Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American classic. This recipe, Mushroom Chicken Marsala, takes everything I love about classic Chicken Marsala and adds more mushrooms and sauce. Talk about delicioso! There is nothing else quite like the intense flavor of this garlicky Marsala sauce.
Mushrooms are one of my favorite foods. I love them in a good wine sauce. White mushrooms are usually my first choice for this dish. They’re inexpensive, they’re easy to find, easy to clean and slice, and they soak up the flavor of whatever you cook them with. Cremini mushrooms are also a good choice for this dish. They have a little stronger mushroom flavor that can really make this dish sing.
One of the keys to bringing out the best flavor in this dish is in browning both the chicken and the mushrooms so they get a nice golden brown sear. The caramelization will give the dish a rich, deep multi-dimensional flavor. All you have to worry about it achieving a good sear when you’re cooking those elements individually, as both the chicken and mushrooms will finish cooking once you put the lid on your skillet and let them simmer for a bit.
To be sure your chicken is fully cooked, it’s a good idea to make sure it reaches an internal temperature of 180° F (82° C), or cook until it’s no longer pink inside and the juices run clear. Chicken thighs can also work with this dish, although chicken breasts are the classic cut. Be sure to pound them to an even thinness so they finish cooking at the same time.
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts – boneless, skinless
1 lb fresh mushrooms
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons (optional) fresh parsley, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
- Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness.
- Thinly slice or quarter mushrooms.
- Mix together the flour, oregano, salt, and pepper in shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.
- In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Cook chicken to lightly golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. (Chicken will finish cooking in sauce later.)
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and remaining 2 tablespoons butter to skillet. Melt over medium heat. Immediately add mushrooms once butter is melted. Toss mushrooms in butter mixture and saute until lightly golden brown. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Remove mushrooms from pan, set aside.
- Add garlic to oil and butter drippings in pan and saute 30 seconds over medium heat, do not allow garlic to brown.
- Pour Marsala and chicken stock into pan with garlic. Season sauce with salt & pepper to taste. Stir pan drippings into sauce. Bring to simmer.
- Return chicken and mushrooms to pan and cover. Simmer until chicken is completely cooked, about 10 minutes.
- Serve with (optional) fresh parsley sprinkled over top.
Notes
- White or cremini mushrooms are recommended, but any mushroom that would marry well with Marsala wine could be substituted.
- Canned mushrooms are not recommended.
- Dry Marsala wine is recommended.
- Chicken broth can be substituted for chicken stock.
- If you wish to use fresh oregano rather than dry, I suggest adding it to the sauce with the garlic rather than using it in the flour dredge.
Marsala makes an extraoridinary wine sauce. Its unique, rich taste is perfect not only for the chicken and mushrooms in the dish, but also pairs well side dishes.
I like to serve Mushroom Chicken Marsala with pasta or mashed potatoes. Pasta is probably my favorite choice. I love to cook up some tagliatelle or fettucine to go with this meal and just serve the chicken breast and mushrooms right atop the pasta along with a healthy spoonful of the sauce. If you like a smaller pasta, cavatelli or gemelli work well as well, and they’re both great with a wine sauce because they have little crevices for the wine sauce to cling to.
When I really want to impress, I serve fresh pasta with this dish. Most supermarkets have fresh fettucine in the refrigerated section. Or if you’re so inclined, you could make some fresh homemade pasta yourself. Either way, this is a dish where fresh pasta really gets a chance to shine.
Your recipe steps are alittle confusing. In step 5 you add oil to the pan but then talk about the butter melting. Are you using the same pan but just removing the chicken n mushrooms? Did you separate the butter amount? Aren’t the pan drippings in the pan already? Not sure where else they would come from unless after cooking each you would be emptying the pan drippings into a separate bowl and then adding back in?
Thanks for asking Maddelina, the butter and oil should be divided and I’ve noted that note in the ingredients and hopefully clarified it in steps five and six. Thank you so much for helping me improve the recipe!
I had a little trouble too with my first attempt, but you just take out the chicken and set aside, then add the mushroom and more oil/butter – cook, then set them aside ((take them out of the oil/pan) then thrown in more butter/oil and garlic – saute and then dump in the wine and stock, and return the chicken and mushroom to the same pan. You don’t take out any of the oil/butter during the entire process…..just the item and keep adding butter/oil and continuing. I don’t know if this helps. but once I figured it out it’s a piece of cake to make. and tastes really, really good!!!
Read your recipe and was confused. are you using more than one pan? The drippings would be in the first skillet mentioned. is that pan to be set aside and then start the browning in a new pan? like maddelina it is confusing. So how many pans are you using?
Can you bake the chicken the rest of the way after first initially frying in the skillet? I much Prefer baked cHicken to frying. Thx.
Yes you can bake the chicken. You can also use rotisserie chicken – just slice it into thin or delicate pieces so it will absorb sauce better. This is a prfect sauce with chicken, but it is just as beauiful with Pork, or even beef. The meat isn’t the star in this dish, It’s the sauce itself that makes this dish.
Wish the NUTRITIONAL values were included.
I baked the chicken and made sauce seperately. ( I have a couple of picky eaters). It worked out well.Don’t hate me, but I added some instant potatoes to thicken sauce. Still followed all of the directions and added the Chicken drippings. Will definately make it again. Big hit with the Adults & Teens!
please say how many servings each recipe has
I was a little hesitant to make this recipie because there were so many steps and I was confused. But I reread, and took my time to make this dish. it is delicious. I tried another recipie that took less steps and was horrified with my results. Once you get the steps down it’s pretty eash to make, you just need to remember the stages, and believe that you are in france and they use alot of butter and oil. This is the best! although a little complicate to go through originally. I will continue to make this (I’m not sure I really want the nutritional values) there are probably a million calories – and then I would make it again. Thanks!!!
i LIKE TO USE A MEDIUM SWEET ONION BECAUSE MY HUSBAND CANNOT EAT GARLIC. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Didnt CHANGE a thing and it was delicious!