A delicious, but surprisingly easy recipe that results in a restaurant quality dish. Chicken Marsala is an impressive meal that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.
Chicken Marsala is a classic recipe that every home cook should have in their collection. There are few ingredients, it can be pulled together in a flash, and it’s seriously impressive.
Flour dusted chicken is quickly seared and complemented by a silky Marsala wine sauce studded with mushrooms, shallots and garlic. I love to serve it with mashed potatoes but it’s also delicious with cooked pasta or rice.
Paul and I took a quick and very spontaneous trip about a week ago. It’s one of the many benefits to being the parents of grown kids that we’re slowly beginning to discover. Very sloooowly. You’d think the minute those kids headed off to college we’d have immediately begun living a more spontaneous life, but no, old habits die hard.
There are some other odd things about this grown kids phenomenon as well.
One day as I was out running errands, I glanced back into the huge expanse of my now empty SUV and it struck me. Why the heck am I still driving around in this giant vehicle? Years ago it was packed full of water polo players as we drove back and forth to tournaments or with luggage, boys, and dogs, as we headed to the mountains for our annual summer vacation. But now it’s just kind of ridiculous for me to be driving around in this thing.
And, for God’s sake, why has it taken me four years for this reality to sink in?
So, I bought a new car.
And, it’s pretty. And, it has a sun roof that slides open. And, it perfectly suits my new life as a mom of grown kids.
We packed our bags and headed to the Sierra Mountains in my pretty, somewhat sporty, but still practical car, and had a fabulously fun and relaxing three days with other grown ups. No kids, no dogs, just us. Same location, completely different experience.
I think I’m beginning to get a handle on this thing.
We ate most of our meals at restaurants, something that people with grown kids do.
One night we sat on the deck at Cuccia’s, an Italian restaurant in one of the most peaceful, beautiful settings imaginable. Big trees, gorgeous sky, mountains all around. I ordered the Chicken Marsala and we shared a bottle of red with my brother Jim and my sweet sister-in-law, Gale, who are blessed to live in this beautiful place. It was pretty awesome.
What is Marsala Wine?
Marsala is a fortified wine which means that a distilled spirit, like brandy, has been added. The same is true for both Madeira and Sherry, other popular cooking wines. One great thing about fortified wines is their long shelf life. Some like to refrigerate their re-corked, open bottles but I store mine in my cool, dark pantry and it stays well for many months. Marsala is also quite inexpensive and widely available in the liquor section of most grocery stores.
Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts,
- salt and pepper, to taste
- ½ cup plus 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour, divided
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, or as needed, divided
- ¼ cup diced shallots
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 8 ounces cremini, brown button mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
- ½ teaspoon dry thyme or 1 heaping teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- ¾ cup Marsala wine
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon butter, optional
- Italian flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Pound or slice the chicken breasts to ¼- to ½-inch thickness and cut in half or into smaller portion sized pieces. Season both sides with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Add ½ cup flour to a shallow dish or bowl (a pie plate works perfectly). Reserve remaining 4 teaspoons flour for later.
- Add 3 tablespoons olive oil to a large skillet over MEDIUM-HIGH heat.
- Dredge each piece of seasoned chicken breast into the flour, coating both sides, and place into skillet. Cook chicken in batches, if necessary, to avoid overcrowding the skillet. Add additional olive oil between batches, if needed. Cook for approximately 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until nicely browned and cooked through. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Return skillet to MEDIUM heat and add an additional tablespoon of olive oil . Add the diced shallot. Cook and stir for a minute or two to soften and then add the garlic. Cook and stir for another minute, until fragrant, and then add mushrooms. Saute the mixture for several minutes to soften mushrooms. Season with thyme, salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste and add 4 teaspoons flour to the skillet. Use a whisk to combine the flour and seasonings with the mushroom mixture.
- Add the Marsala to the skillet and increase heat slightly to bring to a boil. Cook and whisk for a minute or two at a low boil. Add chicken stock and continue to cook and whisk until sauce is silky and slightly thickened. If you’d like to create an even silkier sauce, add optional butter and allow it to melt into the sauce.
- Reduce heat to LOW and return cooked chicken to the skillet, spooning some of the sauce over each piece.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
You can get it AT many llcbo stores.
Very good and straightforward. Thanks for posting!
This recipe is very mouthwatering and also looks very tasty. I would love to try it for weekend dinner. Keep sharing such delicious nonveg recipes.
This is my second time making this it is so good! I crave it all the time lol
Do I have to use Marsala or can I just use cooking white wine from the super market?
Marsala has a totally different flavor, more like brandy.
I just tried this recipe tonight after saving it from a page on Facebook! I doubled the recipe so let’s see how it turns out! I used Holland House Marsala wine which I bought from Walmart lol
Do you have a good Marsala wine brand you can recommend please? The ones I’ve tried tasted horrible.
Check the other comments in this thread for some recommendations 🙂
I have never seen Marsala wine here in Canada can we use another kind of wine. Thanks
Hi Carole. Marsala has a very distinctive taste so although you could replace it, you’d end up with a completely different dish. That being said, you could try using a dry white wine with a splash of brandy.
It is available here in Canada – LCBO liquor stores. They have both the sweet and dry. Definitely go with dry with this recipe. The dry I used was ‘Sperone’ Fine I.P. Dry. 750mL bottle.
There is, without doubt, Marsala wine in Canada. Any LCBO should carry it.
I add sliced green pepper,or red.
This recipe looks awesome. However, for personal reasons, we don’t drink or cook with any type of alcohol. How would this recipe be using all chicken broth or stock? Or what could we replace the marsala with that would give us a similar taste? Thank you.
Did you ever get an answer to your question. I don’t cook with wine either so I would like to know what to substitute for the wine.
The main flavor component in Chicken Marsala is the Marsala wine so I wouldn’t recommend omitting or replacing it all with chicken broth. I think the outcome would be very bland. Instead I’d be inclined to suggest a different recipe like maybe a Chicken Picatta or something similar that does not involve alcohol.
Oh yes, I went through that phase as well. Sunroof and all! The best part of having adult children is sharing great food and wine with them! Then, comes the first grand baby! Your chicken Marsala is beautiful.
Right there with you enjoying life with grown children! Did you use dry or sweet Marsala? The sweet is usually used in desserts but some recipes call for it in chicken Marsala. Looks delicious!
Hi Karen! I believe most recipes call for dry Marsala although I’ve seen them with sweet as well. I use Gambarelli & Davitto Private Stock which is the brand available at my local grocery store. It is not labeled as either sweet or dry. It’s very affordable and I’ve had really good results with it. If I had to choose though, I’d most likely go with a dry Marsala for this recipe.