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 fagioli, eggplant parmesan, penne alla vodka, and lasagna.
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
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded ¼-in (6-mm) 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.
Notes
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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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This dish was very flavorful but I expected it to have a stronger Marsala flavor. Perhaps too much heavy cream? Could I decrease the amount of heavy cream without changing the integrity of the sauce?
Hi Marilyn, I would decrease the broth and cream equally. Hope that helps!
What should I decrease to?
Hi Marilyn, I’d reduce both to 1/2 cup.
I made this on Monday and we loved it! Easy to make and so so good. My husband said it was a triumph. I had two pieces of chicken left over and we ate them tonight (3 days later) and OMG it was absolutely amazing! Even better than the first night. This is a meal I will make again and again and for dinner guests as well!!
Made this last night for dinner along with her mashed potato and green bean recipe . And OMG it was so good. I am saving these recipes and definitely making again.
Hi Jenn, this recipe is absolutely amazing! Better than my mom’s! (Don’t tell her).
I love it so much that I’d like to make it for company, but I will need more than four servings. If I make 8 servings (4 chicken breasts cut in half), do I just double all of the ingredients in the recipe? Is it as simple as that? I definitely do not want to mess up this recipe.
Hi Michael, So glad you enjoyed it (and I won’t tell your mom)! 😉 Yes, to double the recipe, you’d simply double all the ingredients.
The best recipe and dish! Better than a restaurant version.
We loved it. Can’t wait to try more of your yummy recipes!
Oh my. This was so yummy. Wish I could figure out how to make it for a group of 6 or 8. Thanks for all of your consistently great recipes.
I made this on Monday and we loved it! Easy to make and so so good. My husband said it was a triumph. I had two pieces of chicken left over and we ate them tonight (3 days later) and OMG it was absolutely amazing! Even better than the first night. This is a meal I will make again and again and for dinner guests as well!!
We love this recipe. I made it again for company yesterday and it turned out delicious as always.
One thing I’ve learned from experience is the quality of the dish is highly dependent on the quality of the Marsala wine. My favorite is 1833 Cantine Florio Vecchioflorio Marsala Superiore Secco.
Yesterday, since I was making a double batch, I changed how I prepped the breasts by slicing them diagonally on the bias a half-inch thick, beginning at the thickest part of each breast. When I got to the thin end, I just cut it to produce about the same size “tournedos” as the rest of the pieces. I didn’t need to pound the chicken for it to be perfectly cooked and tender and the smaller pieces were easier to arrange in the skillet, requiring fewer batches to brown.
I tried this recipe the other night and even though it didn’t come out perfectly, the flavor was delicious. The chicken was so tender. The cream adds such a nice balance to the wine. I think I cooked it a little too long. Did 15 minutes rather than 10 because the sauce didn’t thicken right away and I was worried it wouldn’t. However our electric stove takes a while once you lower the temp so I probably should have turned it down all the way to low after 10 minutes. Even with a thicker and less sauce it was delicious. The other glitch I had was I put the chicken aside in the ziploc after flouring and when I went back to saute it, some of the flour had come off the breasts so I added a little and may have had too much on them (which maybe added to the thickness of the sauce?)
I have a question though about leftovers. I know this is the kind of dish you want to serve right away but I made four pieces for two people and I was wondering the best way to reheat considering thanks to my mistake there’s not too much sauce.
Hi Jane, glad that overall, it came out okay. I’d reheat it covered (so the sauce won’t thicken more, briefly on the stove until just heated through.
100% making this again! And will definitely be doubling that sauce next time. Thanks, Jenn.