Chicken Marsala

My sweet friend Megan, Megan’s Cookin‘, posted this fabulous chicken marsala recipe in January and I’m so glad I finally made it. Chicken cutlets with mushrooms and bacon in a luscious sauce – it’s one of those meals that is so good you just want to lick your plate clean.

I cooked the chicken cutlets in my cast iron pan so they would crisp up nicely. I don’t know why it took me so long to learn that I couldn’t get a beautiful, brown cutlet in a non-stick pan.

The recipe calls for 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but I usually have frozen chicken breasts from Costco in the freezer and they are so huge that when I make chicken cutlets from them, I cut them in half horizontally before pounding them out evenly to 1/4 inch thick.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the butter melting into the luscious sauce. I think it’s the pat of butter that adds the richness to the sauce that makes you want to lick your plate clean. Megan keeps a bottle of Marsala in her cupboard just to make this dish. It’s a fortified wine and will keep in the cupboard a long time.

I bought the marsala to make Risotto Bolognese. I recommend you try both meals. They’re both fabulous. I also recommend you spend some time exploring Megan’s Cookin‘ and all her fabulous recipes. Thanks Megan! So glad you posted this one.

Chicken Marsala
adapted from Megan’s Cookin‘ (originally from Tyler Florence)

4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)*
All-purpose flour, for dredging
Lemon Pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 slices bacon, chopped into pieces (I used Hormel frozen fully cooked bacon)
8 ounces mushrooms, stemmed and halved
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Chopped parsley or chives for garnish

Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap or wax paper (I also like to put them in a Ziploc) and pound with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/4-inch thick.*

Combine flour and lemon pepper in a pie tin. Dredge both sides of the chicken in the seasoned flour.

Heat oil over medium-high in a large skillet. When the oil is hot, place the chicken in the pan and cook for 5 minutes on each side until golden, turning once – do this in batches if the pieces don’t fit comfortably in the pan. Remove the chicken to a large platter in a single layer to keep warm.

Lower the heat to medium and add the bacon to the drippings in the pan, saute for 1 minute to render out some of the fat. Add the mushrooms and saute until they are nicely browned and their moisture has evaporated, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper.

Pour the Marsala in the pan and reduce down for a few seconds to cook out the alcohol.

Add the chicken stock and simmer for a minute to reduce the sauce slightly. Stir in the butter and return the chicken to the pan;
Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley or chives before serving.

*The recipe calls for 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but I usually have frozen chicken breasts from Costco in the freezer and they are so huge that when I make chicken cutlets from them, I cut them in half horizontally before pounding them out evenly to 1/4 inch thick.

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Tagged as: Chicken, cooking, food, recipe