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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.

how to make chicken marsala

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.

What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Marsala

Marsala ingredients including mushrooms, heavy cream, and chicken broth.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.)

How To Make Chicken Marsala

Person slicing a chicken breast with a large knife.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.)

Sliced chicken breast on a cutting board.

Once you’ve got four flat filets,  pound them each to an even 1/4-inch thickness.

Person pounding a chicken breast with a meat mallet.

Place the flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a ziplock bag.

Seasonings in a bag.

Add the chicken to the bag; seal the bag tightly and shake to coat chicken evenly. Set aside.

Seasoned chicken in a bag.

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.

Seasoned chicken in a skillet.

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.

Partially-cooked chicken in a skillet.

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.

Mushrooms in a skillet.

Add the shallots, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon of salt.

Cooked mushrooms with other ingredients in a skillet.

Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.

Skillet of cooked mushrooms.

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.

Cream with mushrooms in a skillet.

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).

Skillet of creamy mushrooms.

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.

Skillet of chicken marsala.

Sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve.

Plate of chicken marsala.

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.

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Total Time: 45 Minutes

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

Powered by Edamam

  • 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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Comments

  • Can I use dried thyme if I can’t find fresh? Thanks!

    • Sure, but I’d reduce the amount to a generous 1/2 teaspoon. Enjoy!

  • I tripled the recipe for a group of 12. I browned all the chicken per the recipe in 2 pans. I added the broth to both pans to get all the drippings from the chickens, pour broth from frying pans into a 5 qt Dutch oven and poured the liquid from the 2 frying pans, and added the cream, stirring until well blended (about 5 minutes). Placed 12 pieces of chicken in the sauce and simmered until chicken was warmed through. Served it with Caesar salad, with optional pasta.
    It is delicious and the chicken very moist. I will try mashed potatoes next time.

    • — Sandy Anderson
    • Reply
  • We stumbled upon Jenn’s page several months ago and have become obsessed with her recipes, and I fan girl a bit because she lives in our area :). Everything we have made of hers is delicious but this Marsala was a huge hit. My SO has requested that this be on regular rotation now. Super easy but tasted like it took way more effort. We served it with brown rice and sautéed green beans so the sauce accompanied everything well. Highly recommend!!

  • Came out perfect. This was better than any restaurant’s chicken Marsala.

  • Fantastic!

  • I love this recipe and have used it many times now. I finally decided to comment because tonight when I made it, I did not have the heavy cream that I thought was in the fridge 🙁 so I used whole milk. Just as tasty and flavorful, I just will make sure to double check the fridge next time.

  • So Good! I made this dish last night. My husband said “this is one to add to the menu when you open your restaurant”. I have no plans to open a restaurant but that’s a comment he makes when he really likes a recipe. The instructions were easy to follow and the taste was phenomenal. I did cut back on the salt.

    • — Debbie Litzenberger
    • Reply
  • My sauce never darkened much or became very thick. Why would that be?

    • Hi Susan, Is there any chance that you doubled the sauce? If so, that would account for the lighter color (you’d have fewer pan drippings to contribute to the darker color of the sauce).

  • Best Chicken Marsala recipe and perfect when paired with the Parmesan Smashed Potatoes and French String Beans.

    • — Kristen M Baker
    • Reply
  • So very delicious! I doubled the recipe for the family and they loved it! Thank you for sharing 🙂

  • Love to cook.. my brother opened 2 restaurants & a catering business. I worked with him for a while. I made this a while ago & it is wonderful, my husband bragged about it for days. Having it again today… quick, easy & awesome!!!

  • Hi – can I use a cast iron skillet instead of stainless steel or will that get too hot for the chicken and the sauce?

    • Hi Mike, cast iron should be fine. Hope you enjoy!

  • Another five-star dinner. This was amazing. Another bonus, is that I morphed the leftovers As a base for a great cream pasta with chicken breast.
    If anyone is hesitating, go for it! Even my son who does not like mushrooms, loved this dish.

  • This was fantastic – paired it with your pureed cauliflower and huge hit. Surprised when I went to pantry and couldn’t find any marsala so combined moscato and red wine – worked wonderfully. also used half and half instead of cream, a bit less butter and more broth – still thickened and tasted very rich.

  • I’ve made this several times. When I find a recipe that’s quick, not too many ingredients and tastes delicious, it easily becomes part of my rotation. This recipe met all the requirements. I’m a super busy Mom of a military man who travels often and after a long day of work, I come home to three very hungry children. This dish is quick and the kids just love it. I serve it over spaghetti and heat up some sour dough rolls with a great big garden salad. It’s a hit every time.
    A million thank yous!

  • This is by far the best Chicken Marsala I’ve ever made.

  • Loved, Loved, Loved it. Another one of your recipes that I will keep in rotation. I’ve made Marsala before but you recipe is so flavorful. The addition of the fresh thyme did it for me. Can’t wait to make it again.

  • Are you using a white wine with this or a red wine cooking wine or is best to use the Marsala wine that you just buy in the supermarket?

    • Hi Carol, I would buy Marsala wine at a liquor store. I’d stay away from cooking wines in general (not just for this recipe) as they have additives and are generally not very good. Hope that clarifies and that you enjoy the dish if you make it!

    • Marsala wine has a very distinct flavor. I bought Taylor, which was only $6.00. It’s screw top so easy to store. Once you taste this recipe there will be no issue with using up the bottle. 😊

  • can a chicken dish be sexy ? 😁this was amazing. making it tonight with veal.

  • The Marsala wine caused the cream to curdle! I was able to fix it, but I have never had this problem. Do you have any insight as to why this happened?

    • Hi K, Sorry you had a problem with the sauce curdling. Did you use heavy cream?

  • OMG…I thought I was in a restaurant eating the most luxurious rich Chicken Marsala ever!!! I cooked only for myself so plenty of leftovers…AFTER I went and bought another pint of portabella and made another full cream sauce. Just passed this recipe on to several friends..and subscribed to your newsletter

  • This Marsala sauce gets 5 big, beautiful, delicious stars! My fiance and I both agreed that this is the tastiest version of this dish we’ve ever had. We had this last night (served over angel hair pasta which we don’t often use, but it was perfect), and will be having the leftovers for dinner shortly.
    Thank you Jenn for another winner! 🙂

  • I’ve tried several chicken marsala recipes, and this one is by far the best. I served mine with mashed potatoes, and it was perfect. I’ll definitely be making this again! Thank you!

  • This is hands down the VERY BEST chicken marsala recipe of all time! I made it tonight for my family, who are all chicken marsala lovers, and they said that it was a 15/10. I am so thrilled to have this recipe and will save it as a family favorite for many years to come. Thank you Jenn for providing such a fabulous recipe that is so simple to follow and beyond delicious! We loved every bite. I was hoping to have leftovers, because I tripled the recipe, but it was devoured down to the last morsel.

  • I bought your new cookbook. Can this recipe be made the night before or partially prepped. I get really busy with grandkids but looking for new ideas.

    • Thank you for your support with the cookbook! This is best right after it’s prepared. That said, if you’d like to give it a try, one reader commented that she made this ahead, stored the sauce & chicken separately, and reheated it briefly before serving. Please LMK how it goes if you make it ahead!

  • My all-time favorite dish!! Truly better than any chicken Marsala I’ve ever ordered in a restaurant, and I can make it on a weeknight at home! Thanks, Jen!

    • — Caly Konschewitz
    • Reply
  • This was an absolute triumph, thank you so much for this easy to follow, delicious recipe. It was easily as good, if not better than you’ll get in any restaurant.
    My husband is a fabulous cook and I wanted to make him something special for a change after a hard day at work. He was so impressed with this and said it was absolutely delicious. I served it with mash potato, some roasted parsnips, carrots and brocoli.
    Thanks again!

  • Can I cut down some of the calories without losing too much flavor

    • Hi Amy, Unfortunately, I don’t see many ways to cut calories here. I suppose you could use a little less butter to cook the chicken and the mushrooms, but don’t see much room anywhere else. Hope that helps at least a bit!

  • made this for my husband the other day and he said it was the best meal he has ever had. and this comes from a man who does not speak in hyperbole! jenn, you have been such a source of inspiration and joy in my kitchen. thank you for your flawless and delicious recipes!!!

  • Can chicken Marsala be made ahead and reheated?

    • Hi Arlene, this is best right after it’s prepared. That said, if you’d like to give it a try, one reader commented that she made this ahead, stored the sauce & chicken separately, and reheated it briefly before serving. Please LMK how it goes if you make it ahead!

  • OMG!!!! This is the absolute best Chicken Marsala recipe EVER!! Doesn’t really take that much extra time and effort, either. It’s definitely scrumptious and really rich, so I make it only ‘every so often’ but its a favorite at our house for Sunday nights, special occasions and dinner guests. Love it.

  • I just made this. I used 1 cup marsala and 1 cup broth served over mashed. DELICIOUS. WILL DEFINITELY MAKE IT AGAIN. HUBBY LOVED IT TOO.

  • Has anyone made this with coconut cream instead of heavy whipping cream?

  • Made this last night for the first time and it was so fantastic! I doubled the recipe and have leftovers for this week. I cant wait to make it again. Served it with orzo pasta and sautéed broccoli.

  • This was delicious. I am usually a 5 ingredients or less kind of cook but love Chicken Marsala so we gave it a whirl. There are a lot of steps but doing some prep measuring before we got going simplified it for us. Will definitely make this again.

    • This was a terrific recipe and came together quickly for dinner tonight. Even took a break for a zoom call after browning the chicken and the mushrooms! Loved it and will keep in my favorite recipe file. If you make this you will be showered with compliments!

  • Excellent recipe…very easy to follow. I did use a bit more salt than the recipe stated but very good.

  • This was wonderful and very easy to make. The only thing I will change next time is to double the sauce because we love it over pasta.

  • Made this last night. Amazing! Can you freeze the leftovers?

    • So glad you like it! Unfortunately, I don’t think it would freeze well.

  • This is an excellent chicken Marsala recipe!!

  • I LOOOVE this recipe, as I do most of your recipes. Just wondering if I can freeze this.

    • Glad you like it, but I wouldn’t recommend freezing it — sorry!

  • Finally made this recipe that I’d been ogling for ages. Family very enthusiastic! Served it with cauliflower mash (that I made a wee bit richer with parmesan and sour cream). This recipe made me decide to definitely invest in an AllClad pan, as seen used in your recipes. Would really appreciate hearing which size/type you use most.

    • Hi Maria, Glad you enjoyed the chicken! I use my 3.5-quart sauce pan and 10 and 12-inch skillets the most. I like their basic stainless ones as well as this line. Hope that helps!

  • Hi Jenn!
    I made this dish for the first time ever because I wanted to use up leftover mushrooms.
    I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream and I used Vidalia onions instead of shallots. It was delicious!
    Thanks for a great recipe.

    • This is the best recipe ever for Chicken Marsala, if you haven’t made it I suggest you do, I doubled the sauce also because I LOVE this recipe!

  • Just found this recipe and your site. My wife loves Chicken Marsala, so I thought that we would give it a try (we have never tried to make this dish before). All in all, an easy recipe to follow, but the results were much better than expected. My wife loved it, and we plan to make again this week (we cut the recipe in half, as it is just the two of us). If we had made the entire recipe, we would have finished it the 1st night, as it was amazing. I’m anxious to try more of your recipes and have printed out a few to try next (baked brie and corn soup for Maine next month). If the other items turn out as well, you have a new fan.

  • I made this with freshly caught cobia instead of chicken… WOW! Winner, winner, cobia dinner! Thanks!

  • the best recipe!

  • If we need to double the portion for a large family gathering, do all the ingredients double?

    • Yes – hope everyone enjoys!

      • Hi there,.. I’d love to serve this for a large dinner party for 50 people. Is there an adjustment for these ingredients/recipe so that I don’t have to make this in a dozen batches? Lol This dish sounds amazing! 😊

        • Hi Cristol, While this is delicious, I’m not sure it’s the best option to feed such a large crowd. You could double the recipe which would cut it down to 6 batches, but still not ideal. You may want to check out this page which has recipes that are great for a crowd (you’d still need to multiply them to serve 50. Hope that helps!

  • Hi,
    I made your chicken marsala for my wife and 3 yr old the other night……BIG HIT!!
    Thanks,
    Scott

    PS: I will try another one of your dishes this week.

  • My guests loved it. They said it had so many nuanced flavours.

    • — Josephine F Curtis
    • Reply
  • Substituted mushrooms with creme of mushroom soup. Didn’t have wine or cream. Surprised came close. Missed the wine. Great recipe. Thxs

    • So you didn’t use 3 main ingredients and then rated it a 4? That seems unfair.

  • What I love most about this recipe is listening to my husband smacking his lips and yum, yum,Yumming over every bite. I serve it with smashed red potatoes or bow tie pasta. Delicious…

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