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Hearty, comforting, and so many fun flavors. This Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore is a classic Italian dish that can also be made in the Slow Cooker for an easy weeknight dinner. It’s healthy, low-carb, Keto-friendly, Paleo, and Whole30 approved. This is also one of the Instant Pot recipes I always turn to when I want a flavorful meal that’s both simple and satisfying.
A healthier way to enjoy Italian Cuisine!
Who says you can’t enjoy fantastic Italian food on a healthy diet? Whether it’s a low-carb Keto diet, Whole30, Paleo, and others, there is always a way to enjoy food from Italy in a nutritious way. I was on a mission to prove this to my husband who replaced his beloved pasta for vegetable noodles instead.
This Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore recipe is savory, delicious, and get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes! It’s packed with protein from the chicken and some fiber from the vegetables for the perfect, satiating meal.
And BOOM. We enjoyed my Classic Spaghetti with spaghetti squash, my Walnut Crusted Lemon Chicken Piccata, Chicken Alfredo, and now this Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore.
As a nutritionist, what I love about Italian food is that you can easily use plenty of fresh herbs and fresh ingredients to get really bold flavor. Chicken Cacciatore is a perfect example. I used a ton of vegetables (some that my kids picked out, but whatevs), and fresh herbs along with chicken braised in a yummy tomato sauce. I often find myself adding mushrooms to meals like this because they bring so much depth and really take on the flavors beautifully. We served over spiralized zucchini and potatoes, soooooooo delicious!!!
How to make Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore:
To braise the chicken in this recipe, you will use either the Instant Pot or the Slow Cooker. I have been partial to my Instant Pot lately because of our crazy hectic schedule.
Here are the ingredients you will need:
- Chicken thighs
- Avocado oil or olive oil
- Mushrooms
- Green bell pepper
- Canned tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- Onion
- Garlic
- Red wine vinegar
- Spices: oregano, rosemary, thyme, and paprika
- Artichoke hearts
- Chicken broth or red wine
This is definitely a set it and forget it recipe. All of the ingredients get dumped into the slow cooker or Instant Pot. If you use the IP, I do recommend sautéing the onions, garlic, and chicken prior to dumping the rest of the ingredients into the pot to pressure cook. This gives a bit more flavor to the recipe. If you love this kind of hands-off meal, be sure to check out my Instant Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs it’s another cozy, dump-and-go favorite!
- For this recipe, start by selecting the saute function on your Instant Pot. Add oil and chicken to sear, then remove from the pot. Then toss in your onion, followed by garlic and cook.
- Next, pour chicken stock or wine in the pot to deglaze the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
- Mix together your dry spices, then add tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, and spices over the onion and garlic.
- Top the sauce with chicken, then remaining vegetables: mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and bell pepper.
- Secure the lid on your pressure cooker and turn it to the sealing position. Select manual and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Use a quick release once cooked.
- Add any additional salt and black pepper to taste and serve over noodles, zoodles, or potatoes and garnish with fresh basil and thyme if using. Feel free to sprinkle a teaspoon of parmesan cheese, too!
Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore Recipe notes:
- The sauce will thicken up nicely and I think tastes more delicious as time goes on. I say all that to let you know, this is a perfect dish to make ahead! I often make dinner early in the day if I’m photographing (better lighting). Leftovers tasted even better the next day.
- I am very partial to chicken breast, and have a thing against chicken with bones or even other chicken parts. Chicken Cacciatore translates to Chicken hunter-style, and is generally a combination of different chicken parts. Feel free to swap out breasts for thighs, or use bone-in chicken thighs if that suits your taste.
- Red wine is such a nice compliment to flavor on this dish! You can easily use chicken broth in it’s place, but I love the elevation of flavor here.
- I used a ton of different herbs and flavor in this recipe, don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients. If you don’t have one particular herb on hand, don’t sweat it.
- Also, the sauce may seem rather runny at first, but will thicken up.
Variations
As written, the recipe is Keto and Whole30 friendly. However, you can swap out the chicken broth and red wine vinegar for 3/4 cup red wine. I have tried that on a different non-Whole30 occasion and it was so yummy!
The sauce in this recipe is a tasty tomato-based sauce that you can enhance any way you would like! For a bit of Mediterranean flavor, add some kalamata olives. To get a bit more herby flavor, add a bay leaf when cooking. For a bit more of a kick, incorporate red pepper flakes!
Some recipes for chicken cacciatore call for dredging the chicken in flour. It is totally delicious without it.
Because I am absolutely devoted to giving you all fast and super simple dinners that you can make on a busy weeknight, I think you will love this list of 50 of the easiest Whole30 One Pan Meals! You’ll find this Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore, more Instant Pot dinners, and other one pan meals you can make on the stovetop or oven. Even if not doing Whole30, there are plenty of healthy dinners to try!
Serving
As mentioned above, we prefer this over zucchini noodles or potatoes for a complete meal. You an also serve over pasta, that makes it more kid friendly. Some crusty bread on the side is a great way to soak up the leftover sauce. It would also be so yummy on cauliflower rice.
I love to serve alongside my Easy House Salad or a green salad with green goddess dressing.
Storing
This recipe freezes really well! It makes a lot, so feel free to put half of it in the freezer and enjoy at a later day. Just bring to room temperature, and let simmer on the stove to reheat. It also makes great leftovers with the flavor developing the longer it sits. It will hold up just fine in the fridge for about 5 days.
Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast, or thighs, either one is fine
- 2 tbsp avocado oil or olive oil
- 1 medium sized yellow or white onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 14 oz can diced or pureed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1/2 cup diced, marinated artichoke hearts
- 3/4 cup chicken broth*
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme to serve and garnish, optional
- 2 tbsp fresh basil to serve, optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Slow Cooker:
- Salt and Pepper your chicken. Place inside the slow cooker.
- In a small bowl mix together the dried spices: oregano, paprika, thyme, rosemary, & salt.
- Top chicken with onion, garlic, tomatoes, chicken broth, vinegar, and tomato paste. Sprinkle spices on top.
- Cover chicken with remaining vegetables: bell pepper, mushrooms, artichoke hearts.
- Cover and cook for 4-6 hours on low or until chicken is tender and cooked all the way. Stir the sauce, add in additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve over noodles, zoodles, or potatoes. Garnish with basil and thyme.
For the Instant Pot:
- Select the saute function on your Instant Pot. While waiting to heat, salt and pepper your chicken. Cover the bottom of your Instant pot with oil, and add chicken. Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the pot. Add in any extra oil if needed, then toss in your onion. Cook for about 2 minutes, add garlic and cook for another minute.
- Select the cancel function. Pour chicken broth (or wine if using), in the pot to deglaze, scraping up any brown bits off the bottom that might have stuck (this helps to prevent burning).
- In a small bowl, mix together your dry spices: oregano, paprika, rosemary, thyme, and salt. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, and spices over the onion/garlic mixture. Give it a quick stir.
- Now top the sauce with chicken, then remaining vegetables: mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and bell pepper.
- Secure the lid. Select manual and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Once cooking is complete, use a quick release. You can use a towel to cover the valve to prevent a mess. Once steam is completely released, open the lid.
- Stir around the mixture. You can let sit for several minutes to thicken up the sauce, or serve immediately. Add any additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve over noodles, zoodles, or potatoes and garnish with fresh basil and thyme if using.
Notes
Again, another delicious meal my whole family loved!
My husband gave me an instapot for Christmas. This was the 2nd recipe that I made. It came out amazing! I put it over zoodles and some leftover veggies.
This looked so good, and I was excited to try it in my 8 qt Instant Pot. Doubled the recipe, and followed it exactly, but the IP would not pressurize. After the first 8 min cycle, tried it again, and no luck. I now have it in there on high pressure for 20 mins, so we’ll see what happens. Any thoughts on why doubling the recipe might prevent the IP from pressurizing?
Hmmmmm, there should be enough liquid. I know for a larger instant pot you need an extra cup of liquid. So maybe it needed another cup of chicken broth? But since you doubled the recipe it should have been fine. That would be my best guess! Randomly my IP didn’t come to pressure after two tries a few weeks ago for a tried and true recipe. It worked after the 3rd time. Hope it worked out for you!!
Excuse me: Did you really leave cooked chicken on the counter for 6 hours?
Yes I do. It’s in warm mode on my Instant Pot which means it’s still slowly cooking. Not much different than slow cooking chicken!
I made this in my Instant Pot and it was good! I had about 8 servings out of 2.5lbs chicken (boneless skinless breasts cut in half and boneless skinless thighs), kiiind of doubled sauce (I used a can of diced tomatoes AND a can of tomato puree, and winged the spices a little), and 32oz of fettuccine. Embarrassingly, I forgot the mushrooms, so I have no comment on them.
Great Becky! Hope you had plenty of leftovers!!
I’m curious — after QR, if you want to wait to eat, do you still open the pot and stir? Then, close it back up and Keep Warm?
Hi Phyllis, if you are waiting to eat, I would do a natural release. Open the lid and stir, and let it sit. This recipe in particular tastes great if it rests for awhile!
This was fantastic! Even my picky three-year-old loved it. One question – do you think a double recipe will fit in the 8 qt Instant Pot? I don’t remember how full the pot was with the single recipe. If yes, do you think I need to adjust the cooking time? Thanks!
Not sure, but I think it could work!! As you are adding ingredients, just make sure it doesn’t go above the fill line.
This was a very good recipe. I”m new to the Instant Pot craze and really enjoying some renewed cooking passion (I was a professional chef for 10+ years).
I made a few changes to the recipe. I cut sodium by using low-salt broth and tomatoes, and then replaced it by adding a few Anchovy Fillets while sauteeing the onions and peppers (I sauteed peppers with onions). I added a few variety of non-hot peppers to add depth of flavor, and I added calamata olives at the same time as “the rest of the veggies).
I served mine over whole-wheat Penne Pasta. Topped with Pecorino Ramano. Was very good.
four stars only because it would be better by doing all the steps involved with the traditional dish. For a quick meal, in under an hour, it’s a solid 5-star.
Thanks Matt, those sounds like delicious additions. Thank you for your feedback!
You are a great cook, I have loved your recipe and my partner too, I thank you very much and I follow you very closely, keep it up
Thank you!
Delicious — Made this tonight and the kids and I loved it. The slow cooker instructions do not state when to add the red wine vinegar. You may want to correct the recipe to include that. Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks, Tina! I’ll change it now 🙂