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 favorite way to make it. While you’ll often see it with chicken breasts, chicken thighs make this Italian-American dish special. They are always incredibly juicy and tender, which I love! I actually use chicken thighs in most of our chicken recipes.
I like to serve this Chicken Marsala with a simple side salad or alongside a bed of buttered noodles. It’s also amazing 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 can’t 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. The pumpkins will be smaller.
- Marsala wine: I choose a dry Marsala wine for this recipe, but a sweet one will work if you already have it. We like to buy moderately priced Marsala wine over the $5 or less options you can sometimes find in grocery stores. Mid-priced options have more flavor. In general, buy something that you can see someone drinking. You will have some left over, so here are a few recipes with Marsala wine: homemade tiramisu, pesto pasta and turkey meatballs (we add wine to the meatball mixture).
- Flour: I coat my chicken in a little flour before cooking in olive oil. If you’re gluten-free, skip the flour and simply brown your chicken in oil instead (make sure it’s dry).
- Mushrooms: I use cremini mushrooms, but any variety (even wild mushrooms) will work. The combination of mushrooms and marsala is amazing!
- Garlic: I love garlic, so I always add a little to my pan. It brings out all the flavors in the sauce.
- Pearl Onion: I use frozen pearl onions and love them in this recipe! Frozen is what I’ll go with, as peeling pearl onions for a cup is not something I want to waste my time doing. You can also use chopped shallots or sweet onions or leave them out.
- Broth: Our Marsala sauce is half wine and half broth. Use what you like. I really like simple chicken broth.
- Cherry Tomatoes: This is optional, but I like their pop of color and fresh taste. I toss them in the sauce at the end to keep the texture and color.
How to Make Chicken Marsala
Whether you’re using chicken thighs or chicken breasts, the trick to the best Chicken Marsala is pounding the chicken into small pieces and drizzling it in flour. You don’t need a lot of flour at all, just a light coating over the chicken. To pound the chicken, I line it up on my work surface, cover it with plastic wrap or parchment paper, and pound it with a meat mallet or rolling pin. It’s a great way to relieve some stress!
Once the chicken is in the hot oil, the flour helps the chicken brown nicely, and the batter you did earlier results in a tender chicken.
After cooking the chicken (which takes about 10 minutes), you can move on to the sauce, which we do in the same pan (scores for one pan dishes!).
The aroma of Marsala wine will fill your kitchen as you create a simple yet flavorful sauce with mushrooms, pearl onions, garlic, chicken broth, and a little butter.
We also like to add a handful of cherry tomatoes to the pan right at the end. As they warm up, they explode with a 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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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 (although our recipe works well with breasts, too!). We also add sweet pearl onions and sweet cherry tomatoes to our Marsala sauce. These simple twists make the best chicken Marsala I’ve ever made at home. We know you’ll love it!
4 Services
You will need it
1 ½ pounds (680g) skinless chicken thighs or boneless chicken breasts
1/3 cup (43g) all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces (226g) cremini mushrooms, sliced, about 3 cups
1 cup (150g) frozen pearl onions, thawed, optional
1 clove garlic, chopped
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. Pound the chicken gently with a meat mallet or rolling pin until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper.
2Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
3While the oil is heating, add the flour to a shallow dish, then roll both sides of the minced 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 one place.
5Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the mushrooms to the pan used to cook the chicken (add a little more oil if the pan is dry). Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and their moisture has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
6Add pearl onions and garlic. Season with a little 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 boil until reduced by half, about one minute. Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any bits that have caught on from cooking the chicken and mushrooms, then add the chicken stock. Stir, then simmer for another minute until the sauce has reduced slightly.
8Reduce the heat to low, stir in the butter, and return the chicken to the pan. Taste the sauce for seasoning, and add salt and pepper as needed.
9Scatter the tomatoes over the top and simmer until the chicken is heated through, about five minutes.
Tips from Adam and Joanne
- Marsala wine: You may see two types of Marsala wine in the store: dry and sweet. We prefer to use dry Marsala in this recipe, but if sweetness is all you have, it should also work as the whole dish is very nutritious. Whatever you choose, go for something you can imagine drinking – we tend to go for the mid-range bottle instead of the sub-$5 options.
- The nutrition facts given below are estimates.
Food Per Serving
Serving Size
1/4 of the recipe
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Calories
393
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Perfect Oils
17.3g
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Saturated Fats
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 Sugar
3.7g
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Proteins
37.3g
