Wouldn’t your family love to sit down to a plateful of my Tuscan Chicken and Sausage served with your favorite pasta?
Mama Mia, it’s delicioso and can be made in about 20 minutes!
I’ll be the first to admit we do eat a lot of pasta. It comes from my restaurant days of creating delicious combinations in a saute pan. I never wanted my guests to go home hungry and pasta always helped fill their bellies.
Many times what I create for dinner comes from what I have in the refrigerator to work with. You’ll find that by using this method to make dinner you’ll come up with some pretty tasty combinations and use up what you have on hand, not letting food go to waste.
What ingredients do I need to make Tuscan Chicken & Sausage?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Tuscan Chicken & Sausage. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How do I make Tuscan Chicken & Sausage?
- Dredge chicken tenders in flour seasoned with salt and pepper
- Place the floured tenders in a large saute pan with enough olive oil to saute them.
- Cook chicken 3-4 minutes on one side and turn them over to begin cooking the other side.
- Add the raw sliced sweet sausage, sliced mushrooms and roasted red peppers to pan. Continue cooking the mixture for about 5 minutes turning the chicken after it has been browned on the other side.
- Add all but 2 ounces of the marsala wine to the hot pan. This is called deglazing and will loosen all of the delicious bits stuck to the pan allowing them to add flavor to the dish.
*The alcohol will cook off in about a minute.
- Add the chicken stock,and a pinch of black pepper (season to taste).
- Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook while sauce is reducing.
- Take the butter and coat it in flour pressing flour into the butter and add to the sauce (this is called a beurre manie) it will thicken the sauce and the butter will impart a rich flavor
- As the sauce begins to thicken lower heat to simmer, and add remaining marsala and grated cheese.
Do I have to use peppers in this dish?
No. you don’t. The first rule of cooking at home is to use ingredients that you and your family enjoy eating and if you don’t like peppers, leave them out.
Would other types of cheese go well with this dish?
Absolutely! This is your dinner, get creative and use what you have on hand or what you like to eat.
You could top this dish with melted mozzarella, provolone, or fontina to name a few of my favorites. You could also use some Gorgonzola crumbles if you’re feeling adventurous.
Can I use other types of sausage in this dish?
You sure can. Hot sausage or chorizo would add some zip to this dish.
What ingredients could I add to Tuscan Chicken?
Some of my favorite additions are:
- Spinach
- Sundried Tomatoes
- Pepperoncini
- Cannellini Beans
- Shrimp
Serve over pasta, garnish with fresh chopped basil, additional grated cheese and watch the smiles around your dinner table!
Recipe FAQ’s
A Basic Tuscan sauce is stock-based with added herbs and cheese. Many Tuscan sauces that are found online incorporate cream which makes it more of a northern Italian Sauce, rather than a Tuscan sauce.
The basic dish is chicken in the stock based sauce which is generally served with pasta. You can incorporate a variety of vegetables that you enjoy eating to the dish as well as shrimp or lobster.
Tuscan Chicken is basically a blank canvas for ingredients you enjoy or have on hand.
Tuscan cooking is a simple style, which is characterized with stock and olive oil based sauce. Not heavy or cream based which is more prevelant in the Northern regions of Italy.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love!
Tuscan Chicken and Sausage with Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz chicken tenders
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- ¼ cup roasted red peppers- sliced
- 4 oz sweet Italian sausage
- 6 oz sweet marsala
- 6 oz chicken stock
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp grated romano cheese
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
- ½ lb linguine or spaghetti
Instructions
- Cook pasta per instructions on the box at the same time you begin cooking this dish.
- Dredge chicken tenders in flour seasoned with salt and pepper
- place floured tenders in a large saute pan with enough olive oil to saute them.
- Cook chicken 3-4 minutes on one side and turn them over
- Add the raw sliced sweet sausage, sliced mushrooms and roasted red peppers to the pan. Continue cooking the mixture for about 5 minutes turning the chicken after it has been browned on the other side.
- Add all but 2 ounces of the marsala wine to the hot pan. This is called deglazing and will loosen all of the delicious bits stuck to the pan allowing them to add flavor to the dish.*The alcohol will cook off in about a minute.
- Add the chicken stock, and a pinch of black pepper (season to taste).
- Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook while sauce is reducing.
- Take the butter and coat it in flour pressing flour into the butter and add to the sauce (this is called a beurre manie) it will thicken the sauce and the butter will impart a rich flavor
- As the sauce begins to thicken lower heat to simmer, and add remaining marsala and grated cheese
- Serve over pasta, garnish with fresh chopped basil, additional grated cheese and enjoy!
Marta
I loved the addition of the sweet marsala. It gave me hints of chicken marsala, but the cheesiness made me like it more. Definitely worth repeating over and over.
Gloria
We are pasta lovers and your chicken and sausage dinner was fantastic.
Liz
My mouth was watering reading through your post and the dish did not disappoint. I loved the variety of flavors and textures in this dish, it made pasta night a hit!
Audrey
Everyone enjoyed this!
Alex Winetsky
Im making this tonight making a variation of it with chicken -shrimp and hot and sweet sausage
im using baby bella mushrooms. Green onions
Chef Dennis Littley
sounds like a nice variation Alex, I hope everyone enjoyed it!
Muna Kenny
It’s a really beautiful creation, the images are absolutely tempting. I never had this dish before and looking forward to making it soon!
Lynn
About this time of the year when summer is winding down and we feel fall in the air here and there, I look for simplicity with food. What I like about this dish is adding anything to the base recipe. I’ve got tons of zucchini & other squash which I think would work nicely with this dish!
Maggie @ A Bitchin' Kitchen
This looks like my kind of meal! I love that it comes together quickly and easily too.
RavieNomNoms
Wow Dennis! That looks amazing! I used to eat pasta quite a bit, I haven’t really as much lately. I think this should be the pasta I start back up with!!
Mei-I @ Gastronomic Nomad
Looks delicious Chef! That chicken looks so juicy!!
Minnie@thelady8home
This looks such a fabulous dish Chef Dennis!
Betty Ann @Mango_Queen
Oh my, this looks absolutely divine! I saw this photo on Google+ and I still can’t take my eyes off it. What simple flavors and even better, so easy to do. Thanks for sharing, Chef Dennis! Have a wonderful ‘back to school’ season !
Renee
I could eat sausage any day of the week. This looks so good and my husband would like it too because of the chicken and pasta.
FLaure
Une recette qui me convient à merveille.
Bonne journée, FLaure
Elin
Chef Dennis….Makes me hungry each time I drop by 🙂 this recipe sounds great. I prefer pasta to rice anytime 🙂 Have a nice day !
anna
ahh yes, this recipe is classic chef! gorgeous, hearty, and classy. i am for it.
Jean (Lemons and Anchovies)
I’m traveling right now and though I’m having lots of fun, I’m beginning to tire of the sameness of the restaurant menus. This is something I would love to have for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll just have to make it myself at home in two weeks! Yum!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
What a delicious dish, I love the Marsala here!
Carol | a cup of mascarpone
There isn’t an ingredient in this creation, that I don’t love!!! Can’t wait to try it! Sounds and looks wonderful! Thank you, Dennis!
Mary
This sounds fantastic! When do you cook the sausage though? Thanks! Have an excellent holiday, Chef Dennis.
Chef D
Thanks for the heads up Mary , I left that step out of the recipe. Add in the raw sliced sausage when you turn the chicken. Add in with the mushrooms and roasted peppers.