Juicy chicken and mushrooms in a madeira cream sauce under melty cheese and asparagus… all you need is mashed potatoes to go with it. This creamy Chicken Madeira is one of the most popular menu item at the Cheesecake Factory. It is popular for good reason! We love recreating our favorite restaurant copycat recipes like this one from Olive Garden!
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The madeira cream sauce has incredible flavor. You will want to dip your bread into the pan before the night is over and get every last drop of it. This Chicken Madeira recipe tastes fancy and will impress your family, dinner guests or your special someone for a date night in! This is one of our favorite copycat recipes.
Everyone in our family loved this Chicken Madeira, even the baby! My Mom was particularly impressed (she was trained as a chef so naturally when Mom is impressed, I’m beaming!).
This made for a lovely and fancy dinner and there was nothing overly difficult about it. Now you can also enjoy homemade Chicken Madeira for a fraction of the price!
Watch How to Make Chicken Madeira Recipe:
We went to the Cheesecake Factory on our Anniversary for my husbands’ first (and my second) time ever and ordered their world famous Chicken Madeira. It was love at first bite and we just knew we had to recreate this dish at home.
We made a copycat Chicken Madeira, except I love the homemade version even better! And, when you make it at home, you can feed a family of 4 for the cost of 1 serving at the restaurant. This is why we love copycat recipes so much!
Ingredients for Easy Chicken Madeira Recipe:
These simple ingredients work together to make a memorable one-pan dinner. If the wine section of your grocery store does not have Madeira, check at the liquor and wine store – I purchased this bottle for $6. If you aren’t able to find Madeira wine, you can substitute with Marsala wine which is also a sweet wine although it will taste more like chicken marsala ;).
How to Make Copycat Chicken Madeira:
1. To blanch asparagus: Remove fibrous stems from asparagus by snapping them off (watch video above). To blanch asparagus, fill a medium pot with 6 cups water, bring to a boil and add 1 Tbsp salt. Add asparagus and boil uncovered until crisp tender and bright green (2-3 minutes then remove immediately from hot water and set aside).
2. Place a large heavy (oven-safe) pan over medium/high heat and melt in 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. Add thickly sliced mushrooms and cook 5 minutes until soft. Stir in diced onion and cook 3 minutes. Add minced garlic cloves then season with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and 2 Tbsp fresh parsley. Cook another 2 minutes then remove mixture to a plate and wipe skillet clean with wet paper towel.
3. Slice chicken breasts in half lengthwise and pound each cutlet between plastic wrap until no more than 1/4″ thick. Season chicken breasts all over with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Place same pan over medium/high heat and add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. When butter is finished foaming, add chicken breasts and saute 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan to the same plate as mushrooms.
4. In the same pan, add 1 1/2 cups Madeira and boil until reduced by half (5 minutes of vigorous boiling), scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add 1 1/2 cups beef broth and boil until 2/3 cup liquid remains or about 1/4 of it’s original volume (10 min). Reduce heat to medium, add 1/2 cup cream and simmer until sauce thickens (2 min). Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste and turn off heat.
5. Return chicken to the pan, turning it to coat in the sauce. Top with mushrooms, asparagus and sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella cheese over the top. Broil 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, garnish with fresh parsley.
Are you hungry yet? This dish always gets rave reviews at the dinner table and it’s so good paired with Mashed Potatoes. I hope it becomes a new favorite for your family.
Our Most Popular Chicken Recipes:
- Chicken Avocado Salad – our #1 most popular chicken recipe
- Spatchcock Chicken – the juiciest way to roast a whole chicken
- Garlic Butter Stuffed Chicken – you won’t believe what’s inside!
- Stuffed Chicken Parmesan – a classic chicken recipe just got better
Chicken Madeira Recipe (Cheesecake Factory Copycat)

Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts (2 large)
- 1 lb asparagus, blanched*
- 3/4 tsp sea salt, divided, and black pepper to taste
- 3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, divided
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 16 oz button mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 1 small or 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped, plus to garnish
- 1 1/2 cups Madeira Wine, sweet white wine*
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium beef stock or broth
- 1/2 cup Whipping Cream, heavy or regular
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- To blanch asparagus: Remove fibrous stems from asparagus by snapping them off. Fill a medium pot with 6 cups water, bring to a boil and add 1 Tbsp salt. Add asparagus and boil uncovered until crisp tender and bright green (2-3 minutes then remove from hot water and set aside).
- Place a large heavy (oven-safe) pan over medium/high heat and melt in 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. Add sliced mushrooms and cook 5 min until soft. Stir in diced onion and cook 3 min. Add minced garlic cloves then season with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and 2 Tbsp parsley. Cook another 2 min then remove mixture to a plate and wipe skillet clean with wet paper towel.
- Slice chicken breasts in half lengthwise and pound each cutlet between plastic wrap until no more than 1/4" thick. Season chicken all over with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Place same pan over medium/high heat and add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. When butter is finished foaming, add chicken breasts and sauté 3 to 4 min per side or until golden and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan to the same plate with mushrooms.
- In the same pan, add 1 1/2 cups Madeira and boil until reduced by half (5 minutes vigorous boiling), scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add 1 1/2 cups beef broth and boil until 2/3 cup liquid remains or about 1/4 of it's original volume (10 min). Reduce heat to medium, add 1/2 cup cream and simmer until sauce thickens (2 min). Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Return chicken to the pan, turning it to coat in the sauce. Top with mushrooms, asparagus and sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese over the top. Broil 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, garnish with fresh parsley.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This chicken madeira recipe is easy and so good – just the way it should be. And, it’s so smart to dine in, especially if you are feeding a crowd!
My husband and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with this dish. 14 years feels just few by and we now have an 8 year old and 2 year old. WOAH!! I am so thankful that we are best friends after all these years and that we not only love, but really like each other – and we work side by side day after day. The longer I am married to my husband, the more I just want to be around him and with him. Our date nights are few and far between but they are a treat!
Q: What is your favorite celebration dish and restaurant? I’d love to hear about it in a comment below!
P.S. If you love one-pan chicken recipes, make sure to check out this reader favorite (EASY) pesto chicken!
This turned out wonderful! My husband loved it. Definitely will make this again! Thank you for a great recipe!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! Thank you for the great review!
Oh em gee…. this is so amazing!! I didn’t have Madeira wine, but substituted with another Portuguese white – Vinho Verde and it turned out great. So flavourful. This will be a regular, family favourite for sure!
That sounds like a great substitution! Thank you for sharing that with us Lisa!
Delicious! Making it again tonight. I didn’t have the Madeira so I looked up substitutes online and Sherry was an option. I had Sherry do I used it instead. I didn’t have beef broth either so I used chicken broth and it came out absolutely fantastic! Thank you for this recipe! We love it! My son likes it over pasta and I love it with mashed potatoes! Yum
That’s so awesome! Thank you for that great review, Dorianne!
Have you ever tried this with shrimp?
Hi Emily, I have not! If you experiment please let me know how you like the recipe!
your recipe calls for Madeira Wine sweet white wine* Madeira is a red wine not a white one.
Thanks Sherry! the bottle I buy is more of a light amber colored wine – looks like a white wine. Just from some quick reading online, it seems there can be redder varieties depending on the types of grapes used. Maybe someone else has some insight into this? I definitely don’t claim to be a wine connoisseur 🙂
Thank you for the recipe. My wife and her friends went to Cheesecake Factory a few weeks ago, and all they have talked about is the Chicken Madeira. I thought, I bet I can make this at home. Made it tonight and my wife and kids all loved it. New meal in the rotation!
That’s so awesome! I’m so happy you found this recipe!
Hi Natasha – great dish! Instead of mashed potatoes, I went with rice, and this was perfect over it. Also, I forgot to pick up asparagus and used green beans that I had in the fridge. It was excellent! Can’t wait to make this for company.
Hi Frank! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
Delicious but took way more then thirty minutes!
I’m happy you enjoyed it Kaitlin!
Hey Natasha, can we subsitute red wine with white vinegar?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Hi Lara, I haven’t tested it but I think it would not work the same way in this recipe.
What would you recommend for a side dish?
The classic way! The Cheese cake factory serves this with mashed potatoes. We highly recommend trying this recipe here. Enjoy!
Noodles. Fettuchini type.
This recipe has become a once a week dinner in my house. Tonight I am doubling the recipe sauce hope it turns out as fabulous as always!
That’s so awesome, Donna. Sounds like you definitely found a family favorite!
I friend tried it tonight and said it was great. I’m not a fan of asparagus, however. What else can be substituted in? As well: how do you get the fat content down?
Hi Andrew! You can substitute the asparagus with cooked spinach or carrots or serve the veggie on the side and it will not affect the flavor of the dish. I hope this helps!
I forgot to leave my 5 stars!
Thank you for the great review, Karen!
This recipe is EXCELLENT! It tastes as good as the Cheesecake factory. Thank you for the recipe, Natasha. It is one of my favorites!
I’m so happy you found your favorite! It’s very popular and for good reason!
This looks awesome. I am thinking about substituting red wine for the white wine, to keep the carbs lower. What are your thoughts? Will that mess up the flavor?
Hi Brian. I would highly recommend using a drinkable red wine and not one marked “cooking wine” since those have additives that would affect the flavor. If you experiment I’d love to know how you like it!
On this recipe, I have everything but the wine. Haha! Is there anything I can substitute it with?
Hi Ann, Many have tried Marsala wine and enjoyed it as well. If you are looking to make it wine-free, you could just use more broth but the flavor profile wouldn’t be quite the same. The madeira wine gives it a unique, sweet flavor profile and I haven’t experimented with anything besides wine to provide a specific recommendation.
Made the Chicken Madeira tonight, and it was a hit with my hubby! I will incorporate this recipe into the rotation instead of my old Chicken Marsala recipe. I think I will try veal next time,
Veal sounds like a great idea! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Wow 14 years that’s amazing it’s 20years for us I am new to your page and I definitely will be trying these recipes. Our dish is chicken marsala carrabas Italian grill
Thank you so much for subscribing! Happy 20th Anniversary! I’m so happy you discovered our blog. Welcome! 🙂
The best recipe ever,I couldn’t stop eating.Everyone liked it.Natasha ,your culinary blog is number 1. Congratulations !!! I have tried many of your recipes and I have never failed. BTW, your presentation is excellent.
Wow! I’m so inspired reading your review. Thank you, Barbara!
Dear Natasha,
Today I had 10 people for lunch and made your Chicken Madeira. Everybody wanted the recipe as the chicken was so juicy…sometimes chicken breast can turn out dry. As we say in Malta “Prosit”
Thank you for the wonderful review! I’m so happy you enjoyed that.