Chicken Marsala

Rich, boldly-flavored chicken marsala is easier to make at home than you might think. With tender, golden-brown chicken, a silky sauce, and mushrooms, this classic chicken marsala recipe is made without cream to allow the simple ingredients to shine. A one-pan Italian-American dinner staple, sauce lovers will be all over this one!

I can't think of much else to say in terms of an intro than this: this is a recipe for really good chicken marsala. That's the long and the short of it.

If you think of chicken marsala as "restaurant food", you may be surprised to find how straight-forward it is to make at home. You'll likely need to buy a bottle of Marsala wine (and shallots - I never have those on hand), but other than that? Pretty basic ingredients.

Two things to determine if this recipe is the one for you:

#1 - Lots of sauce. Do you love chicken marsala sauce so much you want to absolutely smother your side pasta, potatoes, or polenta in it? Or reach for slices of crusty bread so you can soak up every last bit? My recipe features a generous amount of sauce so no one needs to ration.

#2 - There's no cream. You're good with there being no cream. I've eaten quite a lot of chicken marsala in NJ/NY Italian restaurants where cream wasn't in the picture. I wholeheartedly believe cream is unnecessary to make really good chicken marsala and in fact, I think it muddies the flavor.

What you will get is a restaurant-worthy, fancy-yet-easy Italian chicken dinner fit for holidays or date night at home or just another Sunday when you feel like eating good.

What You'll Need

Text-labeled chicken marsala ingredients in separate containers.

Chicken Cutlets or Breasts: Cutlets are my preference for easier prep, but I'll go with boneless skinless chicken breasts if cutlets aren't available. Slice each chicken breast in half horizontally, then pound each, if needed, to an equal ¼- to ½-inch thickness.

Marsala Wine: Go for Marsala wine found in the wine aisle or a liquor store, not cooking wine found near the cooking oils. The cooking wine variety has added salt and a subpar flavor in a dish where it's meant to shine. I strongly recommend a dry Marsala variety for a savory dish like chicken marsala.

Mushrooms: Cremini mushrooms (also known as baby bella mushrooms) have the edge on white/button mushrooms for flavor. Whole mushrooms you slice yourself will stay fresher for longer than a carton of pre-sliced, which get slimy quickly. See my guide on cleaning mushrooms for all the prep tips (don't be afraid of giving them a rinse!).

Shallots: When compared to onions, shallot's milder and slightly sweeter flavor upscales simple dishes into something more luxe, like red wine jus and chicken marsala.

Flour: Dredging chicken cutlets in flour helps brown their crusts beautifully and elevates the texture.

Olive Oil & Butter: Oil is used to brown the chicken at the beginning (butter will burn), while a few tablespoons of butter are used to cook the mushrooms and shallots and are melted into the pan sauce at the end for a richer flavor and texture.

Step-by-Step Instructions

A favorite time-saving tip of mine with recipes that require pounding chicken breasts is to purchase chicken cutlets. Give them a good look in the package to make sure, but in my experience they're often already of equal thickness and ready for seasoning and dredging, no pounding required.

Browned chicken cutlets on a plate with tongs.

Step 1: Season cutlets with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, then brown in olive oil until both sides are deep golden to golden-brown. Set aside.

Step 2: Add butter to the now-empty pan and cook the mushrooms for 8-10 minutes.

Shallots and garlic added to the pan with mushrooms.

Step 3: Add the shallots, then the garlic, and cook for several minutes more.

Step 4: Deglaze the pan with some broth, then add the rest with the Marsala wine. Simmer until the sauce has reduced by half.

Chicken cutlets added to the pan of marsala sauce ready to serve.

Step 5: Whisk in the remaining butter and the parsley, then nestle the chicken cutlets back into the pan and cover them with sauce. Let the cutlets heat up again before serving over pasta, rice, or polenta or alongside crusty bread and a leafy green salad.

Tips and Tricks

It bears repeating... get a dry Marsala wine from the wine department, not the cooking oil aisle of the grocery store. It can be on the cheap side, no problem with that! Just making this switch has a material difference on the flavor of homemade chicken marsala.
Don't underestimate pan size - Chicken will splatter as it browns, so a sauté pan with its straight, taller sides helps contain it. Ideally choose one with a large surface area to better fit all of the chicken in at the end. The one pictured here has a 10-inch diameter and 4-inch tall sides.
Less mess - And on that note, having a splatter screen on hand always helps minimize stovetop mess.
Cooking time - The chicken pieces are thin and will cook completely during the beginning pan-searing stage (use an instant-read meat thermometer to verify they reach 165°F in the center thickest part). This way they simply need to heat in the thickened marsala sauce at the end of the recipe. That's my preference over cooking them partway to start, as you risk over-reducing the sauce later on to achieve a full cook.

Chicken Marsala FAQs

Should you use dry or sweet Marsala?

I strongly recommend using dry Marsala wine when making chicken marsala. It has a really nice savory bite, for lack of a better term, that plays up the other flavors, like mushrooms, garlic, shallots, butter, beautifully. It's not unheard of for people to use sweet though! But I personally don't think this dish needs a sweeter element in the mix.

Do you have to pound chicken breasts for chicken marsala?

Chicken breasts can really vary in size, so you'll have to butterfly them (slice in half horizontally) to end up with two thinner pieces in order for them to cook in the same amount of time. Then place each piece between two layers of plastic wrap (or in a sealable bag with all excess air pressed out) and pound with a meat mallet until they're of equal thickness. A good goal would be somewhere between one-quarter and one-half inch.

Does the alcohol cook off?

Some will but definitely not all, and it's hard to determine how much remains. Factors like pan size (bigger surface area = more room for evaporation) and cook time (relatively short, in this case) will impact the residual alcohol content from the Marsala wine. Like other recipes that contain alcohol in the sauce, use care to whom and when you serve this dish.

What do you serve with chicken marsala?

Chicken marsala is often served over or alongside pasta (long noodles like fettuccine or linguine), rice, or mashed potatoes - my house recipe is for sour cream mashed potatoes. Rest assured there will be lots of sauce to coat or soak up with bread.