This delicious and healthy chicken cacciatore is made all in one skillet and perfect for weeknight dinners! It’s paleo, Whole30 and low carb. Serve over your favorite veggie noodles for a hearty, filling and flavorful meal.
One skillet chicken dinners are where it’s at lately! Whether it’s creamy tuscan chicken, lemon chicken with kale, spinach artichoke chicken or lemon chicken piccata there are loads of delicious ways to cook a filling meal in just one skillet.
Today it’s all about this paleo chicken cacciatore. I made it Whole30 compliant too with just a simple swap of broth for wine – but feel free to add that wine if you just have to.
With veggies like mushrooms, carrots, onions, bell pepper and tomatoes, a thick tomato sauce and flavorful skin-on chicken thighs, it’s a dreamy one-skillet dinner.
What You Need to Make One-Skillet Chicken Cacciatore
Simple ingredients usually make the best meals, the ones you want on repeat in your kitchen! There’s no exception here – we start with fresh and flavorful ingredients and the payoff is big. Here’s what you’ll need:
- 6 Chicken thighs, bone-in skin-on
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Avocado oil or olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 large carrots
- 8 oz white mushrooms
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1/3 cup chicken bone broth
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes with basil
- 1-2 Tbsp tomato paste (optional)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- Crushed red pepper, optional
- Olive (optional)
- Fresh parsley, for garnish
How To Make Paleo Chicken Cacciatore
Note that the full instructions are down in the recipe box, but here’s a summary of what you’ll do.
Season chicken generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the oil to medium high in a large heavy skillet (cast iron is preferred). Add the chicken and sear for 5 minutes on each side or until deep golden brown. Remove to a plate and set aside. Don’t drain the fat from the skillet.
Lower the heat to medium and cook the onion until translucent and fragrant (1-2 minutes) then add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
Add the peppers, carrot, and mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes until vegetables soften, then add the chicken back to the skillet, pushing the veggies aside to make room.
Pour in the crushed tomatoes and broth and season with salt, black pepper (to your taste), oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper, if desired. Mix the sauce and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, then cover reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer (while stirring occasionally) for 25-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Stir in the olives, if using, and garnish with fresh parsley or other herbs as desired.
Can I Use Boneless Chicken for Chicken Cacciatore?
Yes, it’s possible. However, I feel that using bone-in chicken not only creates the best flavor for the entire dish, but also ensures the chicken will stay juicy.
Since the sauce simmers about 30 minutes, you’re getting all the flavor from the chicken as it cooks infused into your sauce.
If you want to use boneless chicken, thighs would be my first preference, then breasts. You won’t need to simmer the chicken as long since it will cook through more quickly, so you’ll have to watch it. Chicken is done when a meat thermometer reads 165° F, so keep this in mind if you decide to use boneless chicken.
You can also thicken the sauce with a bit more tomato paste if you won’t be simmering it for as long.
What To Serve with Paleo Chicken Cacciatore
To keep this dish relatively low carb and also Whole30, your best bets for serving are zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, sautéed greens (like kale) or roasted veggies (like broccoli or cauliflower).
You can also serve it over roasted spaghetti squash, roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes or get fancy and make sweet potato or butternut squash noodles! They even sell these veggie “noodles” already prepared in some stores, so go ahead and take advantage of that for a fun and easy side dish.
I hope you’re ready for a seriously tasty, comforting meal that’s big on flavor and nutrition! Start chopping your veggies and grab a big skillet because it’s time to cook – let’s go!
One Skillet Chicken Cacciatore {Paleo, Whole30}
One Skillet Chicken Cacciatore {Paleo, Whole30}
Ingredients
- 6 Chicken thighs bone in, skin on
- Sea salt and black pepper
- 1-2 tbsp avocado oil or olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large carrots diced
- 8 oz white mushrooms sliced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1/3 cup chicken bone broth
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes with basil
- 1-2 Tbsp tomato paste optional
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- Crushed red pepper optional
- 1/3 cup pitted olives optional (I used kalamata)
- fresh parsley or other herbs, for garnish
Instructions
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Season chicken generously with salt and pepper on both sides.
-
Heat the oil to medium-high in a large heavy skillet (Cast iron is preferred). Add the chicken and sear 5 minutes on each side or until deep golden brown. Remove to a plate and set aside. Don’t drain the fat from the skillet.
-
Lower the heat to medium and cook the onion until translucent and fragrant (1-2 minutes) then add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
-
Add the peppers, carrot, and mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes until vegetables soften.
-
Add the chicken back to the skillet, pushing the veggies aside to make room.
-
Pour in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste (if using) and broth and season with salt, black pepper (to your taste), oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper, if desired.
-
Mix the sauce and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, then cover reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer (while stirring occasionally) for 25-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in the olives, if using, and garnish with fresh parsley or other herbs as desired.
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To keep it low carb and Whole30 serve over zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice and/or with roasted veggies Enjoy!
Nutrition
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Want More Whole30 Skillet Chicken Recipes? Try One of These!
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This chicken cacciatore looks so flavorful. What a great way to use an inexpensive cut of chicken too. Yum!
Yes, very oftened. We love this recipe.
This is delicious!! I used a dutch oven to cook everything and it came out quite tasty! I thought that the chicken gave off a lot of juice when I made it so I actually skipped putting in the chicken broth and then added fresh basil and parsley into the sauce as it simmered.
First time making chicken cacciatore, and it was a very enjoyable dish. Will make again!
Loved this recipe. I swapped out the olives for black beans. Very delicious and easy to make. Thank you for posting
I’m pretty new to Paleo but I’ve tried several recipes from this site now. This recipe was super easy and VERY good. I actually used boneless/skinless thighs and found them very easy to eat as there is a lot of sauce. I would definitely recommend this recipe.
The skin turned out nasty and slimy – will remove skin next time
I definitely need to motivate and get a little more organized! I think I just got burnt out 🙂
Made this recipe last night, it was really delicious, served it up with some roasted sweet potato and grilled zuchinni…definitely going to become a regular on the menu. Thanks!
I really like hot color food. Thanks for your recipe!!
Sorry, just fyi – cooking tomato dishes in cast iron ruins the pan, and leaches iron into the food.
I love this recipe though and didn’t realize the tomato-cast iron problem until later. I had to reseason my skillet. Wish there were a workaround for this recipe.