Lighter Chicken Cacciatore
Dinner | Italian
Cacciatore is a rustic braise of chicken in a tomato sauce with onion, carrot, celery and garlic. This is my lighter, faster take on it. I use chicken breast instead of thighs and simmer everything in passata. The whole dish is done in about 15 minutes. You still get plenty of flavour, because we'll add some good colour on the onion and carrot and that sweetness carries right through the sauce.
This recipe is pretty simple. Sauté the veg, brown the outside of the chicken, then add the vinegar and passata and let the chicken gently finish cooking in the sauce. Because it’s only browned to start with, it stays juicy instead of drying out. A splash of red wine vinegar brightens up the tomato, and a handful of parsley at the end keeps it fresh. I serve it with crusty baguette for mopping up the sauce, but it’s just as good with rice, mash or polenta.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 800g chicken breast
- 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 stick celery, diced
- 2 ½ tbsp red wine vinegar
- 700g jar tomato passata
- 1 bunch parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- 250g baguette to serve
Directions
- Peel the onion, carrots and garlic. Finely dice the onion, carrots, garlic and celery.
- Cube the chicken into chunks and set aside.
- Place a large saucier or saucepan over heat and add the oil. Sauté the onion and carrots in the oil with a pinch of salt for 2-3 minutes or until they develop a golden brown colour.
- Add the chicken breast to the saucier and stir through with a pinch of salt. Once the chicken develops colour on the outside, add the garlic and celery. Stir for a further 1 minute.
- Add the vinegar and tomato passata, bring to a simmer on medium heat for 8-9 minutes.
- In the meantime, finely slice the parsley leaves and set aside.
- Check the chicken is cooked. When ready, taste the seasoning of the sauce and adjust with salt and pepper.
- Garnish with finely sliced parsley and a portion of baguette.
Recipe notes
Chicken breast
I’ve gone with breast here instead of thighs to keep this one lean. On average, thighs have about 44 more calories and 5g less protein per 100g, and once the chicken is sitting in a rich tomato sauce, you honestly won’t miss the difference. The trick with breast is not overcooking it, so cut it into even chunks and let it finish gently in the sauce. You can use chicken thighs if you prefer or a whole chicken cut into 8 pieces.
Olive oil (health tip from Adam Sullivan)
Olive oil is full of the good fats, but it’s also high in calories, around 165 per tablespoon. You don’t need to avoid it, you just need to measure it. It’s really easy to free-pour and end up using double what you need. One and a half tablespoons is plenty to sauté the veg and brown the chicken in a good saucier.
Passata
Passata is just smooth, strained tomatoes, so it gives you a silky sauce straight from the jar without any blending. Check the label and pick one that’s only tomatoes and salt.
Red wine vinegar
The red wine vinegar cuts through the sweetness of the tomato and caramelised veg and gives the sauce a bit of tang, a bit like a splash of wine would in a traditional cacciatore. If you don’t have any, white wine vinegar works too.