Make restaurant-worthy Chicken Marsala at home.
Chicken marsala is a one pan meal made with tender chicken breasts in a savory mushroom marsala sauce, and it’s ready in 35 minutes.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American classic, made with chicken, mushrooms, and seasonings cooked in a creamy Marsala wine sauce. The chicken marsala wine sauce makes it feel fancy, but it is easy to make in about 30 minutes.
- Flavor: The sauce is rich and slightly earthy from the mushrooms and a hint of sweetness from the Marsala wine.
- Time-Saving Tips: Swap the chicken breasts for 8 thin chicken cutlets and purchase pre-sliced mushrooms.
- Serving Suggestions: We love to serve this Chicken Marsala recipe with either pasta or garlic mashed potatoes.
Ingredient Tips for Chicken Marsala
- Chicken: Use boneless chicken breasts, boneless chicken thighs, or cutlets.
- Marsala Wine: Marsala is a fortified wine from Sicily. Be sure to choose a dry Marsala wine and not the sweet variety, which is best used for making Italian desserts. It can be replaced with sherry, port, or Madeira.
- Sauce: This marsala sauce has chicken broth, butter, shallots, and thyme thickened with flour.
- Mushrooms: Use any variety of mushrooms. I love baby Bella (aka cremini mushrooms), but white mushrooms or portobellos are also great options.
Variations
- Flavor: Add garlic along with the mushrooms. You can replace shallots with red or white onions.
- Creamy: While it’s not traditional, whisk in about ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream for a creamier sauce at the end of Step 2.
- Vegetables: Add chopped asparagus, spinach, or peas for more texture and color.
Garnish with parsley and serve as desired.
Storage and Leftovers
Keep leftover chicken marsala in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop over medium heat.
Freeze cooled portions in zippered bags for up to four months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
What to Serve with Chicken Marsala
Did you make this Chicken Marsala? Leave a rating and comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts 5 to 6 oz each
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
For the Sauce
- ¾ cup chicken stock or chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 small shallot diced, or onion
- 8 ounces mushrooms white or brown, sliced
- 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dry Marsala wine
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or chives for garnish
Instructions
- Cover the chicken breasts with plastic wrap and use the flat side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin to pound to ¼-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper and dredge in flour.
- In a large skillet, preheat the olive oil over medium high heat. Cook the chicken in batches, 3-4 minutes per side or until cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
To Make the Sauce
- In the same pan, add 2 tablespoons butter, thyme, and shallot and cook over medium heat until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until juices are released, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 ½ tablespoons flour and cook for 1 minute more.
- Pour in the Marsala wine and stock or broth and simmer until thick and bubbly, about 3 minutes.
- Add chicken back into the pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until heated through.
- Garnish and serve over pasta.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
easy, delicious!!!
This was delicious even having to use sweet Marsale. Dry Marsala is not available where I live (ugh!!) so I’m wondering if I can cut some of the sweetness for the next round by mixing in a bit of Chardonnay. It’s change the flavor some, of course, but do you think it would work?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Vicki, but that sounds delicious. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Ask if your store can order it for you, or, depending on what state you live in, order it online.
Use only Italian imported Marsala, like Columbo…domestic Marsala is weak in flavor…and NEVER use one labeled cooking wine.
Also, just use Marsala in place of the chicken stock.
Awesome!!
Holly, made your Chicken Marsala last night with heavy cream and got great complements from my family, especially my wife. Thanks so much for another great recipe!!
very nice recipe
Easy and delicious!
Forget the broth…use Marsala….why would anyone want to delete the flavor of the Marsala
We will find it has great Marsala flavor without being too sweet.
Trying to make a mandala sauce
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I made it exactly as written, and tripled the recipe. The only change I made was I cut the chicken into strips after it was cooked and before I added it to the sauce so it would be easier to eat with pasta. So yummy! At first, I thought the sauce was too liquidy, but it thickened up to the perfect consistency after all the chicken was added and it simmered for a bit. Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
This recipe sounds delicious. Can it be made ahead and reheated the next day
Hi Kathleen, I have made tried reheating this recipe and it works great. The sauce does end up a little thicker than intended but I just added a little extra broth to thin it out again.
Looks yummy! I can’t wait to try it.
Very pleasantly surprised at how good this was for minimal effort!! I have another marsala recipe that is much more involved, and I think this recipe was almost as good. I will definitely make this again!
This was delicious ! I made double the sauce amount including double mushrooms to serve it over angel hair. This will be my go to chicken marsala moving foward.
Easy to make but it lacks something. Can I add some more spices.
Sure you can Delores. You can increase the spices or even try lightly toasting them in a dry non-stick pan until fragrant.
I was wondering which brand of wine you recommend. I don’t know wines but I was told not to use a cheep one but rather one I’d enjoy drinking.
For this recipe Sandy, we use a dry marsala wine. You may want to ask the person at the wine shop about the brands to pick one you’d like to drink as well.
Delicious
Love this dish!!
Very easy and above all delicious !! Thx for sharing these incredible recipes, Holly. This is my go to site now !
Holly, this chicken Marsala recipe was outstanding! I made it in the crockpot, the smell was intoxicating! I could not wait to try it! I did add cream to thicken the sauce and served it over mashed potatoes. I have never made this before but I will definitely be making it again and again! Thank you, Sue
Oh boy Sue, that sounds so delicious!
I would love to join i love too cook
We’d love to have you Joy! To receive our newsletters, you can sign up here or scroll down to the bottom of the post and you will see a signup box.
Made this tonight and everyone loved! Easy! And perhaps healthier bc no heavy cream in the recipe.