• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
    • Disclosure/PR
  • Freezer Meal Recipes
  • Freezer Meal Plans
  • Dump Recipes
  • Course Login

Freezer Meals 101

Less time cooking, more time living

crockpot

Easy Crock-Pot Chicken Cacciatore {freezer meal}

By Sharla

You won’t believe how easy this Crock-Pot Chicken Cacciatore is! It has only 5 ingredients but it tastes so fresh and delicious. You can make it ahead as a freezer meal. Combining a freezer meal with the crockpot is a match made in heaven. Save time and money. Win-win!

Our family likes Italian flavors. I often make a different version of chicken cacciatore when I’m making my freezer meals, but that one is a bit more involved. It requires cubing the chicken and has more ingredients. When I’m in a hurry or wanting to make as many meals as possible as quickly as possible, I opt for this easy crockpot chicken cacciatore recipe instead.

large spoon scooping out a red sauce covered chicken breast from a slow cooker with text that reads "Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore" #freezermeals101 #chickendinner #chickencacciatore #Italianfreezermeal Chicken Cacciatore is traditionally served over pasta, but it can also be served over rice or polenta if you prefer or if you are on a keto or low carb diet.

We recently made this recipe again during a 5 ingredients or less freezer meal marathon that we did. You can see that in the video below: 

Why is it called Chicken Cacciatore?

I have to admit that it is a unique name for a dish. The word “cacciatore” means hunter in Italian and apparently, it was hunters who first made this. It was likely made not with chicken in those early years, but with rabbit or other wild game they caught. This was back in the Renaissance so other meat would have been more commonly available.

Chicken cacciatore is sometimes mixed up with chicken parmesan. The easiest way to be able to tell the difference is that cheese is involved where chicken parmesan is referenced, whereas, with cacciatore, there is no cheese.

Easy Crock-Pot Chicken Cacciatore Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
  • 1 zucchini, coarsely chopped
  • 3/4 cup onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

Assembly instructions:

  1. Place the chicken breasts in a large, resealable freezer bag.
  2. Dump the other ingredients in the bag.
  3. Remove excess air from the bag and seal. Freeze flat.

collage of Crock-Pot chicken cacciatore in a freezer bag, being served by Mom to her teenager and in the crockpotCooking instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Dump bag contents into the slow cooker.
  3. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Ensure that chicken is cooked through before serving.
  4. Serve over your choice of pasta noodles. We usually use penne or rotini, but a long noodle is fine too.

You can throw this together so quickly that you might as well make more than one at a time. Just prop the bags open by folding the top over and setting them open on the counter. Line the bags up and then add the chicken to each one before dumping in the rest of the ingredients. This chicken dump recipe couldn’t be easier!

There is a lot of versatility with this recipe because you can use your choice of pasta sauce, swap out the chicken breasts for chicken thighs, and serve it on your favorite type of pasta.

This is such a family-friendly dish. Between being able to make it ahead and just pull it out of the freezer and the fact that it cooks in the crockpot, it’s truly a stress-free dinner. When we’re in a rush, we just keep this in the slow cooker and have the kids load a bit of pasta on their plate and then scoop the cacciatore right from the crockpot®. Sharla serving chicken cacciatore from the Crock-Pot to her teenage sonYou can use whatever variety of pasta sauce you prefer. Experiment and see which you like best. We usually just go for simple basil, but it’s also good with a pasta sauce with mushrooms or spicy or chunky vegetables. Give a few of them a try and let me know which you liked best.

Print
Easy Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore
Prep Time
5 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: chicken, chicken cacciatore
Servings: 6
Calories: 274 kcal
Ingredients
  • 3-5 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
  • 24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
  • 1 zucchini coarsely chopped
  • 3/4 cup onion chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Place the chicken breasts in a large, resealable freezer bag.

  2. Dump the other ingredients in the bag.

  3. Remove excess air from the bag and seal. Freeze flat.

Cooking instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Dump bag contents into the slow cooker.

  3. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Ensure that chicken is cooked through before serving.

  4. Serve over your choice of pasta noodles.

You might also like these easy freezer meals:

Homemade Hamburger Helperclose up of a bowl with a pile of noodles and creamy tomato beef skillet

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Bakeclose up of a plate with chicken and broccoli Alfredo bake with cheese sprinkled on top and the casserole dish at the side

Easy Chicken Marsalaclose up of easy chicken marsala with asparagus on the side

Filed Under: Freezer Meal Dump Recipes, Freezer Meal Recipes, Freezer to Crock Pot Tagged With: cacciatore, chicken, crockpot, gluten free

Freezer to Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe

By Sharla

Some meals just have that home-cooked, hearty comfort food feel to them. This freezer to crock pot beef stew recipe is one of those meals. It’s an easy weeknight family meal.This hearty beef stew recipe can go from the freezer to the crock pot. #freezermeals101 #recipes #freezercooking #easyfamilymeals

This beef stew is a great one-dish meal full of chunky vegetables. It is especially nice to have on a cold winter’s night. There is just something about a soup or stew that brings that warm comfortable feeling.

Freezer to Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe:

  • 2 lbs. stew meat, cubed
  • 1 cup onions, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1/2 cup celery, diced
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce*
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • dash salt

*Be sure to use gluten-free Worcestershire sauce if you are wanting to make this stew gluten-free.

Before putting together this freezer meal, chop the onions, peel and dice the carrots, peel and cube the sweet potato, and dice the celery so that everything is ready to toss into the bag. I like to make the veggies in bigger chunks than what I would do for a soup, but this is a preference thing. Feel free to cut them in the size that works best for you. 

To assemble this crockpot beef stew recipe, dump the beef stew meat into a large resealable bag and then add the other ingredients. Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.

On the day of cooking, take the meal out of the freezer to thaw. Cook in the slow cooker for 5-7 hours on low. 

You can serve this slow cooker beef stew with buns or on its own.

This crockpot beef stew recipe is one of the recipes included in our popular Beef Dump Recipes book. 

Print
Crockpot Beef Stew
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: beef, crockpot, stew
Servings: 4
Calories: 481 kcal
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs stew meat cubed
  • 1 cup onions chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 3 carrots peeled and diced
  • 2 cups sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
  • 1/2 cup celery diced
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 dash salt
Instructions
  1. Chop the onions, peel and dice the carrots, peel and cube the sweet potato, and dice the celery so that everything is ready to toss into the bag.

  2. Dump the beef stew meat into a large resealable bag before adding the other ingredients. Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.

Meal Preparation:
  1. On the day of cooking, take the meal out of the freezer to thaw.

  2. Cook in the slow cooker for 5-7 hours on low. 

  3. You can serve this slow cooker beef stew with buns or on its own.

You may also like these freezer meal recipes:

BBQ Shredded Chicken in the Crock Pot

Tex Mex Pasta Bake Freezer Meal

Filed Under: Freezer Meal Dump Recipes, Freezer Meal Recipes, Freezer to Crock Pot Tagged With: beef, crockpot, gluten free, stew

Primary Sidebar

  • Freezer Meals for One
  • One Month of Freezer Meals No Repeats
  • Ham and Cheese Sliders Make Ahead Sandwiches
  • Ground Beef Stroganoff Freezer Meal
  • Easy Tuna Casserole Freezer Meal
  • Make Ahead Cinnamon Freezer French Toast

Categories

Copyright © 2022 · Lifestyle Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in · Privacy Policy