Chicken Marsala

Heather says:

There’s a rule of thumb when cooking dishes that involve wine: don’t use anything you wouldn’t drink.

What if you don’t drink wine or what if you just don’t like the kind of wine called for in a recipe? Over the past few years, I know I’ve gotten bad about not keeping any thing other than my occasional bottle of shiraz or red zin in the house.

Did you know, if you use red wine to make a chicken dish, you end up with tasty, but bizarre looking chicken -it’s purple! You can call it chicken rocio if you want to be fancy, but we’re hardly fancy and usually refer to it as alien chicken. It works for a quick dinner, but it sure isn’t chicken marsala, one of my favorite, if rarely made, chicken dishes.

Holland House came to the rescue. I was recently contacted by a Holland House representative who asked if I’d be willing to check out their line of cooking wines and new premium vinegars.  I figured why the heck not? I’d finally be able to cross chicken marsala off of my ever growing list of recipes I need add to the site.

I do want to note, for my gluten free readers that all of the Holland House Cooking Wines and all, except for the Malt Vinegar, of their premium vinegars are gluten free. Nice. Unfortunately, this recipe for chicken marsala as written isn’t. Don’t worry though, I have enough marsala cooking wine left over to make another batch in the near future.

Chicken marsala is a classic comfort food and one of my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do.

Click for a printable grocery list.

Chicken Marsala

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup seasoned flour (add a pinch each of: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, and dried basil. Stir)
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 4 TBSP butter – divided into 1, 1, and 2 TBSP portions
• 3/4 cup Holland House Marsala Wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 cups mushrooms, sliced – baby portabellas, crimini, shittake or even button
• salt / pepper to taste
• optional green onions for garnish

Directions:

Cut each chicken breast in half, cover with plastic wrap or wax paper and pound thin with a mallet, empty wine bottle, or rolling pin.

Pro-Tip Pounding the chicken breasts physically breaks down the muscle tissue, leaving you with tender chicken you won’t ever need a knife to cut. Don’t skip that step, go ahead and take out some of the day’s frustrations. It’ll be worth every whack.

Heat your pan over medium to medium high heat. Add the oil and 1 TBSP of the butter to the pan. Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour, shake off the excess.

Cook the chicken 2 – 3 minutes a side in the hot pan. Then set aside. You’ll need to cook the chicken in two – three batches to avoid crowding the pan too much.

When the chicken has been browned and set aside, add 1 TBSP of butter to the pan, then the 3 cups of mushrooms.

Cook the mushrooms until they start to sweat. If your pan starts to dry up too much, turn the heat down a little and cover. When the mushrooms are golden brown around the edges, releasing their liquid magic, it’s time to add the 3/4 cup of marsala wine.

Simmer until about half the liquid is gone, then add the 1 cup of chicken stock.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium, simmer for 3 minutes and add the chicken back to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Now, scoot all of the chicken and mushrooms over to one side of the pan and add the final 2 TBSP of butter plus any salt and pepper you’d like to the sauce. Swirl it a bit, then mix the chicken back through the richer sauce to make sure every piece gets its fair share and serve.

This dish can be served over noodles or mashed potatoes, or skip the starch entirely and just serve next to a pile of roasted broccoli.

Enjoy!

You can check out the Holland House website, fan them on Facebook or sign up for their Splash Club Newsletter where you’ll receive a recipe booklet and coupon.

Many thanks go to Holland House for sending me a selection of cooking wines and vinegar and for sponsoring this post. I’ve used their products for years and enjoyed the reminder to share one of my favorite recipes. All opinions are my own.

Submitted to Mouthwatering Monday.

Tagged as: Chicken, Recipe