Chicken Marsala

Article by Layla Khoury-Hanold

With its golden, tender chicken in a glossy, rich mushroom-wine sauce, you might think of chicken marsala as a fancy restaurant dish, but this Italian-American classic is simple to make at home. In his easy recipe for chicken marsala without cream, chef Tyler Florence shares his top tips, including how to pan-fry the chicken cutlets to tender, golden-brown perfection, which kind of Marsala wine to use, how to build flavor in the pan, and the step you shouldn’t skip to ensure the most flavorful marsala sauce.

How to Make Chicken Marsala Like a Pro

Ensure the chicken cutlets are even in thickness. Rather than buying chicken cutlets, Tyler opts to butterfly the chicken breasts by slicing them in half horizontally to create two cutlets. To tenderize the meat and create evenly sized, quick-cooking cutlets, Tyler lays a piece of parchment paper on top of the cutlets and pounds them with a meat mallet until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Cutlets of even thickness cook at the same rate, ensuring juicy results.

Dredge the chicken in seasoned flour to create a golden-brown crust. Make seasoned flour by stirring in salt and freshly ground black pepper with a fork to ensure even distribution. Place chicken in seasoned flour to dredge on both sides, shaking off the excess. The flour coating will help to create a golden-brown crust, seal in the juices and thicken the sauce.

Build flavor in the pan by layering pan drippings. Don’t toss the pan drippings, or what Tyler calls the “yummy brown stuff” leftover from cooking the chicken. Add prosciutto to the same pan, cook for about 1 minute to render the fat, then add mushrooms and cook until they are nicely browned and their moisture has evaporated.

Deglaze the pan with Marsala and broth to create a rich sauce. Tyler pours in sweet Marsala wine, known for its rich flavor, and boils it for a few seconds to cook out the alcohol. Next, he adds organic, low-sodium chicken stock (to control the dish’s salt levels), scraping up the brown bits on the bottom with a spoon, and lets it simmer for a few minutes.

Don’t skip the parsley, which brightens the dish. When the sauce starts thickening, stir in butter and then add the chicken cutlets to simmer in the sauce so that the flavors come together and the chicken heats through, about 1 minute. To finish, Tyler garnishes the chicken marsala with a shower of chopped parsley.

What Is Marsala?

Marsala is a brandy-fortified wine named for the town in western Sicily where it’s produced. Marsala is made from grapes that are dried before fermentation, which increases the wine’s sugar content. Marsala wine comes in three styles, dry, which has a balanced acidity-sweetness ratio, semi-sweet, which has a medium acidity, and sweet, which has a richer flavor.

Once Marsala wine is fermented and fortified, it is often barrel aged and named depending on aging time: fine (1 year), superior (2 years), superior reserve (four years), vergine (5 years or more) and vergine stravecchio (10 years or more).

Chicken Marsala Wine

You can use either dry or sweet Marsala wine to help to create a rich, caramelized sauce for chicken marsala. Dry marsala tends to have a nuttier flavor and a balanced acidity that makes the sauce tangy. For his chicken marsala recipe, Tyler chooses sweet Marsala wine for its richness and depth of flavor. Younger Marsala wines are typically best suited for cooking savory dishes, while longer-aged Marsala wines are best for sipping as an aperitif or dessert wine.

Marsala Wine Substitute

If you don’t have Marsala, you can directly substitute another fortified wine such as Madeira or a dry Sherry in your chicken marsala recipe.

What to Serve with Chicken Marsala

Serve chicken marsala with some of Tyler’s five-star side dishes such creamy Mashed Potatoes, Buttered Egg Noodles, Rice Pilaf or Roasted Asparagus. A simple green salad, like Tyler’s Spring Green Salad and a loaf of crusty bread, like Tyler’s Herbed Garlic Bread, would make a nice pairing, too.