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Chicken Marsala is a classic Italian-American dish that combines tender chicken with a savory and flavorful Marsala wine sauce, accompanied with hearty brown mushrooms. It is a popular and elegant dish that is often served at Italian restaurants in the USA and enjoyed by many.
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients for Chicken Marsala
- Tips & FAQs
- Recipe
- Check out these other great recipes!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Chicken Marsala is a classic Italian-American dish that you see regularly on every menu at any Italian restaurant. Golden pan-fried chicken and hearty tender mushrooms all simmered together in a rich Marsala wine sauce. How much more elegant can you get? The Marsala offers a depth of flavor, complexity, and warmth, making this dish a type of comfort food for me. You can serve this over pasta, rice, polenta, or mashed potatoes. If you want a lighter option, a crisp spinach salad or sauteed broccoli with garlic matches this dish perfectly. It’s one of the many popular chicken recipes out in the internet, along with ones more recently coming to popularity such as Marry Me Chicken.
Ingredients for Chicken Marsala
- Boneless & Skinless Chicken Breasts: You’ll be cutting these in half lengthwise to create 4 cutlets. You can also use precut chicken breasts in the grocery store, commonly packaged as “thinly sliced chicken breasts”.
- Shallot: Adds flavor to the dish, and is commonly used. Shallots are a bit sweeter and meld into the sauce better.
- Garlic: What’s an Italian dish without garlic?
- Butter & Olive Oil: This is used to pan-fry the chicken. The butter adds flavor while the olive oil gives it the eye appealing golden brown exterior that you want. You’ll be using extra butter to fry the mushrooms with.
- All-Purpose Flour: You can also use gluten-free flour! The flour is used to dredge the chicken before pan frying it. It adds a lovely golden brown crust when pan fried in the butter & olive oil.
- Cremini (Baby Bella) Mushrooms: These are brown mushrooms. You can get either cremini or baby bella, as it’s literally the same. I wouldn’t recommend getting them presliced, only because they always have a browned interior and dried out, not white and plump. It’s better to slice them on your own.
- Marsala Wine: Pay attention to the type of wine you get. You do not want sweet. Sweet Marsala wine is mainly used for desserts. You want dry Marsala wine. The difference matters, trust me. I tested this recipe with both. The sweet wine makes it too sweet and just doesn’t give that magical bite like the restaurant dishes.
- Chicken Stock: This adds savory notes to the sauce. Without it, it just lacks in flavor.
- Heavy Cream: This is what makes the sauce creamy and helps it thicken up while simmering. It gives the sauce a rich, luxurious taste when paired with the Marsala wine.
- Onion Powder: I added this when the sauce was beginning to simmer. It just adds a nice comforting taste. Completely optional, but recommended.
- Parsley: For garnish!
Tips & FAQs
- Storage: Allow it to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Variations:
- For those out there that don’t want to buy Marsala wine, or just don’t like it, there’s some substitutes out there for you. You can use port wine, dry sherry, or madeira. Keep in mind that port wine is typically a dessert wine and often paired with desserts. I would recommend dry sherry or a dry madeira wine.
- Substitute 1/2 of a small yellow onion for the shallots.
- Use a gluten-free flour in place of the all-purpose flour.
- Avoid half & half: This won’t mix well with the wine and can curdle.
- Keep this dish at a simmer: You don’t want this to come to a rapid boil. Letting it simmer allows the flavors to come together, whereas a rapid boil can cause burning, bitterness, and will cause the sauce to over-reduce, leaving you with little to no sauce.
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Recipe
Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp KizzleFoods Ground Garlic or garlic powder
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 medium shallot, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 10 oz baby bella (cremini) mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock low sodium
- 3/4 cup dry marsala wine (not sweet)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- Fresh chopped parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Season the chicken on both sides with salt & pepper to taste and garlic powder. Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off excess. Set aside onto a plate.
- In a large skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side, until golden brown on both sides. It does not have to be cooked through yet. Set aside on a plate and cover with foil.
- Melt the remaining butter in the skillet. Add in the mushrooms and allow to brown, about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the shallots and garlic, then season with salt to taste. Stir frequently and cook for 1 minute until the garlic and shallots are softened and aromatic.
- Add the marsala wine to the skillet and simmer for 3 minutes until slightly reduced. Pour in the broth; stir while adding in the heavy cream. Lower heat to medium and let it come to a simmer for 10-15 minutes until slightly reduced down and thickened. Do not let it come to a boil.
- Season with salt & pepper, if needed, and onion powder. Return the chicken to the pan along with any juices accumulated. Keep the chicken and sauce on the heat until the chicken is heated through to 165F. Remove from heat and serve with parsley on top.
Notes
Storage: Allow it to cool completely, then store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Variations:
- For those out there that don’t want to buy Marsala wine, or just don’t like it, there are some substitutes out there for you. You can use port wine, dry sherry, or Madeira. Keep in mind that port wine is typically a dessert wine and is often paired with desserts. I would recommend dry sherry or a dry Madeira wine.
- Substitute 1/2 of a small yellow onion for the shallots.
- Use gluten-free flour in place of the all-purpose flour.
Avoid half & half: This won’t mix well with the wine and can curdle.
Keep this dish at a simmer: You don’t want this to come to a rapid boil. Letting it simmer allows the flavors to come together, whereas a rapid boil can cause burning and bitterness, and will cause the sauce to over-reduce, leaving you with little to no sauce.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
339.96Fat (grams)
18.26 gSat. Fat (grams)
8.37 gCarbs (grams)
19.08 gFiber (grams)
1.01 gSugar (grams)
5.86 gProtein (grams)
29.35 gSodium (milligrams)
133.09 mgCholesterol (grams)
104.39 mgThe nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and the brands of ingredients used.
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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