Creamy Chicken Marsala - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

What is creamy Marsala sauce made of? ›

Marsala Sauce:

4-5 cloves garlic, minced. 3/4 cup dry Marsala wine. 1 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or stock) 3/4 cup heavy cream (thickened cream, evaporated milk or half and half may also be used)**

Should you use sweet or dry Marsala in your Chicken Marsala recipe? It doesn't make a huge difference, and either option will produce delicious results, but I would go for dry because the sweet Marsala has a bit too much sugar for such a savory dish.

While both chicken piccata and chicken Marsala are cooked in the same way, there are a few key differences between the two dishes. Chicken piccata isn't creamy. It's cooked with white wine, chicken broth, capers, and lemon juice. It's tangy and bright instead of rich and creamy.

For cooking savory dishes like this one, use a secco (dry), fine (aged one year) ambra or oro Marsala. This impressive dish leans on the wine's flavor profile, giving it a deep and nutty richness. Even better, it comes together quickly, which makes it just as suitable for busy weeknights as weekend entertaining.

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.

The sauce is made with Marsala wine which is a dry and sweet wine which has a 15-20% alcohol content but don't worry, all of the alcohol will cook out of the sauce. The wine creates a nutty and rich caramelized sauce for the chicken.

If you're preparing a sweeter dish, she suggests reaching for sherry, Moscato, or Port as an easy swap. You could even try a potent dry red tossed in with a bit of sugar and an orange peel as a comparable substitute.

Marsala Varietals

The younger wines, like the ones you'll find at the bottom shelf of your liquor store, are best for cooking. Sadly, many people don't realize that Marsala makes a great drinking wine, usually as either an aperitif, or appetizer, or a dessert wine.

Light-Bodied Red Wines

Its light and elegant nature makes it a perfect match for the rich and savory flavors of the Chicken Marsala.

What is the difference between chicken Marsala and chicken francese? ›

Chicken Francese shares the same basic preparation as Chicken Marsala, but foregoes the Marsala wine and mushrooms in favor of a white wine and lemon-butter sauce.

The best substitute for marsala wine is madeira, another kind of fortified wine with a similar flavour profile. Other alternatives include other fortified wines such as commandaria, sherry, vermouth, and port.

Combine a cup of white grape juice with balsamic vinegar to mimic the acidity and depth of Marsala. Mix fruit juices such as cherry or cranberry with a splash of sherry vinegar for a robust flavor.

Chicken is a white meat that lends itself to a lighter wine. Marsala sauce is luxuriously thick at its best, with subtle but complex notes of spice. Nothing here is pushing us towards something as bold as a cabernet sauvignon, but a pinot grigio isn't going to be able to compete either.

Marsala is a fortified wine and can be sweet or dry, though most usually the dry version would be used for cooking. Possible substitutes would be a dry Madeira wine or a darker sherry such as Oloroso. If you don't have these then you could also use port or red vermouth.

Add olive oil to heavy hot saucepan. Add onions, garlic, mushrooms, saute until mushrooms are tender. Add flour and cook about 1 minute then deglaze pan with Marsala wine. Add beef stock and cook until thick and flavors are blended.

To substitute any marsala wine alternative in marsala sauce, it's a simple one-to-one ratio; if the recipe calls for one cup of marsala wine, you would alternatively use one cup of sherry, port, or pinot noir. That said, there are a few tricks and guidelines to consider for each alternative.

What do you use as a substitute for marsala in a recipe? Marsala does have a distinct flavor, but you could use Sherry or Brandy instead. If you want a different flavor profile, you could use red or white wine depending on what the food is. Hearty beef would be red, chicken and pork would be white.