Slow Cooker Cacciatore
This Slow Cooker Cacciatore recipe is pasta, chicken, cheese, Italian spices … Score! The scent and taste is phenomenal – one of my favourite slow cooker pasta recipes of all time!
Slow Cooker Cacciatore
January is Slow Cooker Month and I decide this was most likely declared by a Canadian, most likely one that tried my Slow Cooker Baked Ziti or this Slow Cooker Cabbage Roll Soup. Don’t Google it, let’s just believe it. It is us Canadians can look at both the harsh January blah’s and busy schedules, then announce praise for the almighty slow cooker.
It’s just gotta be one of my all-time favourite inventions. Some prep in the morning and a meal done by dinner – I bow to thee!
It comes at no surprise that I love to expand my collection of slow cooker recipes. Grow baby grow, as I rub my palms together in celebration. I mean, yes, I slaved ALL DAY for this delicious meal. Shhhh.
I recently tried making Slow Cooker Cacciatore and let.me.tell.you. This recipe is perfection!
Pasta, chicken, italian spices … you bet I was trying this recipe! Verdict? Score!
Prep was super easy: the slow cooker was on before we flew out the door for school drop off. The scents filling the home throughout the day were divine, and then after activities and homework was completed – dinnertime!
Take cooked pasta, and top with the cookerSlow Cooker Cacciatore. Toss on some Mozzarella Cheese and some fresh parsley – done!
Speaking of cheeses though, did you know that January 20th was National Cheese Lover’s Day? I know, like you need a special day to tell you to love cheese. Laughable, right? So, pile it on my friends, the more {cheese recipes} – the better!
The nice thing about this recipe is that you can add more or less {?} cheese, choose your favourite pasta for the dish or make other additions and substitutions if you so wish. I made this right by the recipe and it was great, perfection!
What is your favourite slow cooker meal?
Slow Cooker Cacciatore
Ingredients
- 1 large onion (thinly sliced)
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (900 g)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cans tomato paste (5.5 fl oz/156 mL each)
- 1/4 cup 25%-less-sodium chicken broth
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp dried basil leaves
- 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 pkg. sliced fresh mushrooms (1/2 lb./225 g)
- 6 cups rotini pasta (uncooked)
- 1 cup Mozzarella Shredded Cheese
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Place onions in slow cooker; top with chicken and bay leaf. Mix next 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Add mushrooms; stir to evenly coat. Spoon over chicken; cover with lid.
- Cook on LOW 7 to 9 hours (or on HIGH 5 hours). About 15 min. before ready to serve, cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt.
- Drain pasta. Remove bay leaf from chicken mixture; discard. Spoon chicken mixture over pasta; top with cheese and parsley.
Why omit the salt? Not salting the water you cook the pasta in does a couple of bad things.
It reduces flavor. Remember that salt, before it starts tasting salty, helps bring out other flavors. Pasta tastes good and the only way to get flavor INTO the pasta is to salt it during its cooking. If you add flavors after it’s cooked, those flavors get ONTO the pasta, not in it.
It impacts how the sauce interacts with the pasta. You want all that delicious sauce your crockpot spent so much time producing to really adhere to the pasta. The salt alters the way sauces stick to the pasta. Salted pasta means sauce sticks to it.
So, while the recipe looks like it might be pretty tasty, salting the pasta vs not can dramatically the entire dish!
I love making crockpot dinners , so much easier & always pleasing , so many recipes to do in the crockpot now & this one sounds & looks delish & easy, thank you for sharing
I made your recipe Tammi for supper last night and it was a hit! Thanks again!
Oh my yum! You had me at slow cooker and then I saw the gorgeous photos of this delicious meal. Pinning and adding to my rotation this week.
This looks great! Think I’ll try it out one night this week 🙂
Thanks for sharing this recipe, it looks really good. I love my slow cooker during the winter months!
I love a slow cooker recipie- when I get home from work- its a nice treat to have food ready
love it so simple and easy and ingredients that I always have on hand
yum looks and sounds so good. we love pasta in this house and I love cooking with my slow cooker.
Looks so good. I am going to have to get a slow cooker. So many recipes on the go for them.
It looks delicious
this makes me wish I had a slow cooker. what kind of slow cooker do you use?