Chicken Marsala
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Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American dish of golden pan-fried chicken cutlets and mushrooms in a rich Marsala wine sauce.
Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American dish of golden pan-fried chicken cutlets and mushrooms in a rich Marsala wine sauce. It’s the most popular chicken recipe on this website, and though it’s a classic restaurant dish, it’s really easy to make at home. With just one pan, you can have it on the dinner table in 45 minutes. The recipe makes a lovely sauce that is delicious over pasta, polenta, rice, or Parmesan smashed potatoes.
If your family loves Italian food like mine does, once you master chicken Marsala, try your hand at other Italian restaurant favorites, such as chicken cacciatore, pasta e fagioli, eggplant parmesan, penne alla vodka, and lasagna.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Marsala
Marsala is a brandy-fortified wine from Sicily that is 100% worth adding to your pantry, if only to make this dish time and again. It will keep in a cool, dry spot for months.
I buy boneless skinless chicken breasts and pound them thin myself, as opposed to using the ultra-thin sliced cutlets sold at the supermarket, since pounding tenderizes the meat. This adds an extra step but you can save time by using pre-sliced mushrooms. (Or you can skip all this hassle by using chicken tenderloins, which are naturally tender.)
How To Make Chicken Marsala
If your chicken breasts are large, like the ones in the photo above, it’s best to first cut them in half horizontally. (If you pound them without first halving them, they’ll be ginormous and oddly shaped.)
Once you’ve got four flat filets, pound them each to an even 1/4-inch thickness.
Place the flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a ziplock bag.
Add the chicken to the bag; seal the bag tightly and shake to coat chicken evenly. Set aside.
Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Use a stainless steel pan for the best browning. Nonstick will work too, but you won’t get that nice golden color on the chicken.) Place the flour-dusted chicken in the pan, shaking off any excess first.
Cook, turning once, until the chicken is golden and just barely cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pan. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms begin to brown, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the shallots, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.
Add the broth, wine, heavy cream, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper; use a wooden spoon to scrape any brown bits from the pan into the liquid. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.
Gently boil, uncovered, until the sauce is reduced by about half, slightly thickened, and darkened in color, 10 to 15 minutes (you’re going for a thin cream sauce; it won’t start to thicken until the very end of the cooking time).
Add the chicken back to the pan, along with any juices that accumulated on the plate. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chicken is warmed through and the sauce thickens a bit more, 2 to 3 minutes.
Sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve.
Video Tutorial
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Chicken Marsala
Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American dish of golden pan-fried chicken cutlets and mushrooms in a rich Marsala wine sauce.
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded ¼-inch thick (see note), or chicken tenderloins
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 (8-oz) package pre-sliced bella or button mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots, from 1 medium shallot
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅔ cup chicken broth
- ⅔ cup dry Marsala wine
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Place the flour, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a ziplock bag. Add the chicken to the bag; seal bag tightly and shake to coat chicken evenly. Set aside.
- Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Use a stainless steel pan for the best browning. Nonstick will work too, but you won’t get that nice golden color on the chicken.) Place the flour-dusted chicken in the pan, shaking off any excess first, and cook, turning once, until the chicken is golden and just barely cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pan. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms begin to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the shallots, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon of salt; cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Add the broth, Marsala, heavy cream, thyme, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon of pepper; use a wooden spoon to scrape any brown bits from the pan into the liquid. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and gently boil, uncovered, until the sauce is reduced by about half, slightly thickened, and darkened in color, 10 to 15 minutes (you’re going for a thin cream sauce; it won’t start to thicken until the very end of the cooking time). Add the chicken back to the pan, along with any juices that accumulated on the plate. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chicken is warmed through and the sauce thickens a bit more, 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve.
- Note: If your chicken breasts are large (like the ones in the photos that are about ¾ lb. each), it’s best to first cut them horizontally to form four flat fillets, then pound them to an even ¼-inch thickness. If you pound large chicken breasts without first halving them, they’ll be huge. Of course, you could also pound them thin first and then cut them in half vertically; the only drawback is that they’ll lose their natural shape (which, admittedly, is not a big deal!).
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Calories: 537
- Fat: 32 g
- Saturated fat: 16 g
- Carbohydrates: 12 g
- Sugar: 4 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 43 g
- Sodium: 877 mg
- Cholesterol: 203 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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My new favorite!!! This was UHmazing. Next time I will double the sauce…I think I could have made a meal out of that alone!
Tonight marks my 4th time making this recipe. It has become a family favorite. I subbed sherry for marsala one time (I ran out) and it was equally delish, although not “Marsala”. We use fresh herbs from the garden and have served this with egg noodles, pasta and even left over basmati rice. Always a hit.
Hi, I want to make this to serve 8 instead of four. Will it work to just double all ingredients?
Sure – hope everyone enjoys!
Can the recipe be doubled for the broth?
Hi Christine, you can double the sauce, but keep in mind that the color will be different (you’ll have fewer pan drippings to contribute to the darker color of the sauce). Hope that helps!
Fantastic! Possibly the best meal I’ve ever made in my life. Served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. As good as any Italian meal I’ve had in a restaurant. Would make for company but easy enough for a fancy weeknight dinner. 10/10 would recommend.
I made this dish on a whim for Sunday lunch today and luckily I had all the ingredients. My Father in Law who’s not in the habit of filtering his opinions about the food on his plate loved it! I gave it 5 stars and now I have a new dish to impress with. Thank you!
I followed the recipe and it was perfect.
Thank you for this recipe and the detailed, easy to follow instructions. Served it over rice with roasted broccoli. It was a huge hit.
Great recipe! Served over rice with roasted asparagus and carrots. Thank you!
Jenn, my husband first made your Chicken Marsala recipe and we loved it! I added bacon, similar to a Coq Au Vin recipe, and incorporated that to your Chicken Marsala dish. The dinner last week was amazing! Our Son and Daughter-in-Law loved the Chicken Marsala as well. We agree, the sauce should be doubled. We served with mashed potatoes and a steamed vegetable. And, to echo a prior review, thank you very much for so generously sharing your recipe!
I would like to personally thank you for being so gracious as to share this perfect recipe.
I subscribed only after making it and it is so simple although there are lots of ingredients. I doubled the liquid ingredients and left it in the oven for an hour and the next day I heated them up and OMG….
I thought I had died and gone to heaven because they taste like smothered pork chops( Only WAAAY BETTER) without the guilt of eating swine. That’s my personal opinion as I have not eaten pork chops since my children were very small. I am a grandmother now and I take great pride in preparing recipes that I can leave behind for them to enjoy for years to come and this one is going right in my top 10 probably number TWO and that’s hard to do because I am quite the cook so God-bless you.
❤️❤️
Hello,
I made the chicken Marsala for the first time and was hesitant about adding the dairy in with the wine and the broth as I was afraid it would curdle….which it did! 😳. What did I do wrong?
Hi Phuong, Sorry to hear you had a problem with this. Did you use heavy cream as the recipe indicates? If so, the only thing I can think of that would cause this is that the cream was spoiled. Is there any chance that could’ve been the case?
Thanks Jenn, for your response. I used half and half hoping it would be an ok substitute. I didn’t notice any indication of spoilage but despite it all the family enjoyed it for a first time home cooked meal. I’ll try it again with heavy cream next time since we still have Marsala wine to use!
Finally got a chance to try again with heavy cream and it came out as promised. The family enjoyed it very much. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
👍
Easy to follow and DELICIOUS. Thank you for the recipe.