I Love, love, LOVE this recipe for classic and elegant Chicken Marsala and I’m excited to share it with you. It’s really easy to prepare but you will need to get a bottle of Marsala wine from the store. I promise you’ll use the Marsala to make this many times! And don’t worry, the alcohol will all burn off.
My favorite thing about this recipe, other than the wonderful way your house smells when it’s cooking, is how easy it is to prepare. Easy, elegant and deeply flavorful, my kind of meal!
Marsala is a fortified wine similar to sherry or Madeira. It is not red or white or pink but golden brown and it looks like strong iced tea. It has a flavor sometimes described as “nutty,” and is a key ingredient in many classic Italian dishes like chicken or veal marsala.
This is traditionally served over pasta. That’s how I do it and I add a nice green salad (with a homemade vinaigrette) and a veggie like green beans or asparagus. But if you’re trying to keep the pasta consumption to a minimum, you could serve this with some steamed quinoa or wild rice or even mashed potatoes.
Enjoy!
You want to pound your chicken breasts nice and thin. You can use a meat mallet or a rolling pin to pound with. I put the breasts between 2 sheets of Saran wrap.
Chicken breasts sautéing to a lovely golden brown.
Adding the Marsala to the sauteed mushrooms. You can’t believe how good this smells!
There you have it! Better than you’ll get in a restaurant, I promise!
Chicken Marsala
- 2 (6-8 ounce) boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts sliced in half and pounded thin
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed or olive oil
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 cups sliced, fresh mushrooms
- ¾ cup Marsala wine
- ¼ cup capers (optional)
- 1 cup organic chicken stock
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- Fresh, chopped Italian parsley for garnish
- Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Dredge in the flour. Tap off excess.
- Heat the oil in a skillet until hot but not smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and saute the chicken breasts for about 3 minutes on each side. They will be golden brown.
- Put the chicken breasts on a plate and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan and add the sliced mushrooms.
- Cook the mushrooms until they have given up their liquid and are beginning to brown around the edges. Add the capers if you're using them.
- Add the Marsala wine and cook until the wine is reduced by half, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and cook about 3 minutes more. The sauce will thicken slightly.
- Lower the heat to medium and add the chicken breasts back to the pan. Cook a few minutes more until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
- Swirl in the 2 remaining tablespoons of butter and sprinkle the chopped parsley on top. Serve with pasta, quinoa, rice or potatoes.
Kate’s Tips
- You want your chicken breasts thin, so when you take them out of the package, slice them in half the long way to make each breast half it’s thickness.
- If you don’t have a mallet to pound them, try using a rolling pin. Pound to less than 1/4 inch thickness.
- If you can’t get Marsala wine, use a sweet sherry or vermouth.
- You can use any kind of fresh mushrooms you like.
- Use chicken breasts or veal scaloppine.
- To clean mushrooms, don’t wash them but use a damp paper towel to wipe off any debris.
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