I must make a confession: Chicken Marsala is one of my favorite dishes to make. Olive Garden Chicken Marsala is a true Italian classic, and the Olive Garden Chicken Marsala is likely to be famous around 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. I like to serve this with polenta, mashed potatoes, or even pasta.
I love to order this dish from Italian restaurants. I love the complexity of this dish. The Marsala wine adds so much wonderful flavor that I know you will adore as much as I do.
I must share with you a tip that I have for this recipe: Make sure you use Marsala wine that is dry and not sweet. (It comes in two varieties).
One of my largest cooking disasters was when I made this dish for someone very special I was dating (someone who would later become my fiancé), and I used the wrong type of Marsala. My wrong choice of wine resulted in a horribly sweet chicken that was inedible.
I remember placing the dish on the table. He took a healthy helping and then took a bite. I looked over and didn’t see the joy on his face. I saw confusion and then came out a semi-polite comment that he liked the mushrooms. I took a bite and thought it was horrible.
Being the lady who creates CopyKat recipes makes me feel like I must always prepare a good meal. I was utterly mortified. I asked him to stop eating the chicken and said I would make other dinner arrangements. We ended up having cheese, crackers, olives, and plenty of wine for dinner that night.
So please, I urge you to look closely at the label when you purchase your Marsala—the dry variety is the one that you want for this recipe.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need:
- Cake flour
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Dried oregano
- Cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
- Butter
- Chicken breasts
- Mushrooms
- Onion
- Dry Marsala wine
I love Chicken Marsala with onions, you can add the onions if you desire, they are optional.
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 lightly browned 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.
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes
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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.
Lorie
Hi just found this recipe. How can you tell if it is a dry wine? I am from a small town where the wine is sold in a grocery store and they don’t know either. I have American Marsala by cribari cellars, is that ok?
Anka
You need to get the one at the cooking section. I think it’s with the vinegar.
Wanda
I cannot find Marsala wine anywhere! Can beef broth be substituted?
Stephanie
They sell it in most liquor/wine stores, this isn’t something exotic. You should find it near where they keep fortified wines. I would substitute out another wine, not beef stock for optimal flavor. Go for a dry wine.
SDH
Hi Wanda, you can find it at any superwalmart in the same section as venigar. Our smiths and Davis Jubilee also have it I the venigar section as well.
SDH
Vinegar*
Sarah
This was amazing! Made this for my boyfriend last night and he loved it! Thank you!
Stephanie
I am so glad you enjoyed the dish.
Lynn
a dish my neighbor had gotten from olive garden , beef and noodles and mushrooms with wine , do you have a recipe for that?
Stephanie
I haven’t tried that dish before, I will have to be on the look out for it.
disqus_SNzml2rpZ4
Looks delicious. Going to try this today. Few minor issues: would standard gold medal flour work vs cake flour? And it was difficult to find cheap dry marsala wine without spending over $10.
Shannon
You don’t wanna go cheap with marsala imo. The cheaper you get the more vinegar you get or the more over sweet you get. Hyvee usually has a good selection of wine. U could buy a dry for around 13 or so and a sweet for about 15 to 16 bucks.
Stephanie
You are going to be able to make this several times with the one bottle. I usually spend between 10 to 15 dollars a bottle for this.
Terri Thompson
I’m trying this for dinner tonight, as it seems like a quicker recipe than the one I usually make. BTW, in response to some of the comments, the old recipe I used called for shallots, beef broth and sour cream. The beef broth and sour cream give it a creamier consistency. This one was posted on my FaceBook page, and it looked delicious!
stephaniemanley
I hope you enjoyed this recipe.
Radhika Inaganti Prout
Tried this recipe and it was delish! This will go into the dinner rotation at my home, thank you 🙂
Stephanie
I am so glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you.
stephaniemanley
Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed this.
BooBoolove
Olive Garden’s sauce seems to have some cream and a touch of Kikkoman soy sauce. Do any former employees know what is really in the sauce?
Angelina Bannister
Olive Garden actually has this recipe posted on their site..
Dave
Does anyone have the recipe for chicken and rice from the Cracker Barrel? I just retired and am now trying to cook for my wife. We love their chicken and rice.
stephaniemanley
Dave, I appreciate your request. I don’t have a similar recipe right now.
Jancy
I have used this recipe but changed it a bit and it is great, when doing the recipe when it gets to the marsala wine add brown gravy mix, first prepare your brown gravy and add your wine and let it cook through, i make this all the time and yet had no complaints, i also always serve it with angel hair pasta.
jenny
oh my goodness!!! this was so delicious…my husband enjoyed it so much he would have had no problem with me making it again the next night….even my son loved it! This is what he has requested for his birthday dinner…and it’s only been a week since i made it for the very first time….great recipe..a keeper at our house.
Stephanie
It is wonderful when your family enjoys a recipe. I have a short list of my “no fail” and “crowd pleasing” recipes. Chicken Marsala is one of them.
hilda atondo
me encanto esta receta ya la he probado vaqriasd veces. excelente.
Amy
I asked the manager at a Olive garden and she said they put molasses in their Marsala sauce…I don’t know how much.
That’s an interesting tip, I never would have thought of that. ~Stephanie
Leilani
This is a great recipe. BUT please note that no onions are included in the list of ingredients, nor in the instructions for cooking. Should they be sauteed first? Please check this out. Thanks!
Leilani, checked it out, and made the modification. Thanks! ~Stephanie
Richard
Umm gonna try this recipie tonight, howver i noticed an onion on one of the chicken pieces in the picture above. I will add it to my dinner tonite…
Annette
I actually got this recipe on here a few years ago and have made it alot. It’s fantastic!! I’ve used regular white button mushrooms, which are great. But I definately prefer the baby bella mushrooms. It’s so good. I would love the recipe for the stuffed marsala also, if anyone can come up with that one!!
colleen
does anyone know how to make the Stuffed version of this? the one with the cheeses in between two chicken pieces?
Sue Minick
Just finished making this for dinner and it was very good….a keeper. I used only two chicken breasts and right after I took the chicken breasts out I thickened the sauce with a smidge of cornstarch in water. I put the breasts over linguine and poured the sauce over that……looked great and tasted great. I used baby bella mushrooms for this.
beth
What kind of fresh mushrooms do you use in this recipe?
Tracy
I made this the other night and it was a big hit with my husband and two kids. It was easy and quick to make.
Stephanie
You can use the regular white button mushrooms you find in the grocery store on these.