How to Make Delicious Creamy Chicken Marsala - Eat the Bite (2024)

Ingredients

UnitsScale

Chicken

• 6-8 thin chicken cutlets
• salt & pepper (light sprinkling both sides)

Flour Dredge

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Cooking the cutlets

• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

For the Sauce

• ¼ cup shallot, finely diced
• 3 large garlic cloves, finely diced
• 3-4 tablespoons of butter
• 1 8-ounce package of baby bella mushrooms
• 1 ½ cups of chicken broth
• 1 ¼ cups of sweet Marsala wine
• ½ cup heavy cream
• salt to taste

For the Mashed Potatoes

• 4 large Yukon potatoes
• ¾ cup warm milk
• 3-4 tablespoons of butter
• Salt & pepper to taste

Optional Garnish

• ¼ cup chopped parsley

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

1. Finely dice your garlic.
2. Finely dice your shallot.
3. Peel your potatoes. Cut potatoes into uniform-sized cubes. It’s better if all your potato pieces are the same size so they cook evenly. Put potatoes in a pot of water. You’ll want to turn on your heat to high right around the time you start to cook the chicken. The potatoes will take about 15 minutes to bring to a boil, then another 10-15 minutes until they’re cooked all the way through. Plan your time here.
4. Chop parsley to be used for garnish later (this is optional).
5. Lightly salt and pepper both side of your chicken cutlets. As mentioned, I use the already-thin-cut cutlets at the grocery store. If you can't find those, slice whole chicken breast, lengthwise, in half and pound down to ¼" thickness - the cutlets need to be thin.
6. Don’t forget about your potatoes. Turn on high heat – the whole process until they are done takes about 25-30 minutes.
7. The flour dredge. Put your flour on a plate and add garlic powder and salt. Mix with a fork until well combined.
8. Coat both sides of all your chicken cutlets in the flour mixture and set aside on a plate.
9. Cooking the cutlets. These will be cooked in two batches. The recipe can hold 6-8 chicken cutlets so cook half in each batch. Also, use half the olive oil and half the butter for each batch. Place cutlets in pan on medium heat and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Once you put them in the pan – don’t touch them. Let them cook so they can brown. Set all cooked cutlets aside on a plate.
10. In the same pan with leftover butter, olive oil and browned bits – add your mushrooms and two tablespoons of butter. Stir well on medium heat and let mushrooms cook a few minutes on their own until slightly browned.
11. Add more butter here (1-2 tablespoons) when you add the shallots and garlic. Add shallots first and let them cook for a minute or two. Then add the garlic and cook another minute.
12. Add chicken broth and Marsala wine, give it a stir and bring to a boil on high heat. Then reduce heat so it’s at a mild boil, more like a simmer. It needs to cook for about 10 minutes so the sauce can REDUCE BY HALF.
13. After the sauce is reduced, add the heavy cream, give it a stir. Taste it here to see if it needs salt. If it does – salt to taste here. I added ½ teaspoon here, but we all have different tastes. Add what works for you.
14. Turn heat to low-medium and add the chicken cutlets into the sauce. We cooked them in batches because they can't all lay flat in the pan. When we add them back in to the sauce, it's okay it they are overlapping a little. I like to cook these for 5 minutes or so while I get the mashed potatoes ready. Add a little more butter if you need to thicken the sauce. If your sauce still isn't thickening - see note #4 below.
15. The mashed potatoes. Once they are cooked through, drain the water. I keep them in the same pot they were cooked in to mix them. To warm the milk, I microwaved it for one minute. Then add the butter, most of the milk (I add it in as needed and to avoid massive splatter from my hand mixer by adding it all at once), salt and pepper to taste. Also, you may not use all the milk - add it to your preference. I like a smoother mashed potato without a ton of lumps, so I mix until they are well combined and mostly lump-free. Give them a taste, add any additional butter, milk or seasoning you think they might need and serve immediately.
16. Enjoy!

1. About the chicken. I always buy the already-thin-cut chicken cutlets because it’s easier – saves time. If you can’t find those you can buy the whole boneless chicken breast, slice them in half and pound them until they are thin - about ¼" works great.
2. Some recipes suggest you put the chicken cutlets on a tray and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the sauce. This is not necessary since we’ll be adding the chicken back to the pan at the end so the sauce can thicken. At that time, the chicken will continue cooking and get nice and hot. Warming the chicken in the oven will likely dry it out even if you only have it on a low temp like 200.
3. Why does the sauce thicken after we add the chicken back in? The basic concept goes back to a roux. Flour plus fat (butter) = roux. A roux is used as a thickening agent in sauces. Sooo, with the butter from the pan and the butter the mushrooms have absorbed, plus the chicken cutlets coated in flour… This all means when the cutlets get added back to the sauce – that flour and butter combo is what thickens the sauce.
4. If something inexplicable happens and for some reason your sauce isn’t thickening after you add the chicken back … add a chuck of butter and stir until combined. Letting the chicken sit in the pan, off the heat, and this should work. If this doesn't work, a very small slurry will absolutely do the trick. And by very small, I mean 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of flour whisked together. Add to the pan and combine gently.