Chicken Marsala is an Italian classic with juicy pan-seared chicken in a creamy and savory marsala wine sauce. You can easily re-create this restaurant-quality Chicken Marsala from the comfort of your own kitchen. You will only hope for leftovers after making this dish. This is a dish that my entire family loves!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
We love recreating our favorite restaurant recipes. Some of our best copycat recipes include Zuppa Toscana inspired by Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s-inspired Cajun Chicken Pasta and Monetery Chicken, and Shrimp Pasta from Olive Garden. They can be made at a fraction of the price, are often healthier, and are great crowd-pleasers. This Chicken Marsala recipe is no exception.
Easy Chicken Marsala Recipe
It’s easier than you think to re-create this classic Italian-American Chicken Marsala. It’s such a special dish for Valentine’s Day or a date night in, but it’s also a dish my children love.
This chicken marsala is great served up with some Creamy Mashed Potatoes or even pasta with a side of Roasted Asparagus or Caesar Salad. Serve this to your dinner guests and they will always be impressed. P.S. This recipe is easy to scale and can easily be doubled or tripled for a crowd. Watch the video tutorial below and you will be a pro in no time.
Chicken Marsala Video
I hope this Chicken Marsala recipe becomes a new favorite chicken dinner for you. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our Youtube Channel to see all of our new videos.
What is Chicken Marsala?
Chicken Marsala is made of thin chicken cutlets that are pan-seared and served in a creamy and flavorful mushroom wine sauce. Marsala wine originated in western Sicily, Italy, back in the 1700s. While chicken marsala itself might not be found in many restaurants in Italy, it is an Italian-inspired dish. It can be found in many Italian restaurants here in the US. Traditionally, it’s made without adding cream, so it’s optional, but I love adding it.
Marsala Chicken Ingredients
This Italian-American dish is made with simple ingredients. Be sure to source the right Marsala wine (see tips below):
- Chicken breast – 2 large chicken breasts cut in half will make 4 cutlets (you can also substitute with 1 1/4 lbs of chicken tenders).
- Flour, salt, and pepper – for dredging the chicken
- Olive oil and butter – combining olive oil and butter adds rich flavor to the sauce and prevents the butter from burning since the oil has a higher smoke point.
- Mushrooms – give depth and flavor to the creamy sauce. I would argue that mushrooms are a key ingredient, but if you must substitute, you could sautee/ caramelize some sliced fresh onion instead to compensate for lost flavor.
- Onion powder and garlic – add great flavor while keeping the sauce smooth.
- Marsala wine sauce – is made up of dry marsala wine, chicken stock, and heavy whipping cream. The cream is optional, but it adds a lovely richness to the sauce. Also, make sure to use a DRY Marsala wine for authentic flavor (more on that below).
How to Make Chicken Marsala
You’ll love how this recipe comes together in one skillet. We call this the ‘dish factor,’ and I am all about washing fewer dishes.
- Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise to make 4 even cutlets. Place between plastic wrap and use a meat mallet or heavy saucepan to pound to an even 1/3″ thickness. Season chicken all over with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper, dredge in flour (shaking off the excess), then set aside.
- Heat a large non-reactive pan over medium heat. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter. Once butter and oil are hot, add dredged chicken in a single layer and saute until golden and cooked through; about 3-4 minutes per side (don’t overcook). Cook the chicken in batches if your skillet is too small. Set chicken aside and tent with foil to keep warm.
Pro Tip:
To test for doneness and prevent overcooking, use an instant-read thermometer and cook until the chicken breast reaches a safe internal temperature of 165˚F.
- Add mushrooms and saute until excess liquid from mushrooms evaporates and mushrooms are golden brown (5 min). Stir in 1/2 tsp onion powder and 2 minced garlic cloves and saute for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add 3/4 cup marsala wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Increase the heat and cook until mostly reduced down (4-5 min), then add 3/4 cup chicken stock, and while stirring, add 1/2 cup heavy cream in a steady stream. Lower the heat to keep at a simmer and continue to simmer the sauce for another 4-5 minutes until slightly thickened. Season sauce with salt to taste. I added 1/4 tsp salt.
- Return chicken to pan and sprinkle the tops with 2 Tbsp parsley. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and keep on the heat until heated through (about 2 minutes). The sauce will thicken more as it cools.
What is the Best Wine for Chicken Marsala?
Use dry marsala wine, NOT sweet marsala. Sweet Marsala is meant for dessert recipes and won’t work well. If your grocery store doesn’t sell liquors, you can find marsala at your local liquor store. The first time I made Chicken Marsala was with sweet wine, and I took a long pause from the dish after that, only to discover I was using the wrong wine! It’s surprising how many recipes don’t specify this critical detail.
Can I Substitute the Marsala Wine?
If you cannot find Marsala wine, a Madeira wine would also work, as we used in our Chicken Madeira. If alcohol is a concern, most of the alcohol is cooked out in the pan, so you get the added flavor, and the sauce ends up with an insignificant amount of alcohol. If you want to make it wine-free, you could use more broth and boil that down, but the flavor profile wouldn’t be the same.
Is it necessary to pound out the chicken?
It is important to pound the chicken cutlets for several reasons. Pounding your chicken to even thicknesses ensures they will get cooked evenly. It also helps break down the chicken’s fibers, making it extra tender. If you are protesting this step, you can save some prep time using chicken tenders instead.
Tips for the Best Chicken Marsala
When cooking with wine, the acidity and alcohol combined with cream may cause the sauce to clump or separate if you change the recipe or process. Follow these tips to help prevent that from happening to your sauce:
- Avoid light cream or “half & half,” which doesn’t play well with wine and can curdle.
- Use a non-reactive skillet when cooking with acidic ingredients. Some good options include enameled cast iron, stainless steel, or ceramic-coated cookware.
- Stir the sauce while slowly adding the cream.
- Keep the sauce at a simmer after adding the cream and avoid a rapid boil.
Storing Chicken Marsala
Leftovers of Chicken Marsala keep well, and in general, anytime you have chicken in a creamy sauce, it reheats well without having that ‘reheated chicken flavor.’ After absorbing the flavors for a day or two, the chicken will taste even better.
- To Store – Once the dish is made, let it cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate. According to the USDA, cooked chicken should be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
- Reheating – As a rule of thumb, you should reheat food using the same method it was cooked. Transfer the chicken to a skillet and reheat on the stovetop over low heat until warm. Do not boil, or the chicken will overcook, and the sauce may separate.
More Chicken Dinner Recipes
If you loved this Chicken Marsala recipe, you should check out some of our other delicious chicken dinners:
- Chicken Parmesan
- Instant Pot Whole Chicken
- Spatchcock Chicken
- Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Honey Garlic Chicken
- Greek Chicken Bowls
Chicken Marsala Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lbs chicken breast, (2 large), or chicken tenders
- 1/2 tsp salt , or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, for dredging
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 8 oz brown button mushrooms, halved or thickly sliced if very large
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 cup dry marsala wine, (not sweet)
- 3/4 cup chicken stock, reduced-sodium
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise to make 4 even cutlets. Place between plastic wrap and pound until 1/3" thick. Season chicken all over with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper, dredge in flour (shaking off the excess) and then set aside.
- Heat a large non-reactive, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter. Once butter and oil are hot, add dredged chicken and saute until golden and cooked through; about 3-4 minutes per side or just until the internal temperature reaches 165˚F on an Instant-read thermometer. Set chicken aside and tent with foil to keep warm.
- Add more oil to the pan if needed along with mushrooms and saute until excess liquid from mushrooms evaporates and mushrooms are golden brown (5 min). Stir in 1/2 tsp onion powder and 2 minced garlic cloves and saute another 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add 3/4 cup marsala wine, scraping the bottom of the pan. Increase the heat and cook until mostly reduced down (4-5 min) then add 3/4 cup chicken stock and while stirring add 1/2 cup heavy cream in a steady stream. Lower the heat to keep at a simmer and continue to simmer and reduce sauce another 4-5 minutes until slightly thickened. Season sauce with 1/4 tsp salt or season to taste.
- Return chicken to pan and sprinkle the tops with 2 Tbsp chopped parsley. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and keep on the heat until heated through and the sauce has thickened to your desired consistency (2 minutes). Keep in mind, the sauce will thicken more as it cools.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Can I make this recipe the day before? I plan to brown the chicken and make the sauce, storing each in separate containers. I realize the preferred method of reheating is stovetop, but I need to reheat in the oven due to lack of stovetop space. Will this work?
Hi Jo, the oven may work, but the stovetop may be best. As a rule of thumb, you should reheat food using the same method it was cooked. Transfer the chicken to a skillet and reheat on the stovetop over low heat until warmed through. Do not boil or the chicken will overcook and the sauce may separate.
This was OK. Definitely does not have the flavor of authentic Marsala. The Marsala gets completely watered down by equal part chicken broth. Using onion powder versus shallot was also strange. It lacks the sweetness of the Shallot. The sauce was way too thin and the longer you cook it the less Marsala flavor you get- so I ended up having to add a cornstarch water /slurry to thicken. Also- this takes way longer than 30 minutes. Overall disappointed.
Hi Jaclynn, this normally has tons of flavor and it is the creamier version of Chicken Marsala – you are probably referencing a sweeter Marsala without any cream in it.
Natasha,
If I can’t find brown button mushrooms what type of mushrooms can I use as a substitute?
Hi Linda, I think any other type of mushrooms should be fine. One of our readers also shared this comment “I forgot to pick up mushrooms so I used onion in place of them. It was still really good. The first time I made it with the mushrooms and that was very good.” I hope that helps.
Such an amazing recipe. It turned out delicious. I made it for thanksgiving.
Thankw for the great feedback!
Thank you for another great go to recipe! The chicken is tender and the sauce flavor and consistency was amazing! My husband asks for it once a week!
It sounds like this one is going on your regular rotation menu! I’m so glad you both loved it, Patricia! Thank you for your review!
Thank you for your wonderful recipes Natasha. Especially for the pie crust recipe!!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Linda!
This is the first time trying this recipe and it was delicious! Family loved it! I also loved your baked asparagus recipe ! Will be making this again! Thank You
I’m so glad you loved it! Thank you for sharing.
I love this recipe! There will be some things changed like, mashed potatoes instead of pasta. Chicken thighs instead of breast. All in all, perfect!
I have your recipe for chicken marsala using 2.5 lbs chicken breast, 1.5 wine, 1/5 stock yet the Instructions say add 3/4 cup wine, 3/4 cup stock. I had to ask my wife what happened to the other liquid?? I am a novice. Please change the instructions for those of us who don’t intuitively know what you mean. Shouldn’t the instructions read “Add 1.5 cup??”
Hi Bill, are you looking at the recipe card at the bottom of the post? This recipe calls for “1 1/4 lbs chicken breast, (2 large), or chicken tenders”. If you adjusted using the recipe slider to make more, you would follow the amounts on the ingredients list since the ingredients in the instructions don’t update with the slider. I hope that helps.
Thank you very much you make it so much easier to do. Your the best!
You’re welcome, Bill!
My go to chicken Marsala meal. I’ve tried several and nothing comes close to this one!! Didn’t change a thing, spot on!
Yay that’s great, Mike! Thanks for this review and for following the recipe exactly. We appreciate it!
I’m new to cooking chicken, but have made it successfully using your recipes for the past six weeks. The first time, I made your chicken piccata – everyone loved it. The second time, I made this recipe and a 3 people at dinner had “chewy” pieces. The next week I made chicken in mushroom wine sauce from your cookbook, and even more pieces were chewy – like you can’t cut it with a regular dinner knife chewy – you basically have to shred the chicken to be able to chew it. I just remade your chicken piccata last night, and half of the chicken was chewy. We had to throw away some chewy pieces – no big deal, I’m just kind of scared to serve chicken to guests. Some people said that it was how the chicken was cut that determined the chewiness factor. I’m cooking the chicken following all the directions and removing it at 160* putting it on a plate and venting it. The internet said it will then rise in temperature by 10 degrees.
Do you have videos for how to cut and prepare a chicken breast?
Please advise
Hi Madeline, I don’t have a separate video for that but watch the video on this Chicken Marsala Recipe and I think it will help. Make sure you follow the first step: Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise to make 4 even cutlets. Place between plastic wrap and pound until 1/3″ thick.” Pounding to an even thickness will provide even cooking. Also tenting a thin piece of chicken with foil wont rise the temperature that much. This is more relevant advice for a larger roast.
This is my absolute favorite Chicken marsala recipe!!! I make it all the time, thanks so much!
Great to hear that it is your favorite! Thanks for sharing and I’m glad that you love our Chicken Marsala Recipe!
I made this for my daughter since this was her favorite dish at a local restaurant.
It’s amazing 😍. We love it. I’m making this again for her Halloween party.
I’m so glad you’re loving the recipe!
Urgent help needed! I’m standing in front of the parsley! Is it curly or italian?
Hi Christine, I used Italian parsley for this recipe.
This was a big hit with my family. Used chicken breast’s. Added one sliced onion sautéed with the mushrooms. Added a little chicken stock , garlic powder, Italian seasoning, pink salt, & salt pepper to onion & mushrooms about 2 min in sauté process to scrape bits off bottom. Still added chicken stock amount in recipe after Marsala reduced. Followed rest of directions served with mash potatoes and steamed asparagus. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for sharing. So glad you loved the recipe!
We love this recipe – however my husband wants me to leave out the heavy cream. Would the sauce recipe just remain the same with other ingredients and could I leave out the cream?
Hi Bernadette! The cream is an important ingredient for this recipe.
I made this for dinner tonight and followed the recipe exactly. I thought it was delicious, my only complaint is the sauce never thickened up.
I even turned off the stove to let the sauce cool and thought it would thicken and it did a little but still not to the point where I would consider it “thick” BUT it was still good!
Hi Kinsley! Did you use “heavy”whipping cream? If you are using a lighter cream, it won’t get as thick. Also, be sure to not rush the thickening process. You want to simmer it on low and allow it time to thicken. I hope that’s helpful.
Hi…I have made the recipe as written and it’s very tasty and very good. To lighten it a bit, today I made it with 2% milk. When I finished browning chicken, I removed chicken and I cooked the 12 oz mushrooms and 3 cloves chopped garlic (also a chopped shallot) in an additional 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter. After mushroom mixture softened, I sprinkled 1 tbsp flour over them and stirred it for a couple of minutes before adding the marsala (1 cup). Continued cooking until reduced in half then added 1 cup of reduced sodium chicken broth and 3/4 cup 2% milk. Cooked for another 10minutes before adding the chicken back. The sauce thickened beautifully, was creamy and the extra sauce was used over pappardelle. I added some extra seasoning because of the extra sauce (1/2 tsp thyme, parsley, 1 tbsp chopped rosemary and 1 squirt of balsamic which added a little kick. We thought it came out delish.
I could only find one type of Marsala when I searched 3 stores. It didn’t say if it was sweet or dry but when I just Googled it, it said it was sweet. Will it ruin the dish if I use sweet instead of dry?
Hi Rhonda! See my note above: Sweet Marsala is meant to be used for dessert recipes and won’t work well.
If you are not able to find dry Marsala wine, a Madeira wine would also work.
Hi Natasha, I’m making this for dinner guests tonight, and don’t want to be cooking at the last minute. Was wondering if I could prepare everything a few hours in advance, increase the quantity of the sauce, and then reheat in a casserole dish in the oven before serving. I love your recipes and yours videos.
Hi Linda, yes, it will work to make this recipe ahead, see the “Make Ahead” instructions on the recipe post and our tips on reheating it. I hope that helps.
Hi Natasha – do you think a dry sherry wine would work? LOVE your recipes and can’t wait to get your book this October 🙂
If you are not able to find Marsala wine, a Madeira wine would also work, as we used in our Chicken Madeira. I haven’t tried using sherry wine yet. If alcohol is a concern, most of the alcohol is cooked out in the pan so you just get the added flavor and the sauce ends up with an insignificant amount of alcohol. If you are looking to make it wine-free, you could just use more broth and boil that down, but the flavor profile wouldn’t be quite the same.
Is there anything I can use to sub the wine? I live in a dry county and we don’t ever go to the liquor store. Can not have any in the house.
If you are not able to find Marsala wine, a Madeira wine would also work, as we used in our Chicken Madeira. If alcohol is a concern, most of the alcohol is cooked out in the pan so you just get the added flavor and the sauce ends up with an insignificant amount of alcohol. If you are looking to make it wine-free, you could just use more broth and boil that down, but the flavor profile wouldn’t be quite the same.