Chicken Marsala is a pretty simple dish to make, but the flavor is over-the-top good. The creamy mushroom sauce made with Marsala wine and chicken broth surrounds the slightly breaded chicken cutlets. This is tasty and fancy enough to serve to company and easy enough to make for a weeknight meal.
You can make this in around 45 minutes and it will be ready to serve over egg noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes. I’ll bet that this would become a regular menu item in your house.
What is Marsala wine?
Marsala is a fortified wine that’s made in Sicily. It is made with local white grapes from the region and fortified usually with brandy. The alcohol content is between 15% to 20% as opposed to the usual white wine 11% or 12%.
The wine can be made either dry or sweet which depends on the amount of residual sugars in the finished wine. I used a dry Marsala.
True Marsala wine comes from Sicily and is regulated by the Italian government which specifies what is true Marsala. It is barrel aged for a year or up to 10 years. The younger wine is usually used for cooking and the more aged wine can be used for sipping before or after a meal.
Since the wine is fortified, it will last 4 to 6 months stored in a cool dry location. After this time, the wine will start to lose some of it’s flavor.
Prepping the boneless chicken breast
Have you noticed that chicken breasts today are getting huge? The ones that I used were 10 to 12 ounces each. They need to be cut horizontally in half and pounded thin into cutlets. Here is a quick video showing you how it is done. A good sharp knife is essential and a bit of practice too.
Mine were a bit uneven but the small piece was MaryJo’s and the bigger piece was mine.
To cook and brown the cutlets, first salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and sprinkle a bit of granulated garlic on them too. Then dredge them in plain all-purpose flour and shake off the excess.
Using a fairly large skillet on medium high heat, add a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil. Once the oil starts to shimmer, place two of the cutlets into the skillet to brown. This will take 3 or 4 minutes. Then, flip the cutlets to brown the second side, again for 3 or 4 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the skillet to a plate and tent with foil to stay warm.
Repeat the browning of the other two cutlets adding more butter and olive oil. Place the browned cutlets on the plate with the others.
Using the same skillet on medium heat, add a tablespoon of butter and the sliced mushrooms. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and cook stirring occasionally for 6 to 8 minutes so that the mushrooms let off their water and it evaporates. Then add in the minced garlic and the thyme and cook for another minute so the garlic becomes fragrant.
Making the Chicken Marsala Sauce
Pour in the Marsala wine next, bring to a boil and reduce by one half which will take 4 to 6 minutes.
Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil, then stir in the flour slurry to thicken. Stir in the cream and place the cutlets back into the skillet . Use a spoon to pour the sauce over the chicken to reheat and this also will slightly thicken the sauce more. Taste the sauce at this time and add salt and pepper as desired.
The sauce should taste amazingly good!
Take the skillet off the heat and sprinkle on some chopped fresh parsley and you are ready to serve.
Serve chicken marsala over mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles with a side vegetable.
This is restaurant-quality food you can make at home. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Creamy Chicken Marsala Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 12 oz. boneless chicken breasts, cut horizontally into cutlets
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp pepper
- 3/4 tsp granulated garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp butter
- 8 oz. white button or cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup Marsala wine
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 3 tsp all purpose flour dissolved in a tablespoon of water to make a slurry
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breast into cutlets, (4), sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. Dredge the cutlets in all-purpose flour and shake off the excess.
- Heat a large skillet on medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and butter. Once the oil is shimmering, place 2 of the cutlets in the skillet to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and brown the second side, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove and place on a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Add another 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and butter to the skillet and repeat the browning of the other 2 cutlets and place them on the plate tented.
- In the same skillet on medium heat, add another tablespoon of butter. Place the sliced mushrooms in the skillet with a pinch of salt and cook until browned and the water from the mushrooms has burned off, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the minced garlic and dried thyme and cook for another minute so that the garlic becomes fragrant.
- Pour in the Marsala wine and bring to a boil and reduce by 1/2 which will take 4 to 6 minutes. Next add the chicken broth and bring that to a boil. Once boiling, stir in the flour slurry and bring to a boil to thicken, 2 minutes.
- Stir in the heavy cream and place the cutlets back into the skillet to heat up. Spoon the sauce over the cutlets which will further the thickening, 2 or 3 minutes. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper if needed.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and sprinkle with the chopped parsley. Serve warm.
Notes
- Marsala wine can be substituted with dry cooking sherry, Madeira wine, or even 3/4 cups of white wine and 3 tablespoons of brandy.
- The nutrition information is for 4 servings of Chicken Marsala only not the noodles, potatoes or rice it is served with.
Nutrition
Try these other delicious menu ideas:
Good morning! Can this be made in an instant pot?
Hi Susan. Sorry, an Instant Pot would not work for this recipe.
Thank you for your quick response—I appreciate it!
I’m drooling just reading the recipe and remembering how fantastic this is. We had it over linguine and it was out of this world. We had the leftovers for dinner the next night and they were every bit as good!