Hunter’s Chicken with Mushrooms
Hunter’s Chicken with Mushrooms is hearty, healthy, and the easy dinner recipe you need as we head into cold weather. It has roots in both Italian and French cuisine as Pollo a la Cacciatora and Poulet au Chasseur.
Originally made with wild game and foraged mushrooms, this weeknight version uses bone-in skinless chicken thighs. It’s lean and packed with nutrient-dense mushrooms, making it good and food for you! Hunter’s Chicken is one of my favorite fall dishes, and I know you and your family will love it, too.
Quick intro or re-intro, I’m Virginia Willis, a 58-year-old French-trained Southern chef and cookbook author. I lost 65# and it changed my entire life — or is it that I changed my life and lost 65#? It’s both! What started as weight loss became health gain – and I am here to share and inspire.
Good and Good for You™
Welcome to the Good and Good for You™ newsletter, a quick 5-minute read with practical ideas and information on ways to help improve your life – including a tasty and healthful recipe.
This issue shares:
- Best Life Living Tip: Mushroom Magic 🍄🟫
- Self-Care Strategy: Umami brings Flavor, not Fat 🔪
- Ideas and Inspiration: Historic Recipes 📖
- Good and Good for You™ Recipe: Hunter’s Chicken with Mushrooms🐓
Thanks for reading! It’s incredible to see that this newsletter is making life just a little bit better in some way for so many folks. Every single week, I get a DM, email, or someone tells me in person how inspirational my journey is.. You can do it, too. It’s never too early or too late to feel better in your body.
Read on for more — including this robust and satisfying Hunter’s Chicken with Mushrooms.
Best Life Living Tip
The real mushroom magic is in the health benefits! Eating mushrooms is a simple, everyday way to invest in feeling your best. They’re nutrient-dense, low-calorie, and naturally rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants – an easy “add more” strategy instead of a “don’t eat that” restriction.
Mushrooms also bring deep, savory flavor without relying on heavy fats or extra salt, helping meals feel satisfying while supporting wellness goals.
Health Benefits of Mushrooms:
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Nutrient powerhouses: Mushrooms deliver vitamin D, B-vitamins, and selenium – nutrients that support energy, immunity, and bone health.
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“More, not less” mindset: Adding mushrooms boosts volume and nutrition in meals, aligning with the Good and Good for You™ approach of abundance over restriction.
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Weeknight friendly: Fresh or dried, mushrooms are quick, versatile, and affordable – easy to toss into soups, sautés, grain bowls, or omelets.
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Supports long-term wellness: Eating more plants, especially nutrient-dense ones, is linked to better weight management and overall well-being.
How to Use Dried Mushrooms
When it comes to cooking with mushrooms, you can use inexpensive white button, shiitake, cremini, or morels. But if you really want to amp up the umami and deepen the flavor, add dried mushrooms to the mix.
Dried mushrooms are a weeknight lifesaver – affordable, convenient, and full of concentrated, meaty richness. They keep indefinitely in a cool, dry spot; I like to store mine in a glass jar with a tight lid. Just remember: the older they get, the more time they’ll need to soak and soften before using.
Good and good for you — deliciously so!
Self-Care Strategy
Self-care is anything that you do to keep yourself mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually healthy. I put healthy eating at the tip-top of self-care. One key is to add flavor to food without adding fat.
Umami for flavor without added fat
The word umami means “yummy” or “delicious” in Japanese. It’s also known as the “Fifth Taste” and is sometimes also described as “savory” to go along with sour, salty, bitter, and sweet. When considering umami, think of the meaty flavor of mushrooms, earthy sweet potatoes, the richly vegetal flavor of winter greens, and the natural saltiness of a tomato.
Mushrooms are fantastic in fall dishes. Their meatiness shines when the weather starts to turn and we move from quick cooking to more slowly cooked stewed dishes. Adding mushrooms in virtually any form—raw, sautéed, whole cap garnish, even a dusting of dried powder—will add an umami lift to foods. (Dried mushrooms tend to have more umami than fresh ones, and cooked mushrooms are more umami-rich than raw.)
Ideas and Inspiration
Food and history go hand in hand — and our past has everything to do with our future.
Valerie Frey is a writer from Athens. Her archival career began with a Junior Fellowship at the Library of Congress, and she went on to serve as Manuscripts Archivist at the Georgia Historical Society and the Georgia Archives.
She’s a fellow UGA Press author and has a new book called Georgia’s Historical Recipes. It’s an exploration of my home state’s oldest recipes from the antebellum period through World War II – from family journals and community cookbooks to dusty archival collections – revealing not only what people cooked, but also the stories of the communities and traditions behind the meals and menus.
Garden & Gun headline states her new book, “…Mines Georgia’s Oldest Cookbooks for Forgotten Slices of History.”
Valerie’s painstakingly well-researched book highlights Georgia’s rich culinary past, as well as the flavors, ingredients, and customs that have shaped the state’s table — and therefore the food of the South and American food at large — for centuries.
Whether you are a history enthusiast, a food lover, or simply curious about Georgia’s cultural heritage, this book offers a delightful way to experience the past through food and story. (Seriously, don’t you want to learn about Georgia’s own Victorian Martha Stewart!?)
Give her a follow on Facebook and check out valeriejfrey.com for upcoming events. Click here to buy on Amazon or here from UGA Press.
Good and Good for You Living Spotlight
Evergreen is one of my favorite scents. It’s calming year-round, but is extra-special in the fall and winter.
We’ve sourced candles that are
- 100% soy wax for a clean, eco-friendly burn
- Premium fragrances infused with essential oils
- Natural and sustainable ingredients only
- Vegan, cruelty-free, phthalate-free, and petroleum-free
- Hand-poured in the USA
Check it out at GoodandGoodforYouLiving.com
Make it Count
Thank you for reading. For more tips, inspiration, and healthy recipes, follow @virginiawillis on Instagram. Remember, if you choose what’s Good and Good for You™ most of the time, you’re headed in the right direction. You’ve got this!
I’m certain you’ll enjoy this simple, comforting Hunter’s Chicken. I’m suggesting using bone-in skinless thighs to cut down on the fat. You can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you’ll need to cook them for only about 10 minutes, or they will be as dry as the Sahara.
Traditionally, Hunter’s Chicken with Mushrooms would be served with egg noodles or potatoes; if you want to amp up the nutrition, serve it with brown rice, farro, or nutty quinoa. Let me know what you think!
Bon Appétit Y’all!
Virginia Willis
Hunter’s Chicken with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 2 ounces dried porcini
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 tablespoon pure olive oil
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs skin removed
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 pound small mushrooms such as white button and cremini, stem ends trimmed and halved
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 28- ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf preferably fresh
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary more for garnish
- Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the porcini in a bowl. Pour over the hot water and set aside to rehydrate. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large enameled cast-iron casserole over medium high heat until shimmering. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken without crowding to the casserole. Cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until browned all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Reduce the heat slightly. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until clear and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer squeaky when stirred, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 45 to 60 seconds then add the wine and cook until almost dry, about 3 minutes. (Add the garlic after the mushrooms are cooked so it’s less likely to burn.)
- Remove the rehydrated porcini with a slotted spoon and decant the liquid as described above. Add the porcini, strained porcini broth, crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, and rosemary. Nestle the chicken in the sauce, cover and simmer over moderately low heat until nearly cooked, about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leave and rosemary. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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