Chicken Marsala

Creamy Chicken Marsala is a restaurant-quality recipe that you can make at home. It is a classic Italian-American dish that starts with tender and juicy pan-fried chicken breasts. That is topped with flavorful mushrooms and a creamy Marsala sauce. This will become one of your family’s favorite dinners.

The Best Chicken Marsala Recipe

One thing that you will find out about me with this blog. Is that I absolutely love pasta! Add a little creamy sauce and some chicken and I am in pure heaven. This Creamy Chicken Marsala recipe has all of that and more. The Marsala sauce has so much flavor and is perfect with this authentic Italian tasting chicken. It tastes so you good you will think it came from your favorite 5 star restaurant, but it’s so easy to make you will make it over and over.

This is a classic chicken Marsala with a few minor changes. I have added bacon and heavy cream that makes it more to my liking. I like my sauces to have a little consistency to them and who doesn’t love bacon. Let me know how you like the changes I made to the creamy chicken Marsala recipe.

Chicken Marsala Ingredients

• Chicken Breasts: Use skinless, boneless chicken breasts that are close to the same size. So that they cook evenly.
• Brown or Cremini Mushrooms: I used brown mushrooms for the recipe. But a lot of it has to do with what I can find at the grocery store. To save time you can also use the pre-slice mushrooms as well.
• Bacon: This dish is typically made with prosciutto ham. I substituted it with bacon so that all the ingredients would be easy to find.
• Marsala Cooking Wine: I have had a lot of people ask where to find this. It is located by the olive oil and vinegar’s in the grocery store, even in Utah.
• Chicken Broth: I prefer to use low sodium chicken broth. So that it does not make the sauce too salty.
• All-purpose Flour & Corn Starch: This is what helps create a light crust on the chicken. It also gives something for the marsala sauce to stick to.
• Heavy Cream: Helps balance out the acidity of the wine. If you want to make this dish a little lighter. You can substitute with half & half.
• Garlic: Fresh minced garlic always is the best. But as a little time saver, you can use this Minced Garlic in a jar.
• Garlic Powder, Thyme Leaves: For more flavor fresh thyme works best. But you can use either fresh or dry herbs.
• Black Pepper & Salt: You can adjust to your liking.
• Olive Oil & Unsalted Butter: I use a combination of both for the best flavor.
• Fresh Parsley: Chop and garnish on top of the chicken marsala for presentation.

How To Make Chicken Marsala

You are going to start with 2 large chicken breasts. You will want to half them by cutting in half horizontally. This will give you four fillets. Wrap the fillets in plastic wrap or place them in a plastic bag. Pound them with a meat mallet or rolling pin until they are equal thickness. This will help the chicken breasts cook evenly.

Mix the flour, corn starch, garlic powder and black pepper in a medium bowl. Completely cover the chicken in the dredge mixture. Shake off excess dredge mixture so that you have a light coating over all of the chicken. You can also put the dredge mixture in a Ziplock bag and add the chicken. Then shake the bag until the fillets are completely covered.

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Combine the olive oil and butter into a 12 inch skillet and heat over medium high. Then, cook until golden brown on each side making sure not to over cook. This will be about 3-4 minutes on 1/2 thick chicken breasts. Remove the chicken and place on a platter. Cover and keep warm.

Next, cut the the bacon into half inch strips and add to leftover chicken drippings. Lower the heat to medium and cook 3-4 minutes or until the bacon is slightly under cooked. Then add garlic and cook for an additional minute.

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How To Make Marsala Sauce

Classic chicken Marsala usually does not have cream in it. But, I like to mix things up a bit. Personally I like all my sauce to be on the creamier side. I think by adding heavy cream it adds to the look and flavor of the Marsala sauce.

Start, by slicing the brown or Cremini mushrooms into 1/4 wide slices. Then, add them to the bacon and garlic. Make sure not to drain the bacon renderings. This will give the mushrooms a lot of flavor and will add to the sauce. Then, cook the mushrooms until their moisture releases. You will notice a reduction in the size of the mushrooms. (Make sure to stir occasionally.)

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Add the Marsala cooking wine and bring to a boil. Once the sauce starts to boil reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. The Marsala wine should reduce by about half. This will also release all the alcohol. After the sauce has reduced add in the heavy cream and stir. Then, place chicken back into the skillet and cook until the sauce begins to thicken and chicken is heated back up.

Recipe Tips

• Don’t wash your mushrooms with water. Mushrooms are very porous and will soak the water in. You want the mushrooms to soak in the flavor from the sauce. If you wash them they may become soggy and will become less flavorful. Use a clean towel or pastry brush to knock of any dirt.
• If you want to skip the bacon. Add, 2 tablespoons of butter before cooking the garlic and mushrooms.
• Use a cast iron skillet! I just recently purchased one and it has been one of the best purchases ever. I find that it cooks more evenly and retains the heat.
• Serve the creamy Marsala chicken over angel hair pasta or mashed potatoes. You can find a Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes here that would be amazing with this recipe.

HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?

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