Boneless Chicken Cacciatore (2024)

A classic of Italian Cuisine, in a much easier to eat version! Indeed, this Boneless Chicken Cacciatore, as its name implies, contains no bones or inedible parts that would inevitably force you to pick at your food, so you can focus on just one thing: enjoy your meal in all its glory!

Chicken Cacciatore is not really a dish that you will see me have all that often; the truth is, I don’t particularly enjoy it; in 10 years of blogging, I had never until today, shared a recipe for it on here. Not that it doesn’t taste great, far from there! Truth be told, there’s nothing I find more unpleasant, food-wise, than being served a dish consisting of big chunks of meat drenched in any kind of sauce, if said meat still happens to be attached to its skin and bones…

If you’re going to cook my meat until it’s fall off the bone tender, then you might as well take it off the bone right from the get go and save me the trouble of doing it myself, right?

Why smother my meat in piping hot sauce and then have me deal with (quite inelegantly, might I add) picking the bones out. I mean, I understand the concept behind it, in that the meat gets to be that much more tender and juicier when it’s cooked right on the bone, but still… I don’t care for it. Never have, never will.

If you’re with me on that one, you’ll be all over this perfect alternative I just created; trust me, this boneless version is every bit as tender, juicy AND tasty as the real deal. Plus, it’s super easy, and fairly quick to make, too!

You sold yet?

First, season your pieces of chicken (I used boneless skinless chicken thighs because I find that they are much tastier and juicier than chicken breasts, but feel free to use the breasts if you prefer) with salt and pepper and heat the olive oil in a saute pan set over medium heat. When the pan is hot enough, add the pieces of chicken, 5 or 6 at a time and nice-looking side down, and let them cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, until golden brown;

Flip the pieces over and continue cooking for about 2 minutes, then remove the par-cooked meat to a plate and repeat with the remaining pieces of chicken. Set aside.

Return your pan to the heat source and to it, add a chopped onion, 2 chopped celery ribs, a few chopped garlic cloves and about 10 ounces of thinly sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas but white mushrooms would work just fine) and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Deglaze the pan with half a cup of dry white wine — or use chicken brothif you want to keep things squeaky clean!

Next, add a large can of diced tomatoes, half a cup of pitted kalamata olives, a pinch of herbes de Provence, salt and pepper. If you’re not a fan of the fairly unique flavor that herbes de Provence confer to dishes, feel free to sub Italian seasoning or even dried oregano, instead!

Stir well, return the chicken along with its cooking juices to the pan and bring to a simmer.

Cover loosely and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. While that’s happening, you get ample time to work on a side dish…

Once the sauce has sufficiently thickened, remove the pan from the heat and stir in a generous handful of chopped parsley…

Serve your Boneless Chicken Cacciatore over cooked pasta (or rice or mashed potatoes, or cauli-rice or even steamed veggies if you still want to keep things squeaky clean!) and garnish with more fresh parsley, if desired.