Our Favorite Chicken Marsala Recipe
Everything we love about classic chicken marsala with a few twists to make it even better! Our recipe, with a delicious Marsala wine and mushroom sauce, is simple and made in one pan for easy cleanup.
Chicken Marsala is a classic for a reason, and this recipe is my absolute favorite way to make it. While you’ll often see it with chicken breasts, chicken thighs make this Italian-American dish special. They stay incredibly juicy and tender, which I love! I actually use chicken thighs for most of our chicken recipes.
I love serving this chicken Marsala with a simple side salad or alongside a bed of buttered noodles. It’s also incredible with creamy polenta or fettuccine Alfredo (the ultimate comfort food combination, if you ask me!) I’m sure it will become a new favorite, and I cannot wait for you to try it.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: Use chicken thighs (like in our photos) or chicken breasts. They work interchangeably in this recipe. Thighs will just be a bit more tender.
- Marsala Wine: I prefer dry Marsala wine for this recipe, but sweet will work if you already have it on hand. We like to buy mid-priced Marsala wine over the $5 or less options you can sometimes find in grocery stores. The mid-priced options have a bit more flavor. In general, buy something you could see someone drink. You’ll have some leftovers, so here are a couple of recipes with Marsala wine: homemade tiramisu, pesto pasta with turkey meatballs (we add the wine to the meatball mixture).
- Flour: I dredge my chicken in a little flour before cooking in olive oil. If you are gluten-free, skip the flour and simply brown your chicken in the oil instead (make sure it’s patted dry).
- Mushrooms: I use cremini mushrooms, but any variety (even wild mushrooms) will work. The mushroom and marsala combination is incredible!
- Garlic: I love garlic, so I always add a little to my pan. It wakes up all the flavors in the sauce.
- Pearl Onions: I use thawed frozen pearl onions and love them in this recipe! Frozen is my go-to, as peeling a cup’s worth of pearl onions is not something I want to spend my time doing. You can also use sliced shallots or sweet onion or leave them out.
- Broth: Our Marsala sauce is half wine and half broth. Use what you love. I especially love a simple chicken broth.
- Cherry Tomatoes: These are optional, but I love their pop of color and fresh flavor. I toss them into the sauce at the end so they keep some texture and color.
How to Make Chicken Marsala
Whether you use chicken thighs or chicken breasts, the trick to the best Chicken Marsala is pounding the chicken thin and then dredging in flour. You don’t need a lot of flour at all, just a thin coating over the chicken. To pound the chicken, I line them up on my work surface, cover them with plastic wrap or parchment paper, and then bash them with a meat mallet or rolling pin. It’s a great way to relieve some stress!
Once the chicken is added to hot oil, the flour helps the chicken brown beautifully, and the pounding you did earlier results in perfectly tender chicken.
After cooking the chicken (which takes about 10 minutes), you can move on to the sauce, which we make in the same pan (score for one-pan dishes!).
The aroma of the Marsala wine will fill your kitchen as you create a simple but flavorful sauce with mushrooms, pearl onions, garlic, chicken broth, and a little butter.
We also love adding a handful of fresh cherry tomatoes to the pan right at the end. As they warm, they burst with sweet and tangy flavor, which I think makes this classic dish even more delicious!
Our Favorite Chicken Marsala
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PREP
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COOK
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TOTAL
Chicken Marsala is a classic for a reason, and our version offers a few delicious twists! We use tender, flavorful chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts (though our recipe works perfectly with breasts, too!). We also add sweet pearl onions and juicy cherry tomatoes to our Marsala sauce. These simple twists make the best chicken Marsala I’ve made at home. We know you’ll love it!
4 Servings
You Will Need
1 ½ pounds (680g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts
1/3 cup (43g) all-purpose flour
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces (226g) cremini mushrooms, sliced, about 3 cups
1 cup (150g) frozen pearl onions, thawed, optional
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup (120ml) dry Marsala wine
1/2 cup (120ml) low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup (150g) cherry tomatoes, halved
Directions
1Place the chicken pieces side-by-side on a cutting board and cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Gently pound the chicken with a meat mallet or rolling pin until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper.
2Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
3While the oil is heating up, add the flour to a shallow dish, then dredge both sides of the pounded chicken pieces in the flour, shaking off the excess.
4When the oil is hot and shimmering, slide the chicken into the pan and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the cooked chicken to a large plate in a single layer.
5Lower the heat to medium-low and then add the mushrooms to the pan used to cook the chicken (add a little more oil if the pan is dry). Cook them, stirring occasionally, until browned and their moisture has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
6Add the pearl onions and garlic. Season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes.
7Pour the wine into the pan and simmer until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release any bits stuck from cooking the chicken and mushrooms, and then add the chicken stock. Stir, then simmer for another minute until the sauce has reduced slightly.
8Lower the heat to low, stir in the butter, then return the chicken to the pan. Taste the sauce for seasoning, then add salt and pepper as necessary.
9Scatter the tomatoes on top and simmer gently until the chicken has heated through, about 5 minutes.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Marsala wine: You may see two varieties of Marsala wine in the store: dry and sweet. We prefer to use dry Marsala in this recipe, but if sweet is all you have, it should also work since the rest of the dish is so savory. Regardless of your choice, go for something you would consider drinking – we usually go for a mid-range bottle instead of the under $5 options.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1/4 of the recipe
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Calories
393
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Total Fat
17.3g
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Saturated Fat
4.8g
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Cholesterol
167.4mg
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Sodium
323.3mg
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Carbohydrate
16.7g
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Dietary Fiber
1.7g
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Total Sugars
3.7g
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Protein
37.3g
