Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
This instant pot chicken cacciatore recipe is my twist on a classic Italian dish for the ultimate weeknight dinner. Tender, juicy chicken braised in a mouthwatering gravy and served over pasta or rice…does it get any better than that?
When I was growing up, we had chicken cacciatore a lot. My mom alternated between serving us this delicious dish and serving chicken marengo. And even though the dishes are similar, I definitely get a hankering for each of them for different reasons.
The difference between the two is: this instant pot chicken cacciatore has a touch of sherry and chicken marengo has a good dose of (usually) red wine.
I love the simplicity of the instant pot chicken cacciatore. If I made this on the stove top, it would have taken over an hour. I heart you, IP.
My mom loved her pressure cooker too but I didn’t think much of it. Now that I’ve used one, I’m hooked and try to find more recipes to make in it.
When my mom used to make pressure cooker chicken cacciatore, we used to gobble it up with smiles on our faces.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I get a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you click the link and buy something. You can read my disclosure here.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – I always use extra virgin olive oil because of the peppery and delicious taste.
- Onion – I use Vidalia onions because I love the slightly sweet taste but if you prefer to use a yellow onion, that’s fine.
- Bell Peppers – I use two different colors – green and red. The red gives it a slightly sweet taste and the green pepper is more conventional.
- Mushrooms – I enjoy baby portobellos in this recipe but white button mushrooms are fine too.
- Chicken thighs – I used organic free-range chicken thighs with the skin on and bones in for this recipe but you can use boneless and skinless thighs if you prefer.
- Crushed tomatoes – I use a 28 ounce can.
- Chicken broth – I enjoy Trader Joe’s free-range organic broth.
- Dry sherry – Feel free to omit this though it does flavor the gravy quite nicely. Omit this if you are doing Whole30.
- Herbs – I use dried organic oregano and basil.
- Bay leaf – It is always a great addition to tomato sauce.
- Salt – I use fine grain sea salt.
- Pepper – Use as much as you want. I can’t because hubby is sensitive to it.
- Garlic paste – I love this paste because it’s quick, easy and truthfully, no one knows the difference. The only thing that may be remarkable about this paste and garlic cloves is there aren’t noticeable chunks of garlic floating around. If you love chopping garlic, one teaspoon of garlic paste = one clove of garlic.
Helpful tips
- I’ve made this recipe with chicken thighs that have the skin and bones intact and with skinless chicken thighs without the bone. It’s delicious both ways.
- If you do use boneless and skinless, there is no need to brown them. You will also change the pressure cook time to 10 minutes.
- This recipe can be made without dry sherry but it’s so flavorful, I say try it like this first.
- The thighs I used were huge so I decided to brown them outside of the Instant pot, mainly because I wanted the skin to stay attached and sometimes that doesn’t happen when you are sautéing in the deep IP insert. But if you don’t want to use another pan and don’t care about tearing the skin, sauté the chicken in the IP.
- I also don’t usually sauté the veggies anymore when I use the IP but I chose to because I wanted them to shrink somewhat since the thighs were so big and I didn’t want to overfill the instant pot.
- Some people prefer chicken breasts more than thighs, use whichever you prefer.
How to make easy instant pot chicken cacciatore
Pre-step
Get your Instant pot and a sauté pan if you’re going to sauté the chicken outside of the pressure cooker, as I did.
Step one
Gather red pepper, green bell pepper, onion and mushrooms.
Step two
Chop the onion and bell peppers into chunks and slice the mushrooms.
Step three
Open the can of crushed tomatoes and gather the herbs, bay leaf, salt, pepper, chicken broth and sherry. (You don’t need to put the herbs in the can, I just did it for the photo.)
Step four
Either sauté the chicken thighs in the pressure cooker with 1 tablespoon of olive oil or do as I do and heat up a sauté pan on medium. Add olive oil and once that heats up, add the chicken skin side down and sauté for 3 minutes. Flip and sauté for 1 minute more.
Take chicken out of the pan and set aside. (A)
Step five
Plug in the instant pot and push the sauté button. When it has heated up, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and once that heats up, add the onion and peppers and let them sauté for 3 minutes. Add sliced mushrooms, garlic paste, salt and pepper and sauté for one minute more. (B)
Step six
Place chicken on top of the veggies. (C)
Step seven
Add crushed tomatoes, herbs, bay leaf, and garlic paste. (D)
Step eight
Place the lid on the instant pot and make sure the venting knob is in the sealed position. Press the manual pressure cook button, make sure it is set to high pressure and set the timer for 13 minutes.
Note for your timing: it takes between 10 – 15 minutes for the IP to come to pressure before it starts counting down the 13 minutes.
Step nine
Once the cacciatore is done, either wait 15 – 25 minutes for the pressure to release naturally or put on an oven mitt and after 5 minutes, carefully vent the pressure by tapping the venting knob until the steam stops escaping and the float valve drops.
Transfer the chicken to your serving dish. I use my Dutch oven.
Doesn’t that gravy look outstanding? I spoon some pasta on a plate and add the instant pot chicken cacciatore right on top.
Look at all those chunky veggies!
Now for the overhead view.
I hope you enjoy this instant pot chicken cacciatore recipe as much as Christopher and I do.
Other popular chicken recipes
Please feel free to leave me a comment!
And as always, may all your dishes be delish!
If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog, I’d love the hear what you thought about it in the comments below. I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more of my delicious food and delightful cocktails!
Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 7 chicken thighs (skin and bone in)
- 1 medium onion (chopped in chunks)
- 1 medium red bell pepper (chopped in chunks)
- 1 medium green bell pepper (chopped in chunks)
- 10 ounces mushrooms (sliced)
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup dry sherry (omit this if you want this to be Whole30 compliant)
- 2 teaspoons oregano (dried)
- 2 teaspoons basil (dried)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 teaspoons garlic paste (or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed)
Instructions
- Heat a sauté pan on medium. Once that heats up, add 1 tablespoon oil and after that heats up, add chicken skin side down. (You may have to do this in two batches). Sauté for 3 minutes, flip and cook for an additional minute. Remove chicken and set aside.2 tablespoons olive oil, 7 chicken thighs
- Plug the instant pot in and press the sauté button. After it has heated up, add one tablespoon of oil and add the onion and red and green peppers. Sauté for 3 minutes.2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 medium onion, 1 medium red bell pepper, 1 medium green bell pepper
- Add mushroom, salt and pepper and sauté for 1 minute.10 ounces mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- Add chicken, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, sherry (if not doing Whole30), oregano, basil, bay leaf and garlic paste28 ounces crushed tomatoes, 1 cup chicken broth, 1/4 cup dry sherry, 2 teaspoons oregano, 2 teaspoons basil, 1 bay leaf, 3 teaspoons garlic paste
- Seal the IP, make sure the venting knob is set to sealed and push the pressure cook button and set the timer to 13 minutes.
- Once the pressure cooker beeps that it is done, either let the IP release pressure naturally or put on an oven mitt and carefully release the pressure, by tapping the knob to the vent position for a quick release.
- Transfer the chicken and gravy over to a serving dish or serve out of instant pot.
- Ladle some chicken cacciatore over some pasta or rice along with some vegetable.
- Serve
- Enjoy
Equipment
See all my favorite tools and gift ideas at my Amazon Store page!Check out Elaine’s Amazon Store!Notes
- I’ve made this recipe with chicken thighs that have the skin and bones intact and with skinless chicken thighs without the bone. It’s delicious both ways.
- If you do use boneless and skinless, there is no need to brown them. You will also change the pressure cook time to 10 minutes.
- This recipe can be made without dry sherry but it’s so flavorful, I say try it like this first.
- The thighs I used were huge so I decided to brown them outside of the Instant pot, mainly because I wanted the skin to stay attached and sometimes that doesn’t happen when you are sautéing in the deep IP insert. But if you don’t want to use another pan and don’t care about tearing the skin, sauté the chicken in the IP.
- I also don’t usually sauté the veggies anymore when I use the IP but I chose to because I wanted them to shrink somewhat since the thighs were so big and I didn’t want to overfill the instant pot.
- Some people prefer chicken breasts more than thighs, use whichever you prefer.
Nutrition
Originally published May of 2018.
