Creamy chicken marsala is a creamy chicken dinner that tastes like it came from your favorite restaurant! Pan-seared chicken, a creamy Marsala wine sauce, and warm mushrooms combine in this comforting dinner. Serve with your favorite pasta!
Recipe at a Glance
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Notes: Marsala wine is a very unique flavor and there isn’t a direct substitute. Add Marsala wine onto your grocery list so you have it on hand when you’re ready to make this recipe!
Creamy chicken Marsala is one of my favorite cream sauce chicken dinners. The Marsala wine creates such a unique flavor that really can’t be replicated by anything else! Combine that with sautéed mushrooms and pan-seared chicken and you’ve got a filling and hearty dinner.
How to prepare the chicken
For this recipe you’ll prepare dredged, but not breaded chicken. Dredging chicken simply means coating it in flour before adding it to the pan. I always recommend seasoning the flour with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Step 1: Butterfly the chicken
Butterflying chicken is the process where you slice the meat all the way through, as if you’re opening a book. If you want a super big piece of chicken you can leave the piece whole, or do what I like to do where I complete the slice to create two pieces of chicken. After you have your sliced chicken, use a meat tenderizer to pound it out to an even thickness.
Step 2: Dredge
Add some flour to a bowl or plate and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Coat both sides of the chicken.
That’s it…you’re ready to cook!
If you want to take it the next step and add breading, you can read more about how to dredge and bread chicken in my tutorial post!
How to prepare the mushrooms
Now when I make a chicken Marsala, or really any dish with mushrooms in it, I like my mushrooms sliced super thin. I’m not a big fan of the texture of thick mushrooms. So here you’ll see I slice them pretty thin, and this also helps them get a bit caramelized as they cook!
Look how nice and browned these thinner sliced mushrooms get! I cook them over medium high heat in come olive oil for about 15 minutes. This is actually how I make my Mushroom Chips!
All that extra hearty flavor that gets cooked into the Marsala cream sauce.
If you need more easy dinner recipes I’ve got you covered!
More cream sauce chicken dinners? Creamy Chicken Piccata and Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta both use a cream sauce base for a filling comfort food dinner.
I love a good pasta dinner! Some of my most popular pasta dinners are this Alfredo Tomato Pasta, Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Pasta, and this Creamy Pesto Ravioli.
More recipes with mushrooms? Check out my Sherry Sauce Ravioli, Marsala Cream Sauce Pasta, and Creamy Curry Pasta that all use the thin sliced mushrooms in the sauce! And lastly these little appetizer bites combine Brie cheese, bacon and mushrooms!
Cooking tips
- Slice your chicken thin, or you can pound the chicken to get it a bit thinner. These meals cook better and taste better when the chicken isn’t too thick. Plus, with the cooking time of 5 minutes per side you’ll need a thinner slice to ensure you’ve reached the internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- Seasoning your dredging flour is a must! Season the flour first with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder before using it to coat the chicken.
- Since you’ll cook the chicken first before finishing up the mushrooms and the sauce, keep it on a plate covered in foil to keep it warm or you can place it your oven at the lowest temperature to keep it warm without drying it out.
- Marsala wine is very unique and there really isn’t a direct substitution. Add some Marsala to your grocery list so you have it on hand to make this!
- I’m not a big fan of leftover chicken, in my opinion it doesn’t taste quite right after reheating it. So for any leftovers I’d recommend saving the cream sauce with your favorite pasta.
Want more cooking tips, recipes and food photography? Follow me on Instagram!
If you make this Creamy Chicken Marsala or any of the recipes from the blog make sure you tag me! I love seeing your delicious creations.
PrintCreamy Chicken Marsala
Creamy chicken marsala is a comforting creamy chicken dinner that tastes like it came from your favorite restaurant! Pan-seared chicken, a creamy Marsala wine sauce, and warm mushrooms combine in this comforting dinner. Serve with your favorite pasta!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Saute
- Cuisine: Italian American
Ingredients
For the chicken
2 chicken breasts, butterflied and tenderized into 4 pieces
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
10oz package of cremini mushrooms sliced thin
For the sauce
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 and 1/4 cups light cream or half & half
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon Marsala wine
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
1. Mix the flour with the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Coat both sides of all 4 chicken breasts with the seasoned flour. In a large pan over medium to medium-high heat add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and the butter. Cook the chicken approximately 5 minutes per side, chicken internal temperature should be 165 degree F. Remove from the pan and keep warm on a plate and cover with foil
2. Carefully wipe out this pan, then add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 13- 15 minutes until dark browned, stirring occasionally.
3. When you’re in the final minute of cooking the mushrooms you can add in the grated garlic. Then, add the cream, flour, and Marsala wine and bring to a bubbling simmer. Add the cheese, salt and pepper…simmer for 8 minutes.
4. Add the chicken back to the pan with the cream sauce to coat the chicken. Serve with your favorite pasta and top with additional grated Parmesan cheese.
I made it tonight and . . . it worked perfectly! My cutlets didn’t come out quite as brown and glazed as Catherine’s. Something I need to work on.
Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed!
Is the Marsala wine red or white?
Actually it’s neither…it’s like a brown wine. There are two places you can find this…there is a “cooking wine” version in the grocery store near the oils and vinegars. I use this most of the time because it’s cheaper and convenient. You can also find marsala wine in a liquor/wine store. It’s a bit stronger in flavor and much larger quantity than the kind in the grocery store.