Creamy chicken marsala with mushroom

Sometimes the simple classic recipes are the best. And this creamy chicken marsala recipe with mushrooms takes some beating. It’s packed with flavour and needs only a few ingredients. You can have this on the table in just on half an hour.

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Creamy chicken marsala with mushrooms

This recipe for creamy chicken marsala with mushrooms is a classic Italian dish that I love to make at home. It is a simple dish, made with only a few ingredients and takes only minutes to prepare and cook.

The combination of juicy chicken breasts, pan-fried in butter, savoury mushrooms and a rich and creamy marsala flavoured sauce has to be experienced to be believed. And today, I’m sharing my version of this dish, along with my secret ingredients that elevate a classic chicken marsala recipe from merely delicious to mouth-wateringly outstanding.

Chicken breast can be dry if not cooked correctly, but with this dish, the chicken is flash-fried in butter before being simmered gently in the sauce for only a few minutes. This results in deliciously moist and juicy chicken.

It’s absolutely unreal how the combination of so few ingredients can result in such an amazing dish.

This recipe for creamy chicken marsala is a truly restaurant-quality dish that you can easily make at home, yet it is so simple to make that even the most inexperienced cook shouldn’t have any difficulty. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

What goes in to chicken marsala?

You only need a few ingredients. You can get the actual quantities and full instructions for making this easy chicken marsala on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

This recipe is sufficient for 2 people, but you can easily scale it up to cater for more by just doubling up on the ingredients.

Chicken breasts – you will need skinless, boneless chicken fillets. I allow 1 per person, but it totally depends on your appetite (and the size of the fillets).

Flour – mixed with 1 teaspoon salt (optional) and 1 teaspoon paprika. This is used for coating the chicken before frying.

Mushrooms – the more, the better. I used brown chestnut mushrooms, but you can use your favourite type. I’ve allowed 2 ounces (about 60g) per person but you can use more if you prefer.

Butter – this adds a real richness to the sauce and a lovely nutty flavour to the chicken.

Chicken stock – if you have fresh chicken stock you can use this, if not, just substitute with a chicken stock cube dissolved in 1 cup of boiling water.

Cream – this gives the sauce its lovely creamy flavour. You can use either single of double cream.

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 with red or white grape juice and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or lemon juice.

Secret ingredients – my secret ingredients for elevating the flavours of this dish are anchovies and capers. The anchovies dissolve into the sauce, adding an extra layer of umani, while the capers enhance the savouriness.

How to make chicken marsala

Chicken marsala takes about 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

Start by slicing chicken breasts through the middle so you have thinner slices. The mix 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of paprika with 4 tablespoons of flour and dredge the chicken in the flour. Shake off any excess flour and pan-fry the chicken in butter for about 3 minutes per side until golden brown.

The chicken will not be 100% cooked at this stage. It will finish off the cooking process while it simmers in the sauce.

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Slice the mushrooms and then fry them for about 3 minutes in the same pan as the chicken was fried in. The mushrooms are like little sponges, and they will soak up all the remaining butter in the pan. Don’t worry, as they cook and soften they will start to release their juices.

Once the mushrooms are softened, remove from the pan and set aside while you prepare the sauce.

The Marsala sauce

To make the creamy marsala sauce, melt another 2 ounces of butter in the pan, then remove from the heat and stir in 1 tablespoon of flour. Make sure there are no lumps, then return the pan to the heat and stir in the chicken stock, cream and marsala. Bring to the boil then stir in the anchovies and capers.

Add the chicken and mushrooms back to the pan, cover with a lid, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes to ensure the chicken is cooked through. Cooked chicken will have an internal temperature of 74C/165F and will not have any pinkness showing when cut in half.

And that’s all there is to it! A delicious supper that wouldn’t be out of place in an Italian restaurant, but made at home in half an hour.

What to serve with chicken marsala

I like to serve this creamy chicken marsala with mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables with the sauce spooned liberally over the top.

If you prefer, you could substitute the mashed potatoes for rice.

Variations

For another meal with a difference, why not cut the chicken into short strips instead of halving the breasts.

Then follow the recipe instructions, but serve the chicken and sauce over a bed of pasta, with crusty garlic bread to mop up the sauce.

I promise you this will be the best chicken marsala pasta you’ve ever tasted!

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If you enjoyed this recipe for chicken marsala you may also enjoy these other chicken recipes:

• Oven baked peri peri chicken
• Easy garlic chicken stirfry – served in a toasted breadroll
• Garlic chicken tray bake with rice

Or how about trying my Italian recipes:

• Creamy spaghetti carbonara
• Pasta pescatore
• Lamb ragu with linguine

Additional resources

Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Gas marks.

If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.

Creamy chicken marsala with mushrooms recipe

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