian seasonings. After I browned the chicken thighs, cooked the onions and mushrooms, I put it in my crock pot. The chicken was really tender. It all smelled wonderful! My husband and I both felt the flavor was pretty bland though. I think if I make it again, I'll add more seasonings. I served it over rice hoping the thin liquid would stick to it. It did. I think I'll take other's advice and add tomato paste if I make it again. Thanks for sharing though!

Made it with cut half-game hens because that's what I had. Really felt like I was in Italy. Meat fell off the bone. Had Marsala so used that. As others, added small can of tomato paste. Definitely thickened it. Put over wide egg noodles with Parmesan. It was DELICIOUS!

This recipe was just awesome! I used a large jar of Spaghetti Sauce. Added a Green Pepper and Red Pepper. We love Mushrooms so I threw in a 16 oz. package. I didn't have any OJ so left it out. Used Marsala Wine and increased that to 3/4 cup. Also added 1 Tsp. of dried Oregano. A keeper for sure!

Yes! Used one of the suggestions to use thyme too but could go either way. VERY nice :)

Made it today, my husband totally loved it. We had jalapeño focaccia bread with it. I think I'd be great over basmati rice as well. Thank you, Ellen!

This one’s a winner!! My husband absolutely loved it! It’s a great base recipe but like most cooks, I tend to tweak recipes to our own particular tastes & what I have on hand. In this case, I omitted the mushrooms, used crushed tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes, reduced the rosemary & added a little thyme. We like to kick our sauces up a notch so I added about 1 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes. I also took the lid off after the 40 minutes of simmering & let the sauce cook down a bit before serving it over whole wheat linguini noodles.

I made this as written and let it “mature” for a couple of hours. OMG! So good!

I used this recipe as a template, but the results were still excellent, so five stars for the flexibility. I didn’t have orange juice so I substituted apple cider. I added a can of tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes as well as peppers.

4 stars as written. Cut the rosemary to 1 Tbs and added a little cayenne.

Came out very good, I added a little tomato paste and some zucchini. Everyone thought it was a keeper. Will definitely be made again.

Good flavor...Made it for a family on a gluten/dairy-free diet to go over rice.

The flavor was there, and the chicken came out well. This just wasn’t how I typically like this dish. There are probably lots of tweaks you could make to it to make it your own, so that’s the route I’ll take when I make it again.

This is my first time making or having this dish, but at the request of my husband made it tonight. Wow! He wa so impressed and just kept saying how flavorful and tasty it was and then got up and went back for seconds. I only changed a couple things because its what I had. I ended up doing half diced and half stewed tomatoes, used white cooking wine and I let it simmer uncovered to evaporate a bit of the liquids. I will definitely try to have exactly what I used this time on hand next time, because my husband said he wouldn't change a thig and E's a seasoned pro with chicken cacciatore. Thank you for the recipe!!!

I followed this recipe to a T. No changes at all and it was perfect! Chicken had a wonderful flavor and was moist and delicious! This recipe is a keeper!

good taste. Love it.

It had wonderful flavor and I did change it a bit. I didn’t use the orange juice, and I didn’t have rosemary by it’s self but used it in with other spices. I put cut in half Brussel sprouts in it and I used boneless and skinless thighs. I ate it without rice or pasta. It was great just as is with a little bit of sour dough bread to dip in it. Yummy

Delicious! The whole family enjoyed it. I didn't have any orange juice or mushrooms, so I substituted tomato sauce and zucchini, respectively.

So great! I followed exactly! Nothing I would change. Super easy and tasty! I only had fresh rosemary so I used about 1 tsp fresh chopped.

This is a perfectly seasoned recipe. The leftover sauce can be re-purposed many ways. I saw the one reviewer made a soup. I froze my leftover sauce and will probably add some ital. sausage and do a lasagna or some other casserole. Very tasty with the original ingredients. Thank you!

This recipe was a hit. I am not the cook in the family, my Italian husband is, but he is busy most nights so I came across this recipe and luckily had all the ingredients on hand including fresh oranges and fresh rosemary. I followed the recipe to the tee. Though it came out a little liquid-y, my husband suggested to add a roux but as others reviewed stated I think its suppose to be like that especially for a nice piece of bread. Usually my husband will add additional seasoning as I under spice but he didn't add one thing. It was fast and easy and I am going to definitely add to my short list of recipes.

I made this tonight and followed the recipe pretty closely. I used fresh garden tomatoes that I cooked down. I didn't have enough mushrooms so I added one small eggplant from the garden because I thought it would blend well with the other ingredients. I had chicken legs not thighs. I resisted adding anything different because I was curious to see if we would like this. It turned out to be delicious! This one's a keeper and my husband says it's his new favorite. I served it with angel hair pasta. I didn't add tomato paste or cheese and I'm glad I didn't. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

Because my wife has a great fondness for artichoke hearts, I added a jar of them. The result was very tasty and definitely a make again.

I did make this but made a few changes. Left out the oj and used tomato sauce. Served it over rice. I’ll make this again.

So many recipes but I decided on this one as DH doesn't like bell peppers that are in many. It is outstanding! I did make it an hour ahead of time and heated it later as DH often works late Thank you.

Very good. Will make this again.

Yummy! I also made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand (thanks to so many others who gave feedback that they did this so I was assured the recipe would still work). I will definitely use this recipe again and may eventually do so exactly as written. Regardless, I highly recommend others give it a go!

This was excellent! Used Italian diced tomatoes because that what I had and it turned out fantastic.

I found this to have a nice full bodied flavor.

Great recipe!! Delicious and very easy!!

Delicious and easy to make. I was serving it over rice so I didn't want too much of tomato sauce in it, I only put about 4 ounces of tomato sauce Goya Spanish style. The orange juice gives it a unique flavor and the orangey color. This was great! My family loved it and the recipe is now safely kept in my favorites folder ??

My original review is below. I'm updating it and taking off a star because this time I used the 2 tablespoons of dried rosemary as directed. It absolutely ruined the dish, making it bitter and nearly unedible. ---------- This came out perfectly. I made it exactly as the recipe directed, except I used fresh rosemary instead of dried.

Very good.

Delicious!

This was delicious! I was not sure about the orange juice, but it was a wonderful addition to the flavor. I hope people will want to try it.

I gave this recipe 5 stars because it reminded me of my mom's recipe, was easy and I was hungry, and was ready by the time the rice and salad were done. Thanks to the original poster for the note about accompaniments.

Switched up the cans of tomato’s with rotel cans for some added flavor and spice

Yummy! I used 2 split breasts, cut up and deboned because that is what I had on hand. I also chopped up a pint of grape tomatoes to use them up instead of a can of diced tomatoes. I added artichoke hearts and a liberal amount of spices including oregano, parsley, thyme, and basil. Lastly, I added a can of tomato paste to thicken the sauce up. A quick and healthy meal!

My husband is still raving about this recipe ! Made it twice now...once with basmati rice and the second with penne! I took the suggestion and added extra spices...oregano, Italian spice, crushed red pepper. I didn't have orange juice, so used apple juice instead :)

Delicious and easy to make. I used can mushrooms because I had no fresh. Next time I would use fresh mushrooms. With left overs I cut up and had soup. Thanks Ellen.

Thanks for sharing Ellen. This was delicious as is.

my family really liked this. it did get better overnight. made as is and served it with polenta one time and pasta once. will certainly make this again!

This recipe is easy to make, delicious, and even better--it's only 6 points on Weight Watchers according to the nutritional information on this site. I didn't realize I was down to 1-14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes and used some jarred pasta sauce for the rest of the sauce (about 12oz). Since my husband hates mushrooms, I threw in a bag of frozen petite peas. The end result was delicious! It seemed there was too much sauce though and that's my fault from the modifications I was forced to make. I'm sure it's fine though making the recipe as stated and can't wait to try making this as is again!

Delicious! And fairly simple. Love it!

I made it with chicken breasts and it came out great !

I have finally found a flavorful sauce! Made it for the first time and it was beyond delicious! It made the chicken taste so good. I used spaghetti noodles with the dish. So a meatless version would still taste amazing.

Delicious! Loved the sauce and I'm SO happy that I have left-overs for lunch today!

I didn't have any mushrooms. So that was omitted. Next time I make this I'm going to be sure I have mushrooms. This recipe was absolutely delicious. My family loved it! It was a simple recipe but so so good! You gotta try it!

Oh wow, delicious!! I didn't have the wine so I hesitantly subbed out chicken stock, it worked great! Used tiny baby bella mushrooms. This had tons of flavor and was perfect served over cauli rice :)

I made this and loved it! I added green peppers and black olives. Yum!! I loved the sauce as the recipe called for.

Didn't have white wine, so used the red on hand. I cut back a bit on the oj just in case it didn't work well with the red wine. Otherwise followed the recipe. Entire family really enjoyed it. Served with a risotto and green beans. Will make again (and with the white next time)!

Very good! I made it with pork chops though and it was delicious.