Chicken Marsala
Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American classic, one of those dishes born from blending Italian recipes with American tastes. A dish that is now so beloved that it’s a staple in restaurants across the States and well beyond. One bite is all it takes to be hooked for life, just as I was! It’s essentially a variation of traditional Italian scaloppine dishes. A thin chicken cutlet is coated in flour then pan fried until crispy and golden, then smothered in a rich sauce that is flavoured with Marsala which is a fortified Italian wine. Marsala is one of those secret weapon ingredients. A splash of that, and it’s like you added stock, honey, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with a touch woody nuttiness into the sauce. The flavour that goes so well with chicken, especially with a little bit of cream to finish it off. That sauce! It’s absolutely stunning. Thank you Mr Marsala!
This one’s for the grown-ups 🙂
And in case you’re worried, no, the sauce doesn’t taste “alcoholic” at all. The Marsala wine is simmered rapidly to cook out most of the alcohol, leaving behind just the flavour. Having said that though, this dish uses more than the usual small splash of wine I use in other recipes so it’s not one I’d recommend for the kids. I’d recommend the Chicken in Creamy Mushroom Sauce instead – everyone can enjoy that!
Ingredients in chicken marsala
As noted above, the key ingredient in Chicken Marsala Sauce is marsala which is a fortified wine (like port) from the Marsala region of Italy. It’s got a sweet, nutty flavour that’s more complex and richer than red wine. Use a dry marsala rather than sweet marsala which is more commonly used in desserts. It’s a standard item at liquor stores and while premium marsala is pricey, there’s no need to go crazy here. The marsala pictured below cost around $20 but you can pick up bottles for less than $10. It will last “forever” and can be used in place of port in dishes like Slow Cooked Pork Braised Lamb Shanks. Substitutes – Port wine, sherry, or madeira. For non alcoholic version of this recipe, use Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce!
Everything else you need
And here’s the other ingredients you need.
Chicken breast – 2 large ones which we split in 2 horizontally to create 4 steaks in total. Substitute with four boneless chicken thighs. Cream – To add a little luxuriousness to the sauce. To reduce calories a bit, you can substitute with evaporated milk as cream is not the primary ingredient in this sauce. The sauce will not have the same creamy mouthful but it will still have the same beautiful marsala flavour. Chicken stock/broth – To add savouriness into the sauce. Without it, it’s just lacking a bit of flavour. Eschalot / French onion (called shallots in the US) – I like using eschalots in this dish because they are sweeter and also finer so they kind of meld into the finished sauce better, rather than having chunky lumps of onion. However, you can substitute with 1/2 small onion OR 1/4 cup of the white part of green onions (split in half lengthwise then slice into 1cm / 1/3″ squares). Mushrooms – White mushrooms or Swiss brown/cremini. Whichever you prefer! Butter and oil – For cooking the chicken and making the sauce. We want the butter for flavour, but it burns if we only use butter so it’s best to use oil as well. Flour – To add a lovely golden crust on the chicken that the sauce can cling to! Garlic – Because…garlic! Parsley – Just an optional garnish!
How to make Chicken Marsala
Chicken Marsala is made by cooking the chicken first until golden and crispy. Then it’s set aside on a plate while the sauce is made in the same pan (we want all those tasty chicken drippings in the sauce!) , then added back into the sauce at the end just to warm through again.
What to serve with Chicken Marsala
A sauce this good requires some form of starchy vehicle for sauce soaking / mopping. Mashed potato (pictured), creamy polenta, pasta (long, short, small), even rice. I can totally see myself serving this with garlic butter kale rice! Why we pound the meat – To make the chicken even thickness so it cooks through evenly as well as tenderising it. Shake off excess flour before cooking, else you’ll end up with lots of excess flour in the pan which will burn. Don’t let it reduce and thicken too much as we are simmering it for a further 1 minute to re-warm the chicken and the sauce thickens a surprising amount as it cools when serving. For a blow-out Italian meal, add a Mega Italian Salad and Garlic Bread on the side. If you’ve made the salad before, you’ll understand the name! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Life of Dozer
I spent this morning in a photography studio with a team of professionals shooting recipes for a magazine. Dozer came. So much food, so many people to harass. He was in his element! (And his conversion rate was extremely high). Pictured below with Rob Palmer (photographer) and Emma Knowles (stylist). I love working with these two!
