isithalal.food · Recipes
Chicken cacciatore without bacon
Sarah Cook's chicken cacciatore with a jointed Halal chicken braised in plum tomatoes, onions and rosemary, using Halal turkey or beef rashers instead of streaky pork bacon.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Why Halal checks matter here
This cacciatore is built on six rashers of streaky bacon, which is pork, the chicken needs Halal slaughter, the stock is a meat product, and the wine vinegar is a scholarly difference.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Streaky bacon: The published recipe crisps six rashers of streaky bacon, which is pork. Turkey and beef bacon contain no pork but need Halal-slaughtered meat too. Use Halal-certified turkey or beef rashers, as here. See Bacon and Turkey bacon.
- Chicken: Chicken is a Halal bird, but slaughter decides whether the meat is Halal. Buy from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Chicken.
- Chicken stock: Bought chicken stock is a meat product, and UK stock cubes such as OXO and Knorr contain meat fat that is not certified Halal. Use a Halal-certified stock or a vegan vegetable stock. See Stock cubes.
- Red or white wine vinegar: Wine vinegar is a scholarly difference: the Hanafi school, Indonesia's MUI and IslamQA permit it, while the classical Shafi'i rule and Malaysia's 2006 fatwa do not. Use it only if your school accepts it. See Red wine vinegar.
Ingredients
Cacciatore
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 Halal chicken, about 1.8–2.2 kg, jointed into 8 pieces
- 6 rashers Halal turkey or beef rashers, chopped (instead of streaky pork bacon)
- 2 onions, sliced
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 2 cans of plum tomatoes (the source does not give the can size)
- 2 tbsp red or white wine vinegar (see the vinegar check below)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 500 ml Halal chicken stock or vegetable stock
- a small bunch parsley, chopped (optional)
Method
- Brown the chicken. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish. Brown the Halal chicken pieces a few at a time until the skin is golden on all sides, lifting each batch out onto a plate as it is done.
- Crisp the rashers. Turn the heat down, add the chopped Halal turkey or beef rashers and cook gently until crisp. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and put them with the chicken.
- Soften the onions. Add the onions and rosemary to the casserole and fry for 5 to 10 minutes until the onions have softened. Return the chicken and rashers with the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, stock and seasoning.
- Braise. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 40 to 50 minutes until the chicken is tender; check a thigh or leg joint, as they take longest. Stir in the parsley if using, check the seasoning and serve with mash, pasta or rice.
- Make ahead. To keep it, cool and chill for up to 24 hours, or freeze for up to 3 months and defrost overnight in the fridge. Reheat covered at a gentle simmer until the chicken is piping hot; don't boil it, or the chicken may toughen.
Allergens
none
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Chicken & bacon cacciatore' by Sarah Cook (serves 6: a 1.8 to 2.2 kg chicken jointed into 8 pieces and browned in batches in 2 tbsp olive oil; 6 rashers of chopped streaky bacon cooked gently until crisp; 2 sliced onions and 2 rosemary sprigs fried 5 to 10 minutes; the chicken and bacon returned with 2 cans of plum tomatoes, 2 tbsp red or white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 500 ml chicken stock and seasoning; covered and simmered 40 to 50 minutes; parsley optional; chills for up to 24 hours or freezes for up to 3 months). The source gives the number of cans of tomatoes but not their size. We specified a Halal chicken, Halal turkey or beef rashers in place of the pork bacon, and a Halal or vegetable stock. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Photograph of a chicken cacciatore by Chris Bennett (CC BY 2.0), not the finished dish from this recipe.