Creamy chicken marsala with mushroom

This dish of creamy chicken marsala is made with juicy chicken thighs, simmered in a rich and creamy Marsala sauce. It's packed with plenty of mushrooms and there are also a couple of unexpected ingredients that melt into the sauce, giving it an incredible flavour and leaving everyone wondering what makes it taste so good.

This recipe for creamy chicken marsala with mushrooms is a classic Italian dish that's one of our family favourites. It's simple enough for an easy family meal, yet special enough to serve to guests at a dinner party. Made with only a handful of ingredients, it's ready in around 30 minutes.

The combination of juicy chicken thighs, pan-fried in a mixture of butter and olive oil, savoury mushrooms and a rich and creamy Marsala-flavoured sauce delivers a dish with an incredible depth of flavour. And today, I'm sharing my version of this dish, which includes 2 unexpected ingredients that elevate a classic chicken marsala recipe from delicious to truly outstanding.

This recipe for creamy chicken marsala tastes as though it came from a professional kitchen, yet it's made with everyday ingredients and simple cooking techniques. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

If you do enjoy it, I've also got a recipe for a simplified marsala mushroom sauce that you pour over steak, chicken, or sausages, or even stir into a dish of pasta for a delicious vegetarian meal.

Why I love this chicken marsala

• The sauce is the star. This is an amazingly tasty sauce with incredible depth of flavour. It's perfect for pouring over mashed potatoes, rice (my personal favourite) or pasta.
• Minimal pans required. Brown the chicken and make the sauce in the same pan. The only extra pan you need is for the starch (potatoes, rice or pasta).
• Ready in about 30 minutes. Ideal for when you want something impressive without spending all evening in the kitchen.
• Versatile. Delicious served over rice, pasta or potatoes. Or for a lighter meal, serve with crusty bread instead (you need something to help you mop up the sauce)!
• Restaurant quality without restaurant prices. This dish delivers all the flavour of a restaurant meal, but it's made with everyday ingredients in your own kitchen.

The unexpected ingredients

Before we get on to the actual recipe ingredients, I'd like to let you in on the secret behind this delicious sauce.

They are (...drumroll please...) anchovies and capers!

Don't worry if you're not an anchovy fan! To be perfectly honest, I'm not much of a fan either. But this is one of those times when they simply work.

The anchovies dissolve completely into the sauce, adding a savoury richness, rather than a fishy flavour. It's a bit like adding fish sauce to a Chinese dish. You don't really notice it's there, but you'd certainly miss the depth of flavour if you left it out.

Together with a spoonful of capers, the anchovies give the sauce that elusive 'I can't quite put my finger on it, but this tastes amazing' quality.

Ingredients for making chicken marsala

**This is just an overview to explain why I used a particular ingredient. The complete list of ingredients and the exact measurements are on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.**

• Chicken thighs. I've made this dish many times, both with chicken breast fillets and boneless chicken thighs, and in my opinion, thighs are a better option. The chicken thighs stay juicy while the sauce reduces and thickens. Chicken breasts tend to dry out if they're left simmering for too long. Coat the chicken lightly in seasoned flour before frying it in a mixture of butter and olive oil, then set aside while you prepare the sauce.
• Mushrooms. Plenty of mushrooms. I used an entire punnet of 225 grams (8 ounces). Wipe them with a damp paper towel to remove any bits of grit or dirt and then slice them. The best mushrooms for chicken masala are firm mushrooms that can be nicely sliced, such as cremini, white cap (or closed cap), or even baby button mushrooms.
• Seasoned flour. This is simply flour, seasoned with salt and paprika. It is used to lightly coat the chicken to encourage it to brown as it is being fried. Note: take care when adding salt; capers can be quite salty, so you might want to fry the chicken without salt and taste the dish once the sauce has been made, adding salt only if necessary. You will also need 1 or 2 tablespoons of plain flour, which will be used to thicken the sauce.
• Olive oil and butter. I used a mixture of olive oil and butter to fry the chicken, then fried the mushrooms in the same pan. The mushrooms soak up oil and butter like little sponges, so don't be surprised if you need to add another small knob of butter before frying them.
• Marsala. Marsala is a brandy-fortified wine. If you can't get hold of Marsala, you can substitute with the same amount of full-cream sherry, or even extra chicken stock plus 1 tablespoon of brandy. If you don't want to use alcohol at all, you can substitute it with red or white grape juice and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or lemon juice.
• Chicken stock cubes. I used 2 chicken stock cubes, which I dissolved in 1.5 cups of boiling water. Substitute with fresh chicken stock if you have it available.
• Double (or heavy) cream. This adds a lovely creamy richness to the sauce. I like to use double cream because there's less chance of it splitting. Substitute with single cream if you prefer. If you don't want to use cream at all, you could even use the equivalent amount of milk and add an extra tablespoon of butter - butter is made from cream, so it helps replace some of the richness that the cream would have added.
• Capers. Capers add little bursts of salty, tangy flavour that balance the richness of the creamy sauce. Their subtle lemony notes brighten the dish without overpowering it. If you don't like capers, leave them out - although you don't really notice them in the finished dish.
• Anchovies. I know what you're thinking ... "Fish? In a creamy chicken sauce?" Trust me on this one. You only use 3 small anchovies, and they melt away completely as the sauce cooks, leaving behind no trace of fishiness. All they do is add an extra savoury depth that has people wondering why the sauce tastes so good!

How to make creamy chicken marsala

Brown the chicken

Step 1: Coat the chicken lightly in seasoned flour. I cut my chicken thighs in half because they were quite large. Heat oil and butter over medium to high heat in a large frying pan and add the chicken.

Step 2: Fry for about 3 minutes per side until lightly browned, then remove from the pan and set aside. The chicken will not be fully cooked at this stage - it will finish off cooking in the sauce.

Make the Marsala sauce

Step 3: Add the mushrooms to the same pan. You might need to add an extra tablespoon of butter.

Step 4: Stir the mushrooms for 3 to 4 minutes until they have softened.

Step 5: Remove the pan from the heat and stir the flour into the mushrooms, taking care to remove any lumps. Stir in the chicken stock, cream and marsala. Return the pan to the heat, bring to a boil, then stir in the anchovies and capers.

Step 6: Add the chicken back to the pan, reduce the heat to a simmer.

Step 7: Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is fully cooked. Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.

Serving suggestions

My favourite way to serve chicken marsala with mushrooms is spooned over a bed of fluffy white rice, with plain steamed vegetables on the side. There is so much flavour in the sauce that you won't need anything too creamy. See my post on how to cook rice in the microwave. You can pop a bowl of rice into the microwave while the sauce is simmering - it only takes a few minutes to cook.

Mashed potatoes, polenta, buttered noodles or even crusty bread would make a great accompaniment instead of rice. Any of these starches would soak up the delicious sauce perfectly!

Foodle Club top tips

Follow these handy tips to ensure your creamy mushroom chicken always turns out perfectly:

• Don't coat the chicken too thickly with flour. You are looking for a light dusting of flour, just enough to add a little colour to the chicken as it browns in the pan. We don't want a thick batter on this chicken.
• Take care when mixing the seasoned flour. I mentioned this earlier - the capers can be quite salty (it depends on the brand) so go easy on the salt in the seasoned flour, or leave it out altogether. You can always taste the sauce once it's fully cooked, and add more salt if necessary.
• Add more butter to the mushrooms if needed. Mushrooms love soaking up butter, and to be honest, it gives them a lovely flavour! A little extra butter won't spoil the finished dish!
• Stir the anchovies into the sauce until they disintegrate. I don't know why I'm saying this; the anchovies melt straight into the sauce. Just give it a stir to distribute the flavours!
• Simmer the chicken in the sauce until cooked. Cooked chicken has an internal temperature of 74C/165F, measured on a digital thermometer. If you are unsure, or don't have a thermometer, cut one of the thicker pieces of chicken in half; it should be completely white on the inside with no pink showing.
• Make sure the sauce has thickened sufficiently. The thickness of the sauce is dependent on a number of things - the exact measurements of the stock, marsala and cream; the amount of flour stirred into the mushrooms; even the heat of the simmer. The best way I can describe it is that the sauce should be thick enough to coat the chicken without becoming heavy. If the sauce isn't thick enough after simmering for 15 minutes, you can turn the heat up and simmer for a few minutes longer, or stir in a slurry of cornflour and water, over a low heat, until it thickens to your liking.

Equipment

The complete list of equipment is in the recipe card, but here are a few tips:

Use a large frying pan or even better, a deeper sauté pan. There is a lot of sauce in this recipe, especially before it has reduced, so a large pan is essential.

If your pan has a lid, this will help the mushrooms soften more quickly, but I wouldn't put the lid on the pan when reducing the sauce. Having the lid on at that point would keep the moisture in the pan rather than letting it reduce.

FAQ

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