Olive Garden Chicken Marsala is a true Italian classic and is likely to be a favorite at your house.
This delicious dish is made with wine, mushrooms, and chicken breasts. This creates a savory sauce that you won’t want to miss. Serve it with polenta, mashed potatoes, or even pasta.
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What Makes the Olive Garden Chicken Marsala the Perfect Weekend Dinner
If you’re looking to skip the crowds at Olive Garden this weekend, why not try making your own version at home?
With this recipe, you can quickly whip up a delicious meal and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones. It’s the perfect way to unwind after a busy week. The famous Italian dish feels so luxurious and indulgent. It is certainly a great way to spoil your family!
Why You Should Try This Recipe
You will absolutely love the combination of textures and flavors in this dish. The pan-seared chicken is first dredged in flour, creating a crispy coating on the outside, which keeps the juices sealed inside. Then, the chicken is cooked in a rich marsala wine sauce with meaty mushrooms, allowing all the flavors to fuse together wonderfully.
My favorite part about this chicken marsala recipe is that you only need one pan to make it! This means that you won’t have a huge pile of dishes to clean up after cooking dinner. Not to mention, you can have this fantastic dish on the table within 40 minutes, which is impressive for a meal that is so exquisite and flavorful.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need:
- Cake flour
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Dried oregano
- Cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
- Butter
- Chicken breasts
- White Button Mushrooms
- Onion
- Dry Marsala wine
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Make sure you use Marsala wine that is not sweet. (This fortified wine comes in two varieties). Do not use Marsala cooking wine because it contains additives. For best results, look closely at the label on the Marsala bottle – the dry variety is the one that you want for this recipe. If you can’t find dry marsala, you can use dry sherry instead.
If you don’t care for Chicken Marsala with onions, you can leave them out.
You can substitute the cake flour with all purpose flour.
You can add 1 or 2 cloves of chopped fresh garlic to the pan along with the mushrooms and onions.
For creamy marsala sauce, stir in ¼ cup of heavy cream or sour cream.
How to Make Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
- Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and oregano and blend well.
- Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat until bubbling lightly.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and shake off the excess.
- Cook the chicken for about 2 minutes on the first side, until lightly brown.
- Turn over the chicken and add the mushrooms and onion around the chicken pieces.
- Cook for about 2 minutes more, until the chicken is golden brown on the second side.
- Stir the mushrooms.
- Add the Marsala wine, cover the pan, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve the chicken covered with the marsala sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
What to Serve with Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
This is the perfect opportunity for you to make other Olive Garden dishes. Serve this recipe with Olive Garden fried mozzarella sticks, steamed broccoli, or Olive Garden house salad. You can also serve it on a bed of fettuccine noodles or rice, which is equally delicious!
How to Store the Leftovers
Cover any leftovers and keep them in the refrigerator for approximately four days. It is best to use an airtight container to retain its freshness while storing it!
What is the Best Way to Reheat Olive Garden Chicken Marsala?
I recommend reheating this in the oven because the chicken has a much better texture than if you microwave it. Use a moderate temperature of 350°F and transfer it to a casserole dish. Heat it until all of the components are warm, about 20 to 30 minutes.
You can also heat it on the stovetop over medium heat. Cover it with a lid and stir it occasionally, ensuring to flip over the chicken if needed.
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes
- Chicken Scampi
- Cappellini Pomodoro
- Crispy Chicken Fritta
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Shrimp Caprese
- Fried Mozzarella
Popular Italian Recipes
- Cavatini
- Pasta with Eggs and Parmesan Cheese
- Pasta con Broccoli
- Shrimp Pasta with White Wine Sauce
- Chicken Gorgonzola Pasta
- Gnocchi
- Homemade Italian Sausage
You can find the best Olive Garden copycat recipes at CopyKat.com, the web’s most popular destination for copycat restaurant recipes.
Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 cup oil
- 4 ounces butter
- 2 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1 medium onion sliced (optional)
- 1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
Instructions
- Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and oregano and mix well.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat until bubbling lightly.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and shake off the excess.
- Cook the chicken for about 2 minutes on the first side, until lightly brown. Flip the breasts and add the mushrooms and onions (if desired) around the chicken. Cook for about 2 more minutes, until the chicken is lightly browned on the second side.
- Add the wine, stir the vegetables, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
Julia
This recipe looks amazing!ish!
Bj
This was amazing. I served mines with white rice. Use the cooking wine
Jenn Lattimore
The printed recipe states to heat the oil and butter together and cook the chicken in it… however, you didn’t add the butter until the chicken was cooked and out of the pan. Does it matter which way you do it?
Stephanie
Please follow the written recipe.
Carol
This recipe is so delicious and is easy to make, I will make it again.
Angie
Thank you so much….I loved watching you make this …I loved all the comments in the notes I’m going to buy the Lombardo dry Marsala wine and try to make it exactly like Olive garden it’s my favorite dish in the world I love the flavor of that wine and butter and chicken yum yum
amy
can you use the bottle of marsela cooking wine?
Stephanie
You could do that.
Peggy Hosek
Saw the comments about soy sauce & molasses. Sounds like a splash of teriyaki sauce would do the trick. Yum!
david monroe
Stephanie are you out there? i asked about olive garden marsala sauce in late december it is the original marsala sauce not the stuffed .
Stephanie
Sure, I may have missed your original post with the holidays. I think they key here is to figure out exactly what type of Marsala that they use. I understand it is a proprietary wine. I think the recipe and the technique is ok, again the question is to find the right marsala.
Cecilia
Someone who worked at Olive Gardens told me it’s Lombardo dry marsala.
david monroe
good but just standard marsala sauce. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO MAKE OLIVE GARDENS RICH BROWN MARSALA SAUCE????????
Jason
To make the rich Marsala sauce, you are suppose to heat the wine, stirring in pieces of butter at a time while whisking constantly so the mixture doesn’t break.
Peggy
Do you pound the chicken breast to make them flat?
Stephanie
I think it is always smart to pound them a bit if they are of uneven size. It’s not required but can help with the cooking time.
Hank
Oh my god!
I made this today and it was wonderful. I modified a little added 8 ounces of mushrooms half a white onion some extra butter and more wine. I did this because wanted extra sauce for my mashed potatoes. Also served it withe garlic butter asparagus it was so delicious. This was a very easy dish to prep and cook
Hank
Oh my god!
I make this today and it was wonderful. I modified a little added 8 ounces of mushrooms half a white onion some extra butter and more wine. I did this because wanted extra sauce for my mashed potatoes. Also served it withe garlic butter asparagus it was so delicious. This was a very easy dish to prep and cook