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Chicken Marsala is easy to prepare and looks and tastes like it came from a restaurant. It is a delicious lightly breaded chicken breast covered in a rich, creamy mushroom sauce.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
Chicken Marsala is a recipe you will often find on restaurant menus. It looks fancy and tastes fancy but it is so easy to make at home. It is perfect as a weeknight family dinner or or to serve to guests!
What is Chicken Marsala?
Traditionally an Italian American dish, Chicken Marsala is made with a thin chicken cutlet. The chicken is lightly breaded with flour and seasoning and pan fried. A rich and flavorful sauce of mushrooms and Marsala wine is put on top.
If you are not a wine drinker and don’t have wine in the house, like myself, just use additional chicken broth in place of the Marsala Wine. Substituting broth for the wine will change the flavor and complexity of the dish a little but it will still be delicious. I usually have cooking sherry in the house so I do use that along with the chicken broth. Cooking sherry is found with the other vinegars in the grocery store.
Ingredients Needed
- Flour
- Salt and pepper
- Oregano
- Chicken Breasts. Use skinless, boneless breasts.
- Butter
- Garlic
- Shallot
- Olive oil
- Mushrooms. I use a basic white mushroom that is easily found at the grocery store.
- Sweet Marsala wine or additional chicken broth
- Cooking sherry or red wine vinegar
- Chicken broth
- Fresh parsley, for garnish
How to Make Marsala Chicken
- Pound chicken into a thin even piece. You want the chicken to be even in thickness to ensure even cooking. This allows the chicken to cook quickly and not allow the thinner parts of the chicken to dry out while the thicker parts are still cooking.
- In a dish, combine flour, salt, pepper and oregano and dredge chicken pieces in mixture
- In a large skillet, melt butter over heat and add in oil
- Saute garlic and shallots until tender
- Add in chicken and brown on both sides and cook through. Remove from pan.
- Place mushrooms into pan, (add additional butter if needed) and saute.
- Add in wine, sherry and chicken broth or whatever combo of liquid you are using. See above for tips.
- Cover and let simmer until sauce thickens up.
- Thickener: If the sauce doesn’t thicken enough for you, create a roux using 3 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp of water. Mix to combine and then add into hot gravy mixture and stir until it thickens.
- Pour sauce over chicken and serve!
Tips from Leigh Anne
- Don’t skip the flour. This helps the chicken to brown and gives the sauce something to cling to.
- Be sure to simmer the sauce to allow the strong alcohol taste to burn off.
Pair This with
I served the dish with Herb rice but it would be yummy over mashed potatoes or pasta noodles. Add a delicious veggie such as Roasted Broccoli or Grilled Asparagus for a delicious and guest worthy meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you freeze chicken marsala?
To freeze, place chicken and sauce in a freezer pan or storage bag. Remove as much air as possible. Will last in the freezer for up to two months. Thaw in the refrigerator and then preheat oven to 350 degrees F and bake.If you want to enjoy your delicious leftovers later, pour Chicken Marsala in a freezer pan and save for up to two months. Thaw in the refrigerator, and reheat in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F.
What can I use instead of wine?
The flavor of the chicken marsala will be affected but you can substitute additional chicken broth for the marsala wine but then it really isn’t chicken marsala anymore. Don’t use marsala “cooking wine”. It is salted and will change the flavor.
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Chicken Marsala Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts. Pound thin – about 1/4 inch thick
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 1-2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 shallot chopped
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/2 cup Marsala wine or additional chicken broth
- 1/4 cup cooking sherry or red wine vinegar
- 1/2- 3/4 cups chicken broth
- fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Pound chicken breast into a thin even layer. This will allow it to cook quicker and more evenly.
- In a dish, combine flour, salt, pepper and oregano and dredge chicken pieces in mixture
- In a large pan, melt butter over heat and add in oil
- Saute garlic and shallots until tender
- Add in chicken and brown on both sides and cook through
- Remove chicken
- Add in mushrooms (add additional butter if needed) and saute mushrooms
- Add in wine, sherry and chicken broth
- Cover and let simmer until sauce thickens up
- If it doesn’t thicken up enough for you add in some roux (mixture of water and flour) as a thickening agent
- Pour sauce over chicken and serve
- Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
Tips & Notes:
- Thickener: If the sauce doesn’t thicken enough for you, create a roux using 3 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp of water. Mix to combine and then add into hot gravy mixture and stir until it thickens.
- If you don’t use wine in cooking you can substitute the wine with more chicken broth. You can also replace the cooking sherry with red wine vinegar. The flavor will be slightly affected.
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Nutrition Facts:
Delorise says
Can you make this recipe with boneless skinless thighs instead of chicken breast?
Leigh Anne Wilkes says
Absolutely!
L Linda says
I had my chicken pounded and ready to go, along with the other ingredients measured out and chopped. Making this dish was fast and so easy. The chicken was so tender and the sauce is scrumptious! Since we are a huge fan of mushrooms I used 16 oz container of mushrooms. I sauteed the extra mushrooms in butter using a covered small fry pan and added to the chicken.
I will without a doubt make this dish again!
Adam says
Sounds great minus the chicken as I am a vegetarian. I will try it over pasta with an abundance of mushrooms. Do you have a red sauce recipe that would include marsala wine and possibly sherry? Thank you.
Leigh Anne Wilkes says
Sorry, I don’t
Joanie Judd says
This is THE best Chicken Marsala I have ever tasted! It’s easy to make and beyond delicious! Use the wine and the sherry. You will love this recipe! I used baby Bella mushrooms.
Janet Bradley says
Not a fan of mushrooms (won’t/don’t) eat them. Can I leave them out?
Soooooo want to try this recipe.
Leigh Anne says
You can totally leave them out.
Douglas Wilson says
You can leave out the shrooms and wine the you have pan fried chicken cutlets in a tasteless brown sauce. It’s “Chicken Marsala” hence the Marsala wine. The wine and mushrooms are the two key ingredients that give it the flavor that defines Chicken Marsala. I don’t mean to be negative but that’s it in a nutshell.