Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
This family friendly Italian classic dish Chicken Cacciatore is made in the slow cooker for a convenient weeknight dinner!

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
There is nothing better than the sweet aroma of bell peppers and tomatoes simmering slowly all day in this Chicken Cacciatore dish.
Cacciatore means “hunter” in Italian, often the chicken is dusted with flour and fried in oil before simmering in tomatoes with onions and peppers. This healthier version removes the skin and skips the deep frying, but you won’t miss it.
Slow Cooker Tips:
- When using your slow cooker, I always recommend browning the meat and vegetables first for deeper flavors and a thicker sauce because liquids don’t evaporate in the slow cooker.
- But for those of you who don’t want to dirty a pan, or don’t have that extra time to brown first I tested this out using the quick method of dumping it all in the slow cookers.
- Verdict: The sauce wasn’t as thick as I would have liked, so my easy fix: I set the crock pot to high with the cover off for one additional hour to let it simmer and thicken and that worked fine. Perhaps adding a little flour would also help it thicken. If you want to add mushrooms to the sauce, this would also be a great time to do so.
- If you like white meat, you can certainly use chicken breast but I highly recommend keeping the chicken on the bone. The bone is what gives you such great flavor, you can always remove it after.
What do you serve with Chicken Cacciatore?
- We love it served over pasta, spaghetti squash, rice or polenta.
For the stove top version, see Chicken Cacciatore. Cooking on the stove differs from the crock pot, liquids evaporate quickly on the stove where as in the slow cooker nothing evaporates. When you add all the elements to your crock, you may be tempted to add broth but don’t. There will be plenty of liquid once it starts cooking. Also, flavors tend to get muted in the slow cooker, so I always adjust my herbs and seasoning in the end to get it where I want it.
I’ve also now included an Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore recipe. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore
This family friendly Italian classic dish Chicken Cacciatore is made in the slow cooker for a convenient weeknight dinner!
Ingredients:
- 8 chicken thighs, with the bone, skin removed
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (Tuttorosso my favorite!)
- 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1/2 large onion, sliced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and fresh pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh herbs such as basil or parsley for topping
Directions:
Quick method:
- Season chicken with salt and black pepper and place in the slow cooker.
- Pour tomatoes over the chicken, top with onions and peppers, add oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper, give it a quick stir and cover.
- Set crock pot to LOW 8 hours or HIGH 4 hours.
- When the timer beeps, remove lid and keep the crock pot on HIGH one hour to help it thicken.
Better method but requires more prep:
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high, lightly spray with oil (I use my Misto) and brown chicken on both sides a few minutes, season with salt and pepper. Add to the slow cooker.
- To the skillet, spray with a little more oil and add onions and peppers. Sauté until juices release and the vegetables become golden, a few minutes.Add to the slow cooker. Pour tomatoes over the chicken and vegetables, add oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper, give it a quick stir and cover.
- Set crock pot to LOW 8 hours or HIGH 4 hours. Remove bay leaf, adjust salt and pepper and enjoy!
* Pasta not included in nutritional info.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 8, Serving Size: 1 thigh, 1/2 cup sauce, veggies
- Amount Per Serving:
- Freestyle Points: 5
- Points +: 4
- Calories: 126.2 calories
- Total Fat: 2.8g
- Saturated Fat: g
- Cholesterol: mg
- Sodium: 271.6mg
- Carbohydrates: 9.2g
- Fiber: 0.6g
- Sugar: 4.1g
- Protein: 13.9g
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This was fabulous! I made with chicken breast to adhere to WW Freestyle. Zero points for the sauce/chicken and used dreamfields rotini pasta for 5sp (3/4 cup). That was the only pasta I had on hand. Will make again! Great recipe Gina!
How much a chicken breast did you use?
I cut up four small/medium breasts– probably 2.5 lbs. I used the whole onion and peppers and more mushrooms to get more meals out of it.
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Delicious and easy. I used bone-in chicken thighs and the meat just feel off the bone when it was done. Moist and tasty. I froze half and had had the rest over linguini.
Would this be 0 points on the new plan?
I want to add more chicken to serve 12. Do I need more sauce?
Made this with chicken breasts and served it over spaghetti squash for zero points. Leftovers will make great lunches. So easy and delish.
One of my favorite Skinnytaste meals! I love that you can whip up something so delicious in a slow cooker. I love to add mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow squash to this as well!
Easy, delicious, and only 5 Freestyle Weight Watcher Points, this crock-pot gem makes a delicious meal for 4. The meat falls off the bone easily and the flavor is just perfect. I “cheated” a bit by adding a potato cut into small, bite-sized pieces. If you are a purist and want to forego the almost obligatory pasta, try pouring your portion over half of a Sandwich-Thin as you’ll need something to mop up the delicious juicy sauce that this cacciatore will produce. I made this dish in a crock pot, in about 5 hours alternating between high and low temps, but Gina includes directions for cooking it (really fast) in an InstantPot. That’ll be my next project.It is so nice to know that delicious can also be healthy. Thanks!
Thank you Robert!
Easy, tasty, and my granddaughter approved!
Hi Gina,
I bought the ingredients for this today for dinner tonight. I’m wondering, could I do think in a Dutch oven too. If so, for how long.
Thanks so much. I love Skinnytaste and have been following you for years.
Shelley
Absolutely delicious. Added 1 small courgette (zucchini) sliced, 1 large carrot in small chunks, and handful of French (Bobby, pencil) beans in 2 inch pieces. Needed a little cornflour (cornstarch) paste to thicken. Took less time than expected to cook. Will definitely make this again, especially in winter/wet weather. So easy. Thank you very much. (Brit living in Spain)
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Eight hours on low in the slow cooker was way too long. So far all the recipes I’ve tried on this site have come out great, except for this one.
Should the chicken be shredded when done cooking? I have never made any version of chicken cacciatore before!
No you don’t have to unless you want to.
Delicious!! Big hit with my hubby!! I added capers instead of the peppers…no pasta for us, served it over broccoli…Very healthy and Very tasty!! Adding it to the weekly menu!! Thanks!!
Can you use chicken breast instead of thighs with the same outcome in taste, I have 3 breasts defrosting I want to use?
What kind of Mushrooms do I put at the end for the last hour?
There are no mushrooms in the ingredient list, but I’m sure you could add whatever kind of mushrooms you like.
Love your recipes.
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Why is this 5 points if it doesn’t include the pasta?
The chicken thighs on the bone
Made this last night. I cook from Gina’s recipes ALL the time and love everything. This is the first time I didn’t fall in love. Very little flavor to this. I added plenty of slat and pepper, too. I think some garlic and Worcestershire and maybe some grated carrots would have added a lot. I will try that next time. The chicken just falls of the bone! Lovely! Don’t even need a knife!
If I want to half this recipe do I need to adjust the cooking time?
Can you freeze leftovers? I want to double this recipe. Thanks in advance
Great recipe! Very tasty sauce. Meat was moist, tender and just fell off the bone! I did add minced garlic. I can’t make an Italian dish without garlic. Next time I will add corn starch. It was too thin for me.. I’m going to try some sliced black olives too. Thanks for the recipe!
I put this on WW recipe builder exactly as is with 8 servings and it came up 3 points not 5. Why the difference in points? If you use chicken breast its 0 with the new FS plan. This recipe is delish as is all on this site!!
Can I use thighs without the bone or chicken legs? Which one would b better ? Do u prefer low or high for cooking. I have time either way. Which one is better?