Slow Cooker Cacciatore

This Slow Cooker Cacciatore recipe is pasta, chicken, cheese, Italian spices … Score! The scent and taste is phenomenal – one of my favourite slow cooker pasta recipes of all time!

A plate of food with pasta, with Slow cooker cacciatore

Slow Cooker Cacciatore

January is Slow Cooker Month and I decide this was most likely declared by a Canadian, most likely one that tried my Slow Cooker Baked Ziti or this Slow Cooker Cabbage Roll Soup. Don’t Google it, let’s just believe it. It is us Canadians can look at both the harsh January blah’s and busy schedules, then announce praise for the almighty slow cooker.

It’s just gotta be one of my all-time favourite inventions. Some prep in the morning and a meal done by dinner – I bow to thee!

It comes at no surprise that I love to expand my collection of slow cooker recipes. Grow baby grow, as I rub my palms together in celebration. I mean, yes, I slaved ALL DAY for this delicious meal. Shhhh.

Slow Cooker Cacciatore

I recently tried making Slow Cooker Cacciatore and let.me.tell.you. This recipe is perfection!

Pasta, chicken, italian spices … you bet I was trying this recipe! Verdict? Score!

Prep was super easy: the slow cooker was on before we flew out the door for school drop off. The scents filling the home throughout the day were divine, and then after activities and homework was completed – dinnertime!

Take cooked pasta, and top with the cookerSlow Cooker Cacciatore. Toss on some Mozzarella Cheese and some fresh parsley – done!

A plate of food

Speaking of cheeses though, did you know that January 20th was National Cheese Lover’s Day? I know, like you need a special day to tell you to love cheese. Laughable, right? So, pile it on my friends, the more {cheese recipes} – the better!

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can add more or less {?} cheese, choose your favourite pasta for the dish or make other additions and substitutions if you so wish. I made this right by the recipe and it was great, perfection!

What is your favourite slow cooker meal?

A plate of food, with cacciatore Pasta and Cheese
A plate of food

Slow Cooker Cacciatore

Yield: 5 people
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 7 hours
Total Time: 7 hours 10 minutes

This Slow Cooker Cacciatore recipe is pasta, chicken, cheese, italian spices ... Score! The scent and taste is phenomenal - one of my favourite slow cooker pasta recipes of all time!

Ingredients

  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, 900 g
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cans tomato paste, 5.5 fl oz/156 mL each
  • 1/4 cup 25%-less-sodium chicken broth
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp dried basil leaves
  • 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 pkg. sliced fresh mushrooms, 1/2 lb./225 g
  • 6 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
  • 1 cup Mozzarella Shredded Cheese
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

  1. Place onions in slow cooker; top with chicken and bay leaf. Mix next 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Add mushrooms; stir to evenly coat. Spoon over chicken; cover with lid.
  2. Cook on LOW 7 to 9 hours (or on HIGH 5 hours). About 15 min. before ready to serve, cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt.
  3. Drain pasta. Remove bay leaf from chicken mixture; discard. Spoon chicken mixture over pasta; top with cheese and parsley.

Notes


This version of cacciatore is based on a classic recipe using tomato paste, so the flavour of the sauce is more strongly tomato and less like a pasta sauce. If you prefer a spicier sauce, increase the basil, oregano and pepper – and be sure they are within their shelf life so that you are getting their full flavour. Substituting dry white wine for the broth enhances the sauce flavour nicely, too.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: 5 people
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 567Saturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 190mgSodium: 316mgCarbohydrates: 57gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 50g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

30 Comments

  1. This looks like my kind of meal, easy prep with delicious results. We do like our sauce kind of spicy, maybe it’s a Texas thing so thanks for mentioning how to spice it up a little!

  2. Constantly on the lookout for slow cooker recipes and this one I will try! My dad and I make completely different versions of ‘cacciatore’ and this one looks just as good. Going to pin too!

  3. I love using the slow cooker. You can set it and forget it. Well, not really forget it right since you smell your supper cooking all day. I have to make this one. Pinned! Thanks for sharing.

  4. Thanks for this awesome recipe i am always on the lookout for great slow cooker recipes!

  5. Yum! This both looks and sounds delicious! I think I’d serve this over quinoa!

    Thanks for the recipe!

  6. Looks so good. I am going to have to get a slow cooker. So many recipes on the go for them.

  7. yum looks and sounds so good. we love pasta in this house and I love cooking with my slow cooker.

  8. Thanks for sharing this recipe, it looks really good. I love my slow cooker during the winter months!

  9. Oh my yum! You had me at slow cooker and then I saw the gorgeous photos of this delicious meal. Pinning and adding to my rotation this week.

  10. I love making crockpot dinners , so much easier & always pleasing , so many recipes to do in the crockpot now & this one sounds & looks delish & easy, thank you for sharing

  11. Why omit the salt? Not salting the water you cook the pasta in does a couple of bad things.

    It reduces flavor. Remember that salt, before it starts tasting salty, helps bring out other flavors. Pasta tastes good and the only way to get flavor INTO the pasta is to salt it during its cooking. If you add flavors after it’s cooked, those flavors get ONTO the pasta, not in it.

    It impacts how the sauce interacts with the pasta. You want all that delicious sauce your crockpot spent so much time producing to really adhere to the pasta. The salt alters the way sauces stick to the pasta. Salted pasta means sauce sticks to it.

    So, while the recipe looks like it might be pretty tasty, salting the pasta vs not can dramatically the entire dish!

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