Chicken chasseur is one of those hearty, warming dishes that is both comforting and totally delicious. You may think that it is a tricky thing to cook – but then I bet you’ve never looked into how to cook chicken chasseur in slow cooker!
It’s a great way of making your favourite chicken dish – minimal fuss and effort on your part, and a totally yummy dish at the end of the day!
The name “chicken chasseur”, translated from French, literally means “hunter’s chicken”, and comes from a time when game birds and mushrooms were combined in a dish as a perfect autumn pairing. After all, supermarkets and food available year round weren’t around in those times, so this dish was truly an autumn speciality.
Cooking chicken chasseur in the slow cooker is ridiculously easy, and it gives great results every time. Let’s have a look into the best ways to do this:
Simple Chicken Chasseur
Ingredients
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 4 chicken thighs
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
- 200g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
- 200ml white wine
- 1tbsp tomato puree
- 200g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 400ml chicken stock
Method
This is how to cook chicken chasseur in a slow cooker:
- Searing the chicken
Place the oil in a frying pan and heat it over a medium to high heat.
- Season the chicken and fry it
Season the chicken and fry it, skin side down, for 4-5 minutes, turning it until it is crisp all over. Set aside on a plate.
- Cooking the onion
Place the chopped onions into the same pan and heat until they are soft.
- Preparing the vegetables
Add the garlic and the mushrooms to the slow cooker, and arrange the chicken thighs on top in a single layer.
- Adding the stock
Mix the stock with the wine and tomato puree, and pour over the chicken.
- Cooking time
Cover the pot and cook for 6-8 hours, until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is soft and tender.
- Thickening the sauce
If you like a thicker sauce then remove the chicken from the slow cooker and heat the sauce for slightly longer, until it is more reduced.
- Serve
Serve the chicken with some nice floury potatoes, or jackets, or even some fluffy well cooked rice.
You can choose either red or white wine for your chicken chasseur, depending on your preferences.
Luxury Chicken Chasseur
Ingredients
- 2 chicken thighs, skin on
- 2 rashers of bacon
- 40g shallots, peeled and halved
- 1-2 garlic cloves
- 100g button mushrooms, sliced thickly
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 60ml red wine
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 60ml chicken stock
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Method
- Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a pan and add the bacon. Cook until just crispy, then set aside.
- Heat up the other tbsp of oil, then add the chicken to the pan. Fry skin side down for 3-4 minutes, then turn over and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
- Place the chicken in the slow cooker, then slice the bacon and scatter it over the top.
- Add the onions, mushrooms, garlic and celery. Strip the leaves from the thyme and sprinkle them over the top.
- Mix the red wine with the stock and puree, then pour this into the slow cooker.
- Cook the mixture on a low setting for 6 hours, or on a high setting for 3 hours.
- You can eat this delicious dish on its own, or serve it with some roast potatoes and steamed vegetables.
Because chicken chasseur is considered an autumn dish, the addition of several types of mushrooms makes this a good seasonal dish for this time of year.
Mushroomy Chicken Chasseur
Ingredients
- 8 bone in chicken thighs, skin removed
- 230g Cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 30g mixed dried wild mushrooms (Porcini, oyster or chanterelle work very well)
- 20 peeled pearl onions
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
- 230 ml chicken stock
- 115 ml dry white wine
- 3 tbsp white flour
- 1 tbsp potato flour
- 30g fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper
Method
- Pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms in a heat proof bowl, and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Season the chicken and place it in the slow cooker.
- Add the Cremini mushrooms, pearl onions and garlic. Place the dried mushrooms, along with their soaking liquid, into the slow cooker.
- Mix together the wine and flour in a small bowl and whisk together until no lumps remain. Add this to the slow cooker.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on a high setting for 3 hours.
- After 2 1/2 hours, remove 1/4 of a cup of the cooking liquid and place into a heat proof bowl. Whisk in the potato flour, then return this to the slow cooker.
- Re-cover, and cook for a further 30 minutes
- Serve this delicious stew garnished with flat leaf parsley.
So there you have it! Once you know how to cook chicken chasseur in slow cooker, you can bring it out for special occasions, or just delicious midweek, minimal effort dinners.
Chicken chasseur is also a dish that can be cooked in batches and then frozen; simply make your big batch and allow it to cool thoroughly. Place it into serving sized tubs, then freeze, then remove from the freezer and thaw it out before reheating thoroughly when you want to serve it.
