Chickpea cacciatore
Chickpeas simmered with peppers, mushrooms, onion and garlic in a rustic, herby tomato sauce with a splash of balsamic, the Italian hunter’s stew idea made quick and meatless.
- 40 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.56 a serving
- 410 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 8 oz white mushrooms, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, torn (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- 1½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Each serving has about 410 calories, 19 g protein, 60 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $2.56 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No green bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No crushed tomatoes? Diced tomatoes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the oil in a large deep over medium-high heat. Add the onion, peppers, mushrooms and ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring now and then, 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and in spots.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: The mushrooms give off water first. Keep cooking until it’s gone and they start to brown.Stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning and pepper flakes and cook 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Add the tomatoes, chickpeas and ½ teaspoon salt and .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heat
15 minutes with the , stirring now and then, until thick.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Stir in the balsamic, then taste and add salt if it needs it.
Top with basil and serve over rice or polenta if you have some.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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