Braising Series with Joanna Moeller: Oven-Braised Chicken Cacciatore

Name: Oven-Braised Chicken Cacciatore
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 20 min
Total time: 2 h 35 min
Ingredients: 3 lbs. Bone-in chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, drumsticks); Extra Virgin Olive Oil; 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped; 3-4 cloves garlic, smashed; 2-3 small red bell peppers, sliced; 2 Calabrian chili peppers; 2 cans cherry tomatoes or crushed tomato; 1/4 cup black cured olives; 2/3 cup white wine; 3/4 cup chicken broth; 3 fresh bay leaves; 3 sprigs fresh oregano; Sea salt / black pepper; 1 tbs. Sicilian oregano

Joanna Moeller of @spaghettiroots_nyc continues her braising series with a Chicken Cacciatore cooked in the oven.

By Joanna Moeller

7:31 AM EST on January 29, 2025

Oven-Braised Chicken Cacciatore by Joanne Moeller.

Cacciatore, meaning “hunter style” in Italian, can be prepared in many variations. Whether it be with chicken, wild game or even rabbit, it consists of different vegetables, usually simmered in a tomato sauce typically infused with wine and stock.

What you don’t see frequently with this dish is the oven-braising method. I decided to apply this method to Cacciatore because I felt like it develops exactly what you would want in such a dish: nice color on the meat, soft vegetables and richly developed sauce.

Once it comes out of the oven, it has great depth of flavor which is nicely concentrated.

I promise, once you try this method, you won’t go back to cooking it on the stove-top!

Take a look at the (silent) reel below before trying the recipe at the bottom:

Oven-Braised Chicken Cacciatore

Recipe by Joanna Moeller

0.0 from 0 votes

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hours

minutes

Ingredients

3 lbs. 3 Bone-in chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, drumsticks)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
3-4 cloves 3-4 garlic, smashed
2-3 2-3 small red bell peppers, sliced
2 2 Calabrian chili peppers
2 cans 2 cherry tomatoes or crushed tomato
1/4 cup 1/4 black cured olives
2/3 cup 2/3 white wine
3/4 cup 3/4 chicken broth
3 3 fresh bay leaves
3 sprigs 3 fresh oregano
Sea salt / black pepper
1 tbs. 1 Sicilian oregano

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Season the chicken pieces with extra virgin olive oil, lots of sea salt, black pepper and Sicilian oregano.
Rub well into the chicken.
Sear chicken thoroughly and evenly, remove from pan.
Sauté vegetables until soft (7-10 minutes).
Add wine, tomatoes, broth.
Return the chicken pieces back into the pan, along with the olives and herbs.
Braise uncovered in the oven for a minimum of 2 hours.
Chicken should be well browned and ready to fall apart.
Serve immediately with the vegetables surrounding the chicken pieces and the juices over top.