Chicken Marsala {with Creamy Marsala Sauce}
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Chicken Marsala with a creamy sauce! This classic Italian-American chicken recipe includes tender, perfectly pan seared chicken cutlets, and flavor enhancing browned mushrooms, and it’s all covered with a richly seasoned marsala wine, garlic and herb sauce.
Who doesn’t love a dish like this that you can make at home and skip the $20+ restaurant price tag per serving?
This Chicken Marsala recipe is equally as good as what you’ll get at an Italian restaurant so it’s the perfect thing to make on your own, and of course a great dish to serve to guests.
And my version comes together quickly since you reduce the marsala wine separately while the chicken and mushrooms cook. I’m all about saving time.
The other great thing about this recipe is the addition of heavy cream. It really just improves the overall consistency, richness and flavor of the sauce. It helps balance out the acidity of the wine.
It’s a classic dish that does not disappoint!
Then with the leftover marsala wine why not make homemade cannoli? It would make for a dinner sure to impress anyone lucky enough to enjoy!
Ingredients Needed to Make Chicken Marsala
- boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper
- all-purpose flour
- unsalted chicken broth
- dry marsala wine
- unsalted butter
- olive oil
- cremini (baby bella) mushrooms
- garlic
- fresh thyme, oregano and parsley
- heavy cream
- cornstarch
How to Make Chicken Marsala with Creamy Sauce
- Reduce marsala wine and broth: Add marsala wine and chicken broth to a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and let gently boil until reduced to 1 cup, about 15 minutes.
- Prepare chicken cutlets: Meanwhile in season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour.
- Cook chicken through in skillet: Melt 1 Tbsp butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces and let sear until cooked through (165 in center), turning once halfway through, about 10 – 12 minutes.
- Set chicken aside, keep warm: Transfer chicken to a plate. Tent with foil.
- Saute mushrooms: Reduce burner temperature to medium heat. Melt remaining 1 Tbsp butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil, add mushrooms. Saute mushrooms, just tossing occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic during last 1 minute of sautéing.
- Add reduced liquids and seasonings, thicken sauce: Remove pan from heat then pour in marsala reduction, thyme, and oregano. Return to heat, bring to a simmer then stir in cornstarch chicken broth mixture. Stir until thickened.
- Stir in cream, season sauce: Off heat stir in heavy cream, season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add sauce to chicken, garnish: Return chicken breasts to pan, spoon sauce over top. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.
Can I Use Sweet Marsala Wine?
I don’t recommend using sweet marsala wine. There is a generous amount of wine here and it is reduced so it would only sweeten the sauce that much more. I’d stick with dry for best results.
Is There a Substitute for the Wine?
Unfortunately for this recipe without the marsala wine it wouldn’t be chicken marsala so I don’t recommend substitutes. Instead I’d recommend trying my creamy mushroom chicken.
What to Serve with Chicken Marsala?
- pasta
- roasted vegetables
- baked potatoes or mashed potatoes
- steamed asparagus
- cheesecake for dessert
Tips for the Best Chicken Marsala
- Be sure to allow enough time for the marsala wine and chicken broth mixture to simmer so it cooks of the strong alcohol flavor, which could otherwise overpower the dish.
- Stick with unsalted chicken broth, sauce is reduced quite a bit and you don’t want to end up with an overly salty dish.
- Don’t use marsala “cooking wine”. It’s salted, has added preservatives, and just has an overall lower quality.
- Use a medium-high heat to cook chicken for a nice pan seared browning (equating to great flavor).
- Cover chicken with foil while you finish the sauce to keep it warm.
- Don’t skip the flour. This encourages browning as well as gives the sauce something to cling to.
- Don’t skip the cream. The best marsala sauce in my opinion is a creamy marsala sauce.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes to Try
- Baked Chicken Breasts
- Caprese Chicken
- Chicken Parmesan
- Chicken Piccata
- Creamy Garlic Herb Chicken
- Creamy Lemon Romano Chicken
Follow Cooking Classy
Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups dry marsala wine*
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted chicken broth
- 2 (10 - 11 oz) boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and halved, pounded to an even thickness
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (1 Tbsp)
- 1 tsp minced fresh thyme (or scant 1/2 tsp dried)
- 1 tsp minced fresh oregano (or scant 1/2 tsp dried)
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch whisked with 1 Tbsp chicken broth (in a small bowl until well combined)
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
Instructions
- Add marsala wine and chicken broth to a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let gently boil until reduced to 1 cup**, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge each side in flour.
- Melt 1 Tbsp butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces and let sear until cooked through (165 in center), turning once halfway through, about 10 - 12 minutes.
- Transfer chicken to a plate. Tent with foil.
- Reduce burner temperature to medium heat. Melt remaining 1 Tbsp butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil, add mushrooms.
- Sauté mushrooms, just tossing occasionally (and increasing burner temp slightly as needed to encourage browning), until mushrooms have shrunk and are golden brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic during last 1 minute of sautéing.
- Remove pan from heat then pour in marsala reduction***, thyme and oregano.
- Return to heat, bring to a simmer, while scraping up browned bits from the bottom, then stir in cornstarch chicken broth mixture. Stir until thickened****.
- Off heat stir in heavy cream, season sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Return chicken breasts to pan, spoon sauce over top.
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.
Notes
- *If you want a more mild marsala flavor in the dish you can reduce marsala wine down to 3/4 cup and then increase chicken broth to 1 3/4 cups.
- **If by chance it was accidentally reduced to less than 1 cup then just add more chicken broth to reach 1 cup.
- ***Depending on the wine you may also want to add a pinch or two of sugar if it has no sweetness to it to balance the acidity.
- ****If sauce seems a little thick add a splash of chicken broth, if its seems a little thin you can add in a little extra cornstarch mixed with broth.