Chicken Cacciatore Soup

Valentine Day is next week and I have already told Ryan we are not doing it. Not because I am not romantic — I contain multitudes — but because February 14th restaurants are overpriced and full of people performing romance, and I would rather cook something good at home. His response was thank God, which is one of the reasons I am marrying this man. We have been together long enough that love is measured in things like: did you fill the gas tank when you borrowed my car, did you text me when your shift ran long so I would not worry, did you leave me the last of the Aldi dark chocolate. He did all three this week.

This week I made chicken thighs braised in tomato with olives and capers — basically a puttanesca situation but with chicken instead of pasta. Bone-in thighs from Aldi, $1.79 a pound, the best deal in any grocery store at any time. The olives were a half-used jar from the back of the fridge. Capers from the pantry. A can of crushed tomatoes. Thirty-five minutes. Ryan said it tasted fancy and I said it cost seven dollars and he said that is the same thing.

Patty called to ask about Easter plans. It is February 10th. Easter is April 12th. This is entirely on-brand for her — she has the organizational instincts of a field general and the timeline of someone who learned from experience that if you do not book the ham in February, the ham is gone. I said we would be there. She said good, she is making Babcia Rose come early so she has time to make pierogi without rushing.

School was a standard mid-winter week — a couple of IEP meetings, a parent call that went better than expected, a meltdown in third period that we handled and recovered from. The work is hard and specific and I would not trade it. My co-teacher brought in a pan of brownies on Friday and we ate them in the break room and talked about nothing important for twenty minutes and it was exactly what we needed.

The braised chicken thighs I made that week came together so naturally that I wanted to write the whole thing down before I forgot what I actually did — and this recipe is exactly in that spirit: bone-in chicken, a good can of crushed tomatoes, olives, the kind of pantry ingredients you already have. If you loved the puttanesca-meets-cacciatore vibe I described, this soup version is just one step further in the same direction, and it reheats beautifully for lunch the next day, which Ryan and I both appreciated when we did not want to cook again on the 15th.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 4–5 pieces)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
2 tbsp capers, drained
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving
Crusty bread or cooked pasta, optional for serving

Instructions

Sear the chicken. Pat chicken thighs dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken skin-side down and sear without moving for 5–6 minutes until golden brown. Flip and sear the other side for 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate; do not discard the drippings.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and bell pepper to the pot and cook in the drippings, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add tomatoes and broth. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth. Stir in oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Braise the chicken. Nestle the seared chicken thighs back into the pot, skin-side up. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25–30 minutes until chicken is cooked through and very tender (internal temp 165°F).
Finish the soup. Remove chicken and let cool for a few minutes. Pull meat from the bones, discard skin and bones, and shred or chop the meat. Return chicken to the pot. Stir in olives and capers and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread for dipping or spoon over cooked pasta if you want to stretch it further.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken Cacciatore Soup — The Seven-Dollar Valentine’s Dinner