One of Lisa’s favorite meals is my Chicken Marsala Recipe. To her, it means comfort food, and after tasting my classic version, nothing else will do.
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Chicken Marsala is one of those dishes you order at your favorite Italian restaurant, but are always afraid to try at home. But in truth, it couldn’t be easier to make.
The secret to making the best chicken marsala you’ve ever tasted, really isn’t a secret at all. It’s finding the right marsala to make the dish.
If you enjoy making restaurant-style chicken dishes that will amaze your friends, try our Chicken Parm and Chicken Milanese recipes.
Ingredients
Gather the ingredients to prepare our restaurant-style chicken marsala recipe. Culinary professionals call this the “Mise en Place,” which means “everything in its Place.”
Setting up your ingredients not only helps speed up the cooking process but also ensures you have all the necessary ingredients on hand to make the recipe.
How to Make Chicken Marsala
Follow along with my simple step-by-step instructions to learn how to make chicken marsala in your home kitchen.
- Dredge the chicken in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then add it to a hot sauté pan with enough olive oil to sauté it.
- Sauté the breasts on one side for 2-3 minutes, then turn them over to cook the other side. After flipping, add the sliced mushrooms to the pan.
- Continue to sauté the chicken, turning it as needed and letting the mushrooms cook.
*Add more olive oil if needed.
When the mushrooms are nicely browned and the chicken is well seared on all sides, add ¾ of a cup of your Marsala ( reserve 2 ounces to finish the dish) to the hot pan.
Let the chicken marsala continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. This will also burn off the alcohol.
Chef Tip:
When adding the wine, remove the pan from the burner or turn off the heat if you’re cooking on a gas range. The chance of the Marsala igniting is low, but trust me, you don’t want the bottle to ignite.
It is okay to light wines or spirits to burn off the alcohol. I use one of the long grill lighters to ignite the fumes, but it’s not necessary, as the alcohol will burn off in about one minute with the heat on high.
Add the chicken stock to the pan, reduce the heat to low, and allow the dish to simmer as the sauce reduces.
Season with granulated onion and black pepper to taste.
When the sauce has reduced by about half of its original liquid, roll one or two tablespoons of butter in flour, getting a good layer of flour embedded into the butter. This is called a beurre manie.
Add the beurre manie to the sauce; this will help it thicken. Stir to combine, then add the remaining Marsala to the pan.
What Marsala should I use?
Getting back to the reason my chicken marsala is better than most is the type and brand of Marsala wine I use.
My first choice will always be the sweet (or non-classified) Pellegrino Brand, but it’s hard to find and more than double the price of Cribari.
I usually use the Cribari brand since it’s more readily available, and the dish still comes out better than most Italian restaurants’. If neither is available, the Florio brand will work. But never, ever, ever use cooking wine.
There is one other tip on buying marsala wine: if you have a choice between dry and sweet, always buy the sweet.
This will contradict what most chefs will tell you, so you’ll have to trust me on this one. Believe me, it will make a big difference in the flavor of the dish, and it will not make the sauce sweet; it’s just how they differentiate between the two varieties.
Dry Marsala, in theory, should be more flavorful. But either I haven’t found a good dry marsala, or it just doesn’t work as well as advertised in my dishes.
After the sauce has thickened and you are happy with the seasoning, you can serve the Chicken Marsala to your guests.
Serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans for a complete meal.
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Classic Chicken Marsala Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 oz boneless skinless chicken breast o or chicken tenders
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms or regular mushrooms
- extra virgin olive oil to saute chicken and mushrooms
- seasoned flour to dust chicken seasoned with sea salt and black pepper
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon granulated onion
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup Marsala
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream optional
Instructions
- Prepare your chicken by triming away any fat and skin. . If you are using tenders you can just use them as they are.
- dredge the chicken in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and add it to a hot sauté pan with enough olive oil to saute the chicken.
- Sauté the chicken for 2-3 minutes on one side then turn it over, at this time add your mushrooms to the pan.
- Continue to sauté the chicken, turning it as needed and letting the mushrooms cook.
- After the mushrooms look cooked and the chicken is well seared on all sides, add in ¾ of a cup of your Marsala ( reserve 2 ounces to finish the dish).
- Allow the Marsala to continue cooking for 1-2 minutes
- Add in the chicken stock and heavy cream, reduce the heat, and allow to simmer on low as the sauce reduces. Season wiht granulated onion and black pepper.
- When the sauce has reduced about half of its original liquid, roll 1 tablespoon of butter in flour, getting a good layer of flour embedded into the butter. Now add it to the sauce, this will help thicken your sauce. (this method is called a beurre manie). Add in the remaining Marsala wine to finish the dish.
- After the sauce has thickened and you are happy with the seasoning you can serve the Chicken Marsala to your guests. I love serving mine with mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, rice or egg noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
Roger says
Dennis
Best Chicken Marsala ever!
I am thinking about using the same base recipe for veal Marsala using beef stock instead of the chicken broth.
What do you think
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thank you! It was always one of the more popular dishes in my restaurant days. You could use either beef or chicken stock to make the veal marsala, you just don’t want the beef stock to overpower the sauce.
Joyous Millerous says
Have used your recipe twice in two weeks. My husband scraped every bit of sauce off the plate. The only thing I did not use was the optional heavy cream. What a delish recipe. Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for letting me know you and your husband enjoyed my chicken marsala, and leaving out the cream isn’t a big deal, it just a subtle change, to the color and mouth feel but not a deal breaker.
Joyous Millerous says
Made exactly as directed over fettuccini. DELISH! Will make again. Thank you for the recipe
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the chicken marsala. Serving it over fettuccine sounds delicious.
Narda Wilcox says
Can you substitute for the Marsala wine? Or buy the sauce pre-made?
Chef Dennis Littley says
You can use red wine, but it won’t be chicken marsala. I have never seen a premade marsala sauce.
Connie Pearson says
Hi Dennis, I served this to guests last night, and it was a big hit. The flavor is wonderful. I’ll definitely be using this recipe again.
Give my love to Lisa.
Connie
KayKay says
Delicious and the sauce was wonderful! I made this recipe last night served with pasta and stuffed zucchini boats. I found it difficult to brown the mushrooms while the chicken was taking up most of the space in the pan. It was difficult to stir the sauce without disturbing the chicken and damaging the flour coating. Could you remove the chicken and continue cooking in the oven while finishing off the sauce? It took me a good 15-20 min to reduce the Marsala and the stock which caused the chicken to be slightly overcooked.
Chef Dennis Littley says
yes you can remove the chicken and finish it in the oven. You can also partially cook the chicken and remove it while you cook the sauce and just return it to the pan to finish.
Kathleen says
Thanks, you were so helpful .I am Italian but we never had this dish and I wanted to try it out.
arabel says
gracias!!!!!
Chef Dennis Littley says
you’re welcome!
Henry Higgins says
Love this recipe… going to try it tonight. A SUGGESTION : Please try to make your recipes fit on one page , if possible… easier for we old folks !
Donna Welsh-Johnson says
“Cream” is mentioned at the top of the recipe and I believe I see a picture of cream in a small glass bowl…but no where is it mentioned in the recipe. So, my question is, how much, when is it added, or should it be omitted from the recipe completely? thanks so much for clarifying!
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for noticing that ommission Donna. You would add it at the end of the dish with the marsala. It’s more of an optional add that isn’t a deal breaker but will make the sauce a little richer.
online cake delivery in Delhi says
Thanks for sharing another awesome recipe as always! Been a long time reader and I found all your recipes
wonderful. Tried a few of them as well but not as deliciously looking like yours. Keep up the great work!
Bethel C Esmillarin says
Chicke marsala is something that is new to me. I am fond of chicken and mushroom so Imma pin it!
aileen adalid says
This looks so delicious! I would love to give this a try soon. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
ricci says
This recipe sounds delicious! I love Chicken Marsala but haven’t made it in forever!!
Heather says
This looks really really good. So good that I think my kiddos will actually want to eat this!