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This Chicken Cacciatore has the best fall-of-the-bone chicken and is packed with veggies and hearty flavor! A healthier version of the classic Italian dish everyone will LOVE, that’s made quickly in your Instant Pot pressure cooker! 
Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
This fall-off-the-bone chicken is hearty and flavorful, and serves a crowd or makes for delicious leftovers. The pressure cooker is one of my new favorite gadgets. Why? Because a chicken this tender and flavorful usually requires cooking low and slow, yet we made it quick!
What do you eat chicken cacciatore with?
- Rice
- Pasta
- Cauliflower Rice
- Potatoes
- Mashed Potatoes
Serve it over rice, cauliflower rice, or gluten-free rice pasta for the perfect meal!
Which instant pot to get?
I love my 6 qt. Duo. If you’re often cooking for more than 4 people, I’d go for the 8 qt.
What can I cook in instant pot?
Lots of things, but let me say, not EVERYTHING. I’ve seen people wanting to make every single thing in the Instant Pot and I don’t think it works like that. It’s used for convenience. It cooks fast and definitely can cook things uniquely that you can’t get over the stovetop. With that said, it cooks food using water or other cooking liquid. Pressure is created by boiling a liquid, such as water or broth, inside the closed pressure cooker. The trapped steam increases the internal pressure and allows the temperature to rise. So since it steams, you wouldn’t want to make things like steak in your pressure cooker. Does that make sense?
How do you use an instant pot?
Based on what you’re cooking, add a cup or so of cooking liquid or of water to the pressure cooking pot. Lock the lid in place and make sure the valve is in the sealing/pressure cooking position. Select a pressure cooking button and let it cook! Use quick release or natural release (see below) once done, then enjoy!
Watch the video:
Want more Instant Pot recipes? Try these pressure cooker favorites:
- Instant Pot Yogurt
- Instant Pot Whole Chicken
- Instant Pot Carnitas
- Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff
- Instant Pot Short Ribs
- Instant Pot Honey Mustard Wings
Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
- 8 chicken legs and/or thighs
- 2 teaspoons sea salt use more as necessary for coating chicken and seasoning at the end
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper use more as necessary for coating chicken and seasoning at the end
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion sliced into thin strips
- 3 carrots minced
- 1 red pepper diced medium
- 1/2 pound mushrooms trimmed and sliced
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 14.5 oz can Tuttorosso diced tomatoes in juice
- 14.5 oz can Tuttorosso diced tomatoes in juice pulsed in a food processor or blender
- 2 tablespoons freshly parsley plus more to garnish
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Pat chicken dry and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Set the pressure cooker to the saute setting at high heat. Add in oil. Working in batches sear chicken until golden brown, about five minutes on each side, adding more oil as necessary. The chicken should not be fully cooked at this stage but the skin should be nicely browned. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Add onion, carrots, peppers, and mushrooms to the pressure cooker and saute until vegetables are soft, scrapping up browned bits, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add bay leaf, chicken broth, tomatoes, fresh thyme, fresh parsley, and balsamic vinegar. Return chicken to pressure cooker and press into tomatoes until they are mostly covered.
- Place lid on pressure cooker and lock in place. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Release pressure using quick release valve and remove lid. Remove bay leaf. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (If a thicker sauce is desired, you can remove the chicken to a plate and simmer sauce until it is the desired thickness. Do this before seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.)
- Garnish with parsley and serve over rice, cauliflower rice, or gluten-free pasta.
How would boneless chicken breasts work and how much to replace in recipe?
It turned out awesome, lots of flavors, easy to make. Used Bone-Less Chicken Thighs and cooked for 10 minutes instead of 12 minutes.
Served over Instant Pot Brown Rice.
I might thicken the sauce a little next time I make the dish our use less chicken broth. Still Simple and Delicious!
So so happy!! Thank you for sharing this.
Great recipe! I skipped fresh basil because I didn’t have any, and used dried thyme instead of fresh thyme. Added some ghost pepper hot sauce before eating for a spicy kick. Will definitely make this again!
So good but the total cook time was way off. If you brown the chicken in batches at 5 min for each side, and you have 8 thighs so 2 batches, that’s 20 minutes right there. If you do drumsticks then it’s 40 minutes.
Great recipe Lexi! I made this in a dutch oven on the stove, and used only 1 can of tomatoes and 1/2 cup broth. So good!
Am I reading this right? You need two cans of.tomatoes?
Just made this tonight. I am a new instant pot user (got it for Christmas) and am still struggling with letting go of my crock pot. However, this recipe is helping me move on! The prep time is lengthy but we’ll worth it! I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and cooked for 15 min. The chicken was fork tender, just the way I like it. The sauce tasted like it had simmered for hours and super savory! So glad I tried this!!
Would you be able to use boneless chicken with this recipe?
This looks like a great recipe to fit in with my Ketoi-sh lifestyle.
https://youtu.be/YZld8EBBm0k
Do I add the fresh basil in the cooker or as a garnish at the end?
Can do both, I like to garnish!
This is one of my favorite recipes. I could eat the whole pot! As a breastfeeding mom I’m always looking for filling recipes and this is it.
TY Lexi! This recipe is totally a WINNER! I used SLBL Chicken Breast and a little more lb wise that you did but so perfect! OMG I LOVED the flavor esp using fresh basil and thyme! TYSM This will be repeated
Pete O’Neil
Can you use skinless?
The flavor of this dish is really great! The only negative is that there was a lot of liquid, so next time I would maybe cut back on the chicken broth or blended tomato.
I add extra chicken and have leftovers!
This recipe was delicious. I didn’t have any thyme, but it had plenty of flavor without it. Even if you don’t usually use thighs, I encourage you to follow the recipe. The chicken was so tender and tasty and fell right off the bone. Even my kids 2 and 4 who usually refuse all chicken except for dinosaur nuggets ate it all up. I served with mashed potatoes .
I agree! I typically hate chicken thighs but this recipe totally changed my mind.
I threw everything in to my slow cooker before heading to work today. My husband texted me to tell me how fantastic the house smelled. I ate a huge bowl over brown rice. We have left overs for lunch tomorrow. . Thank you!
Good morning! I made this last night and it was a hit! The flavor was AMAZING! It was barely enough for a family of five. I saved the leftover juices and veggies and I’m going to mix it with quinoa and baked leftover Brussels sprouts, for lunch today! One note, it takes a lot longer than 10 min. to prep and 20 to cook!. The actually cookin grime WAS 20, but remember the pot has to heat up!? Next time, I’ll give myself a little more time to cook it! Thank you, ma’am, for another fantastic recipe!?
I just love pasta and a great chicken recipe for a quick meal I’ll definitely try that.
This is really Good. I have served it on gluten free pasta and now Quinoa too. It is delicious. Thank you for posting. I really love InstaPot recipes so much.