Chicken Marsala in a deliciously creamy mushroom sauce rivals any restaurant! Cook a chef tasting chicken recipe right at home like a pro!
One of the most sought after dishes served in restaurants is super fast and easy to make in your very own kitchen. Flavourful Chicken Marsala with EXTRA sauce to serve with your chicken and sides, with an authentic Italian taste! Perfect for weekend OR weeknight cooking, this is one chicken recipe you will make time and time again.
Chicken Marsala
A variation of the traditional Italian Scaloppine, this Americanized Marsala version is completely addictive. It’s no wonder it’s one of the most ordered chicken dishes in restaurants! Made with golden, crispy, pan-fried chicken, a mushroom-filled creamy Marsala wine sauce and a good kick of garlic, this Chicken Marsala recipe is next-level!
How To Make The Best Creamy Chicken Marsala at Home
- You’re going to start with thin breast fillets. For a faster prep-time, cut your chicken breasts in half horizontally to make four fillets. Quicker and easier than pounding them thin with a meat mallet and yields the same results.
- If you prefer pounding, I’ve included the option in the recipe notes. Whichever option you choose, thinner chicken pieces cook faster and evenly.
- We use a combination of oil and butter to fry the chicken for the best golden browned results and delicious flavour.
- Cook the sauce in the same pan as the chicken. Don’t get rid of any chicken bits from the pan as they add tons of flavour into the sauce! Scrape them up while the mushrooms are releasing their liquid.
How To Make Marsala Sauce
- Normally chicken Marsala does not include any cream. However, I found during testing that cream was needed for our tastes to balance out the strong flavour coming from the wine.
- You can use heavy cream or thickened cream in the sauce.
- For a lightened up sauce, use evaporated milk or half and half. If using half and half, be careful not to bring your sauce to a rapid boil or it may curdle.
- The Marsala sauce will not thicken immediately after adding in your cream. Once you add your chicken back into the pan, the flour from the chicken will thicken your sauce.
Best Marsala Wine To Use
Marsala wine is a fortified wine from Sicily with a deep flavour and is used in this sauce to create a caramelized rich flavor. When making savory dishes like Chicken Marsala, dry Marsala is the best option. Keep your sweet Marsala for desserts!
Marsala Wine Substitutes
- Dry Madeira wine
- Sherry (Dark)
- Port (1/2 cup)
- Red Vermouth (1/2 cup)
- 3/4 cup of dry white wine mixed with 2-3 teaspoons of brandy.
What To Serve With Chicken Marsala
This Marsala recipe makes enough creamy sauce to pour over pasta (angel hair is the preferred choice), potatoes or rice, or keep it lower in calories and enjoy over cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles!
Looking for more Italian-American recipes? Try these!
Creamy Lemon Parmesan Chicken Piccata | Creamy Garlic Butter Tuscan Shrimp | Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken Alfredo
WATCH HOW WE MAKE THIS DELICIOUS DISH RIGHT HERE!
Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black cracked pepper
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved horizontally to make 4 fillets*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
Marsala Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter as needed
- 8 ounces (250g) brown or Cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup dry Marsala wine
- 1 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or stock)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream (thickened cream, evaporated milk or half and half may also be used)**
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Mix the flour, salt, garlic powder and pepper in a shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and shake off excess.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 2 tablespoons butter in a 12-inch pan or skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Fry 2 of the chicken breasts until golden-brown on both sides (about 3 to 4 minutes per side). Transfer to warm plate, tent with foil and keep warm. Repeat the same with the remaining 2 chicken breasts.
- In the same pan with remaining pan grease leftover from the chicken, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the mushrooms and for 2-3 minutes until browned, scraping away at any of the leftover chicken bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Pour in the Marsala and the broth and simmer until reduced by half and starting to thicken, (about 10-15 minutes).
- Pour in the cream and return the chicken back into the sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens (about 3 minutes). Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately. (The sauce will continue to thicken off the heat.)
- Serve over cooked angel hair pasta (or pasta of choice), rice, potatoes, cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles, if desired.
Leslie says
My husband loved it. He said, “This is truly a restaurant quality dish.”
Cari says
I used portabella mushrooms. Good wine. Heavy cream. Followed recipe to a t. Tastes great but seems greasy and seems wine and broth separated when I added the cream. Yucky!
Beth says
I am a recipe follower to a fault… I cook for a picky eater but on quality side, not ingredients… … he loved it and I was exact, even added 2 chicken breasts. I want to love chicken Marsala but I don’t … this was better than I have ever eaten.
Tracy says
Question…has anyone made this and then froze some of it?
Jackie D says
We loved it. Sauce was a little thin for my liking so next time I’ll make a rue to thicken it before adding the broth etc.
Mike Manxione says
This dish was fantastic!!! My wife and I had company join us for dinner and everyone loved the dish. It’s a keeper!!!
Mary Obrien says
I made this and it was really good just as is. We had it over angel hair pasta. We also had it as left overs keeping the pasta and sauce separate, it was just as good.
Susie Joyce says
I have a question. If I make the Chicken Marsala for a group of 12 people, can I make it a bit ahead of time, and then keep it warm in the oven in a large dish? I noticed you said serve immediately. Thank you!!!
Roy Hamrick says
I wonder if sour cream could be substituted for the cream . . .?
Andrea says
I have made this several times and I think it would totally change the taste and make it sour. I would definitely stick with cream!
Kris says
I have even used non-fat Greek yogurt, but be careful you don’t curdle it.
Tracy says
I think it would change the flavor but not a bad flavor – it would taste more like stroganoff especially if you add more parsley since stroganoff base is similar.
Katharine V. says
I used sour cream when I made this dish, it came out great.
Naomi Brown says
Do you think it will be ok if i sub the cream out for Almond milk? I am trying to chill on dairy.
Ruby Sigala says
I haven’t tried it yet but I was planning to sub coconut milk/cream for the dairy cream. I’ve used coconut milk before in other dairy cream recipes and it has come out great!
Palma says
Amazing recipe. Everyone love it and wants it again today. Very easy to make too! I served it with mashed potatoes. Delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
Mika says
Wow! Tried it tonight … with Sherry instead of Marsala. The whole family loved it. Thank you for the great recipe! 🙂
CALCULA says
through the photos I find them delicious recipes, but is it recommended for sports? when?
Erika says
This dish came out amazing. I’ve made chicken Marsala in the past but this is by far the BEST recipe. Takes little time also. Will make again!!!
ted says
do you think the sauce could be frozen and applied to freshly cooked chicken?
Derek says
This is a very easy and very delicious recipe. I served over cauliflower rice. I feel silly commenting because my absolute *biggest* pet peeve is when people comment on a recipe by saying all the things they did differently or substituted. It’s like… “just make the freaking recipe as written first!” Haha! But here is my hypocrisy: In my case I am newly allergic to wheat, so I didn’t dredge the chicken, but just sprinkled it with salt, pepper and garlic salt before frying. Other than that – I followed it exactly and it was perfect. Thank you so much for a DETAILED recipe with all needed info and time frames. I appreciate how thorough you are with instructions. Nothing worse than a vague recipe! 😀 A++
Emily says
Loved it, though maybe not Quite as much as your creamy sundried tomato and parmesan chicken! Next time I’ll only add the pepper at the end, to taste, and I found I had to add a bit of cornflour to thicken the sauce even after adding the chicken back in.
Only thing I’d say is that slicing the chicken fillets doesn’t have the same tenderising effect as pounding chicken.
marcia l niemerg says
I used the rest of the flour mixture from the chicken breading to thicken the sauce. If you stir it into the mushroom sautee mixture after the mushrooms are cooked, you can slowly add the chicken brother and it makes a nice smooth thicker sauce.
Cristil says
This is a perfect recipe! Chicken Marsala at restaurants is way over priced and I rarely order anymore. The cream sauce is amazing. I’m horrible at cooking chicken and the recommendation to split the breast made the chicken edible from this cook. I am allergic to mushrooms so I substituted with beef broth and shallots. I want to try making with shrimp instead of chicken and onions as another mushroom substitute. The cost was about $6 in ingredients and it was easily two meals.
Sheron Spencer says
OMG OMG I just made this recipe!!!!!!! This recipe is so GOOD!!! My words wouldn’t even explain it properly. This will be a dish I’ll be taking to all the pot lucks.
Kibibi Lewellen says
Can this be put into a crock pot??
Amza says
This recipe was absolutely delicious! Made it for a thanksgiving get together. Will definitely be making it again!
Gina M Davis says
Thanks for this! My son in law loves this dish so much so it was one of the protein options at his and my daughters wedding needless to say it was just awful just chicken and mushrooms no sauce at all! The caterer said she forgot it OMG really! Well I made this for him last night and he loved it!! Thanks so much!
oh if you can and get a chance check out Just A Pinch and consider adding the pinch app to make it easy for us home cooks to nicely and tiddly add your recipes to our boxes!
Nicole says
This was amazing! I substituted coconut cream blended with almonds for the cream as my little guy is dairy free but it was still incredible. I did have to add some cassava flour to thicken it up some but my kids licked their plates!
Victoria says
This was an absolutely excellent dish. Followed the instructions exactly and turned out wonderful!
Jessica says
Hi, can I make the sauce the night before so it’s ready so all I would have to make is the chicken?
Kim says
This is the best Chicken Marsala we have ever tasted. So easy too. Great flavor! My husband keeps asking when I am making again. I added a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce a little. I served over angel hair.
Rachael says
Couldn’t think of what to cook tonight and came across this saved in my to make folder – so glad I did. The boyfriend and myself loved it! Adding it to my rotation !
Jane says
Amazing…..could have this weekly and definitely over angel hair pasta.j
Sally says
Absolutely delicious … served it atop saffron mashed potatoes. Major hit.
Michael Malone says
Just ate this near Marsala, Sicily for lunch today. Never had it with almonds !!! I’ll be making this when I return to Florida !!!
lmp619 says
Karina’s instructions stated: “When making savory dishes like Chicken Marsala, dry Marsala is the best option.” All I had was sweet Marsala, and debated whether to use it, go BACK to the store for dry Marsala, or use some Madeira. I went with the sweet Marsala in the sauce and regretted it. It wasn’t bad tasting, but not great either. I also had difficulty getting the sauce to thicken. I was stuck with not-so-great sauce that was more like a broth . . . I added some additional flour to thicken it. Despite the self-imposed problems, I would make this recipe again with DRY Marsala, and maybe a 1/4 cup less chicken broth. It was super easy.
Angela Schafer says
I cut the chicken up and threw the angel hair right in the sauce with some pasta water. The kids like it this way.
Mike says
I sub white grape juice for the wine. They say it tastes funny with it. And we barley notice a difference.
Jenny P says
Made this without the cream and it was delicious. I felt the mushrooms were a bit overcooked from 15 minutes of simmering. Next time I’ll remove the mushrooms 5 minutes into the reduction.
Marie Czarnecki says
You can also use milk if you don’t like cream.
Linda says
Great recipe! We used to buy ready made frozen Marsala from a caterer which was ok but never gave enough chicken for the money and not this good. This is much more cost effective to make my own and this is a great recipe.
Marie Czarnecki says
EVERYTHING IS BETTER HOME COOKED.
R. Brink says
I never really order Chicken Marsala at restaurants as its usually just an ok dish. But my husband wanted Chicken Marsala for dinner so we thought we’d given this recipe a try. Better than anything Ive ever had at a restaurant. I followed the recipe subbing the heavy cream with the evaporated milk and adding some prosciutto in as well…Delish! I couldn’t wait for lunch time today to be able to eat my leftovers! This will def be a new go to for when we have guests over for dinner as well.
P.S. read a review above the mentioned a garlic bread recipe…where might I find that? 😊
Thanks for sharing!
Karina says
You can find the garlic bread here: https://cafedelites.com/easy-cheesy-garlic-bread/
WT says
Absolutely amazing, my wife’s favorite dish and she couldn’t have been happier!
John Skinner says
This is incredible! Had it last night for our Valentine’s Day dinner. It did not disapoint!! And the cream just heightened the richness of the chicken, marsala and mushrooms!!
Will make again and again!!
babs says
This is probably my husband’s favorite meal so I left it up to him what he thought of it. He loved it and so did I. A keeper, for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Judy Gurley says
Love this recipe but would like to make it in my instant pot. Recipe modifications?
Brenna says
Yes, please!!
Richard Wall says
Easy three word review: CANDY. Absolutely delicious.
Kristy says
Chicken Marsala is my favorite dish, and this is by far, better than any Chicken Marsala I have ever had at any restaurant! The only thing is my sauce seemed to evaporate not leaving much to pour over. Next time I will make extra sauce. Excellent recipe!!
Ed says
I loved this recipe. Everything came out perfect. The next recipe on my list is the creamy garlic chicken alfredo. I’ve never cooked anything with wine before and I love the rich flavor it gives.
BrownLuster says
Oh. My. Goodness.
This Chicken Marsala recipe is absolutely fantastic! I have had Chicken Marsala before at restaurants but none have ever tasted this flavorful. I am so glad I found your recipe as I have NEVER made Chicken Marsala before and this was a tremendous hit for our dinner tonight!
I made as written with the necessary substitution of marsala wine. The only wine I had was Merlot & Pinot. I used 1/2 cup Merlot mixed w/a 1/4 cup Pinot and the dish turned out deilsih!! I served it on top of Egg Noodles mixed w/Sweet Peas and Chives.
I will pick up a good bottle of Marsala wine on my next shopping day as I will be making this Chicken Marsala recipe again this week, this time with Marsala wine! Lol.
I will also double the mushroom sauce the next time as the sauce is phenomenal! There was only one Chicken breast left over so I grabbed it and put it away to put on top of seasoned, buttered grits for my breakfast in the morning. Thanks for posting this super easy, delush Chicken Marsala recipe!!
Karina says
YUUUUM!! I love what you did here! Please let me know how you go with the Marsala wine!
BrownLuster says
Oh. My. Goodness.
This Chicken Marsala recipe is absolutely fantastic! I have had Chicken Marsala before at restaurants but none have ever tasted this flavorful. I am so glad I found your recipe as I have NEVER made Chicken Marsala before and this was a tremendous hit for our dinner tonight!
I made as written with the necessary substitution of marsala wine. The only wine I had was Merlot & Pinot. I used 1/2 cup Merlot mixed w/a 1/4 cup Pinot and the dish turned out deilsih!! The chicken was fork tender & flavorful. I served it on top of Egg Noodles mixed w/Sweet Peas and Chives.
I will pick up a good bottle of Marsala wine on my next shopping day as I will be making this Chicken Marsala recipe again this week…this time with Marsala wine! Lol.
I will also double the mushroom sauce the next time as the sauce was quickly devoured! There was only one Chicken breast left over so I grabbed it and put it away to put on top of seasoned, buttered grits for my breakfast in the morning. Thanks for posting this super easy, delish Chicken Marsala recipe!!
Angie Ninan says
Where do you get the Marsala wine? I bought mine from the cooking section at Kroger’s and it was terrible. I would love to finally make one of my favorite foods!
Karina says
This is one of my favorites too! I did use one in the local grocery store but I do not remember the brand. I would recommend asking someone who works in that section of the grocery store and let them know what you are making. Hope that helps! Enjoy your marsala! XO
Dan Levy says
Don’t get cooking wine. Get real Marsala wine from the wine section
Sarah says
best to get a reasonably priced Marsala at a liquor store or in the wine section of a grocery store( depending on where you live and where it is sold). Cooking wine is low quality and usually too salty or sweet. Having a good wine make a world of difference!
Sandi says
Any liquor store should have it. Never using the fake stuff in the grocery store. It’s not fake tasting with a lot of salt added.
Ioana says
Yum. This was fantastic. Can’t wait to try more recipes from your website!
Ross says
with spinach the sauce probably wont thicken enough
Moee says
I doubled this recipe and followed your instructions and it was FABULOUS! I broke the rule of never seeing guests an untried recipe and they loved it too. I am making it again for guests tomorrow night. I served both cauliflower rice and basmati rice so that people could choose what they wanted. I signed on your site and can’t wait to try some more of your recipes!!
thomas petersen says
can this recipe be doubled?
Karina says
Yes, of course! The more the better ;)!!
Melissa Boos says
I’ve made this multiple times and, as most people do, have made a few very minor changes to suit our tastes. I always chop up a shallot and cook that in with the mushrooms and garlic. I don’t measure the garlic, but I probably double what it calls for. I double the amount of wine and stock but use the same amount of cream the recipe calls for. This is probably my favorite dish to make. My 9 year old and 12 year old BOTH like it and I feel like I’m eating something from a restaurant!
Anthony says
This recipe was bomb!!! It was my first time cooking chicken marsala with my girlfriend and it was a very delicious dish. The measurements were spot on, and the instructions were easy to follow 🙂
Lisa Gregory says
Thank you for sharing. This was very tasty. I prepped as much as possible before church so I could do like they do on cooking shows and just throw things in. Went well with the angel hair pasta.
melissa s says
I made this this evening with some already seasoned thinly sliced chicken breast i had bought. I did substitute the marsala with port wine because that’s all I had. I used less chicken than it called for. I think the sausecwas really good, I’m sure with marsala wine it would be better. I think next time I will use stuffed chicken breast with mushrooms and mozzarella or provolone and double the sauce.
Thank you for the great recipe.
Carol Daniel says
This dish (chicken marsala) had a wonderful flavor, only problem the sauce did not thicken. Any suggestions?
Genny Coats says
I added a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up instead of waiting for it to cook down. Worked well and you get more sauce that way.
Lara says
This looks so good! I can’t wait to try it 🙂
Heather Head says
I think this is the best dish I’ve ever made! It turned out so tasty and and was quick and easy to make!
KayL says
I made this as written and it was delicious. The instructions are simple to follow and the ingredient list isn’t too long and doesn’t contain a bunch of ingredients that I haven’t heard of. We all enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Carolyn Marshall says
Made this last night but used Boronia Marsala which BWS told me was a dry Marsala!!!!! Obviously it isn’t as although sauce was nice it was sweet!!!! What is a dry Marsala?????
Dale briggs says
They’re labeled dry and sweet, sweet is an aperitif. I bought dry Marsala at the local wine store.
Diane says
This was absolutely delicious! Definitely a family favorite. Thank you for sharing.
Rebecca says
How do you think spinach would be on this recipe ?
Karina says
That sounds like a great idea! I hope that you enjoy it!
Andrea says
Made this for my family tonight and served it with garlic mashed red potatoes. My oldest son said he liked it better than Carrabba’s chicken marsala (I’ve never made marsala before so this was quite a compliment)!! I made a few modifications…I dipped the chicken in egg/milk before dredging in flour, increased the wine & cream by 1/4 cup each and used regular sliced mushrooms as that was all I had.
Karina says
WOW!! That is so impressive and great to hear! Thank you so much for sharing! I am so glad it was so good to everyone. Thank you for choosing one of my recipes and following along with me!
Charlotte says
Why can’t I get the actual recipe, this site sucks.
Karina says
Thank you for letting me know! I am so sorry that the recipe went missing! My site had a malfunction for a period of time today and we are just getting things up and running. I apologize for the problem and how long it took. Thank you for your patience and following along with me! If you have any other questions or concerns please email me and I would love to help in any way that I can. XOXO Here is the recipe: https://cafedelites.com/creamy-chicken-marsala/.
Anthony Luke says
Someone needs a nap
Sean says
I can’t get the actual recipe to come up just all the tips
Karina says
Hi Sean, thank you for your comment! We had a frustrating technical issue that has just now been resolved and all recipes are showing once again. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. If you need any further help, please email us and we will assist you in any way we can. Thank you for your patience! XOXO
Lisa says
Great recipe. Love the web site design.
Alexis says
I made this tonight and my husband said it was “bomb”! The recipe is very easy to follow and it’s hard to mess up, measurements don’t have to be exact. Prior to using this recipe my Marsala sauce use to consist of Marsala cooking wine and corn starch to thicken..But this recipe is so much better! The cream really elevated it. I’ll be keeping this dish in rotation.
Karina says
YAY!! That is great to hear! I am so glad that he loved it! That is always a plus! Thank you for sharing! XO
Jade says
Picked up the wrong wine, will any red wine work or must it be dry?
Karina says
Your wine should be okay. It will add a little more sweetness and flavor to the pan. Hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it turns out!
Annie Wratten says
Just loved your recipe for Chicken Marsala..”only thing I added was 2tsp of fresh chopped Thyme…love your work..from Annie in Oz..?
Kathie says
Normally I add some cream to my Marsala. My daughter worked at an Italian restaurant in high school. They were quizzing her on their menu. Got to Marsala and she said wine, mushrooms and cream. Boy was she ever mad at me
Marylou says
I made this last night using boneless skinless chicken thighs. It was absolutely delicious. I’ll definitely be making it again.
I’ll mitchell says
Can you substitute almond flour for basic flour?
Karina says
Yes, of course! You are welcome to alter or change any of the ingredients to make your own. It may alter the taste and texture but it should still be a great combination! Thanks for following along with me!
Zenaida Utzurrum says
I ‘ll try this marsala seems so yummy . Thanks for thr recipes .
Teah says
Made this for dinner tonight and once again your recipes never fail! The whole family cleaned their plates. I also used your garlic bread recipe and we mopped up the sauce with it! Yum thank you!
Maj says
For those who don’t cook with alcohol, is there a substitution for the wine?
Karina says
You are welcome to leave the wine ingredient out if you prefer.
Heather says
Vincotto works well (it’s alcohol-free). Use around 1/3 of the volume of vincotto that the recipe calls for in marsala and compensate with extra chicken stock.