Chicken Marsala – golden pan fried chicken with sautéed mushrooms in a creamy wine sauce. Served over fettuccini pasta, and topped with grated parmesan cheese. Definitely a house favorite!
Chicken Marsala Recipe
Chicken Marsala
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- large skillet
- cutting board
- kitchen knife
- shallow dish – for dredging chicken
- large saucepan – for the linguini
- tongs
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup dry white wine – something you could actually enjoy drinking.
- 1 ¼ cup chicken stock
- 4 skinless chicken thighs – pounded to an even thickness
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper – finely ground
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour – for dredging the chicken
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour – for the sauce
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 8 ounce cremini mushrooms – sliced
- 1 shallot – thinly sliced
- 3 clove garlic – minced
- 1 tsp fresh thyme – minced
- 1 tsp fresh oregano – minced
- ½ tbsp sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley – minced
- 1 package Linguini noodles – or fettuccine noodles, cooked al dente
Instructions
- Add wine and chicken broth to a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Let gently boil until reduced to 1 cup, about 15 minutes while you prepare the chicken.
- Using a mallet, pound the chicken thighs to even thickness, about ½ inch.
- Season both sides of each thigh with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour and shake off any excess.
- Melt 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.
- Add chicken pieces and let sear until cooked through (165℉ internal temperature), turning halfway through, about 10-12 minutes.
- Transfer to a dish, tent with foil to keep warm, and set aside.
- Reduce burner to medium heat. Melt remaining 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add shallots and sauté until just beginning to brown.
- Remove from the pan, and add to the wine reduction.
- Add sliced mushrooms to the pan, and sauté tossing occasionally until mushrooms have shrunk and are golden brown, about 7 minutes.
- Add garlic, and sauté for 1 minute more.
- Add 1 tbsp flour, cook for a couple of minutes.
- Pour the wine reduction, shallots, thyme and oregano into the pan. It will bubble fiercely!
- Bring sauce to a simmer, while scraping up browned bits from the bottom (the fond). Stir in the heavy cream and sugar.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir until sauce is thickened.
- Return chicken thighs to the pan, and spoon sauce over the top.
- Sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately over cooked linguini noodles. Add grated parmesan if desired.
Notes
PRIVATE NOTES
Nutrition
More Information
Wine Choices
Marsala Wine
Marsala wine is a fortified wine, meaning that it has brandy, or some other distilled spirit added to it. Personally, I find it to taste pretty bad. I’m sure there are great Marsala wines in the world, but I haven’t found one that I like. If you know of a good Marsala wine, please leave a comment and let me know about it.
Chardonnay
When making Chicken Marsala, I prefer to use a dry white wine, such as Chardonnay. I try to follow my own advice that if I don’t like to drink it, I won’t like to cook with it either.
The Fond
Pan-frying meats and vegetables leaves a flavorful brown residue in the bottom of the pan called the fond. You want to get this flavor off of the pan, and into the sauce. You do this by deglazing the pan with wine.
Deglazing the Pan
While the wine does add flavor to Chicken Marsala, its primary function is to deglaze the pan. After cooking the shallots, mushrooms, and chicken in butter and olive oil, you will have built up a considerable fond.
The alcohol in the wine will loosen these bits, adding their flavors to the sauce. The alcohol quickly evaporates, leaving behind a richly flavorful sauce reduction. This is an important part of what makes Chicken Marsala taste so delicious.
Chicken Cuts of Meat
Chicken Thighs
In most dishes, I prefer to cook with chicken thigh meat, rather than chicken breast meat. Chicken breasts are much too big, which makes them take too long to cook through. They are not as juicy and flavorful as chicken thighs.
Thinly Sliced Chicken Breast
Thinly sliced chicken breast meat will work well in sandwiches. It will also work in this recipe for Chicken Marsala.
Pasta
Linguini or Fettuccini
Chicken Marsala tastes best over linguini or fettuccini pasta. The thick noodles and mushrooms hold onto the sauce. Every bite will be full of saucy deliciousness.
Related Recipes
Chicken Parmigiana
Chicken Piccata
Tuscan Shrimp
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