Restaurant-Style Chicken Marsala - always from scratch (2024)

This is a restaurant-style chicken marsala you can make right at home. It's a delicious silky mushroom sauce over thin fried chicken cutlets.

Looking for more meals you'd find at an Italian restaurant? Try our Classic Italian Minestrone or Classic Linguine Alla Puttanesca.

Italian Restaurant-Style Meals

Chicken or veal marsala has always been one of my favorite recipes. When I go to an Italian restaurant, I always look for marsala or saltimbocca. Two dishes, that I never grew up eating at home. Probably because my mom knew we'd throw a fit if there was a mushroom on our plate.

Marsala originates in Sicily. Although it is an Italian-American dish it is a variation of the scallopini dish that comes from Trapani, where port wine was available. English settlers in Italy are thought to have influenced the creation of this dish.

Reduction sauces can be difficult. Any pan sauce can be difficult. Learning to be patient can be really important with these pan sauces so you don't jump the gun when you think it's ready. Take the time to watch the sauce and the end product should be great for your family!

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

Chicken Cutlets: Chicken can be replaced with veal if you'd like. The reason I cook with chicken at home is mainly because of the difficulty of getting veal where I live. Keep in mind Veal is thinner so it may cook quicker than chicken.

Marsala wine: There are no substitutions for marsala wine that I know of. My only recommendation is to get the marsala wine from the liquor store and not the "cooking marsala" from the supermarket. The real marsala wine will be better, have more potent flavors, AND you can drink it. My rule of thumb with alcohol in my dishes is if I wouldn't drink it, I won't eat it.

Flour: Almond flour is a great alternative for those who are gluten-free

Step-by-Step Directions

Step 1: Slice the chicken cutlets in half, butterfly style, and pound them. Salt and upper the chicken. Add the flour to a plate and coat the chicken breasts in flour.

Step 2: In a large saucepan, heat extra virgin olive oil to medium-high heat. Fry the chicken on both sides until golden brown and 165℉. This should take about 3-5 minutes per side. The goal is to get a crispy brown crust. Set them aside on a cooling rack.

Step 3: Add more olive oil as necessary and then add mushrooms to the pan. Keep the pan hot and DON'T stir the mushrooms. Let them sit and brown for 5 minutes. Then stir and allow them to brown again for another 3-5 minutes. Once your mushrooms have some brown and black edges, add the shallots and saute until soft. There should be some little brown bits along the bottom of the pan from the chicken and the mushrooms. These burnt bits will add flavor to the sauce.

Step 4: Pour in the marsala wine and chicken broth and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. After about 7 minutes the sauce should begin to thicken slightly.

Step 5: Stir in the lemon juice and taste. The lemon juice provides balance to the sauce so that it is not too sweet. If it still tastes very sweet, add another squirt of lemon juice.

Step 6: Then add a pat of butter and mix until the sauce lightens to a light brown color. Add the chicken back to the sauce and continue the simmer for another minute or two to help the sauce continue to thicken. The flour from the chicken should help the sauce thicken.

I like to serve restaurant-style chicken marsala over white rice or potatoes. I love a roasted vegetable on the side!

See Also

Marsala Wine SubstituteFood Blog / Cookbooks & KitchenwareEasy Chicken Marsala (and no Marsala wine substitutes) — Quick and Easy RecipesEasy Chicken Marsala (30 Minute Meal)

Pro-Tips

These reduction sauces can be difficult and while the texture may not always be there the first time you make it, the flavor usually is as long as you follow the recipe. So here are some tips to help that have plagued me while making marsala in the past.

The sauce doesn't thicken. This one happens a lot to people. It can be because the chicken broth you are using is of poor quality and doesn't have enough natural gelatin in it. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt always recommends using gelatin in his marsala to combat this. I try to base my recipes on whether or not my mom would do something. I know she'd draw the line at gelatin. So, if you are at the stage where your sauce should be thickening and it isn't, sprinkle a ½ teaspoon of flour evenly across the top of the sauce. It should help thicken it right up. Also, when you are coating the chicken in flour make sure you are really coating them well. This will help with the overall thickening process.

Chicken broth. Speaking of chicken broth. I use Costco organic chicken broth. It works well for me.

Browning the mushrooms. Really let the mushrooms sit for a while. The more you stir them the more steam you will create. Then you'll have rubbery mushrooms, and no one likes that!

FAQs

I love making meals at home that remind me of sitting at a restaurant. It's never quite the same as when someone else cooks the food and washes the dishes but if you're someone looking to save some money or you have kids who won't be easily dragged to an Italian restaurant, these recipes will be perfect for you.

Please leave a comment and star rating below in the recipe card! I love to hear about what you think of our recipes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @vindelgiudice.

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