- Hey, guys, today I'm gonna show you a classic recipe
for chicken Marsala
that makes for a great Sunday night dinner.
If you've never made chicken Marsala,
it's probably a lot easier than you think.
You'll love the tender chicken
and the delicious mushroom sauce.
Let me show you how easy it is to make this at home.
So the secret with chicken Marsala is
to get really nice browned mushrooms,
but there's a bit of a science to this.
So step one is don't wash your mushrooms.
I know.
Now, you're gonna clean them,
but you don't wanna submerge them in water
because mushrooms just soak up moisture.
And if you do that and then you go to saute your mushrooms,
it will just release all that moisture,
and you'll end up with a big soupy mushroom mess, (laughs)
and they won't brown.
So the better thing to do is to take a paper towel
that you've dampened with water
and just gently clean the exterior of the mushroom,
getting rid of any dirt that might appear on the mushrooms.
Then you're gonna slice them into very thin slices.
And this is another reason
why I like to slice the mushrooms myself is I find
that you get a thinner slice,
and they're mush easier to brown that way
than if you buy the pre-sliced mushrooms.
Now, I'm using cremini mushrooms.
You could also use white mushrooms.
I like the creminis 'cause I find
that they just add a little bit more flavor.
And then my other tip for getting nicely browned mushrooms
is to use a nonstick pan.
I don't know why, but for some reason they tend
to brown a bit better
than in something that's stainless steel.
So you're gonna melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet.
Once the butter is nice and foamy,
you can add in your mushrooms.
As soon as you put the mushrooms in,
don't go in there with your spoon
and start to toss 'em around and flip 'em.
You really just wanna let them sit there
because as they sit, they'll start to brown
and get a lot more color on 'em
than if you kept moving them.
And then you can gently shake the pan every so often,
and you'll see they'll start to brown
and create a really nice golden brown color.
Then once they're done, you can transfer them to a bowl
until we're ready to use them for the sauce.
So I think the secret to chicken Marsala
is having a really nice thin cutlet.
So what you can do
is buy two boneless skinless chicken breasts,
put them on a large sheet of wax paper,
and just slice them in half.
And I think the best way to do that is
by starting at the meatier side,
so the fatter side of the chicken breast
'cause it's easier to find the center.
And then putting your hand down, give it a good slice.
And then you can put another sheet of wax paper on the top,
and then you wanna pound these thinly.
And you can use a meat mallet,
or you can also use a rolling pin.
For some reason, my meat mallet disappeared.
I think my kids use it for Play-Doh now. (laughs)
Now I use the rolling pin,
which I actually find works a bit better
because you can whack all of them at the same time
and then give them a roll,
and that also helps to kinda flatten 'em out.
Then you can remove the wax paper and salt them each side.
And then we're gonna prepare a little flour dredge for them.
So we're gonna do 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour,
some freshly cracked pepper,
and 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning.
If you don't have Italian seasoning,
you could also use dried basil.
And then give that a whisk.
Then you wanna dip the chicken breasts in the flour.
And I find in order to get a good coating,
it really does work better to use your hands.
Just make sure they're clean, (laughs)
and wash them afterward.
And then that way you're assured
that you're just getting it coated on all sides
and it's really nicely on there.
And then in a large skillet that's pretty deep,
because we're also gonna be creating our sauce
in the skillet, you wanna melt a tablespoon of olive oil
and 1/2 a tablespoon of butter.
I like to use both
because the oil will prevent the butter from burning,
but the butter gives you a lot of flavor.
Then once this is nice and foamy,
you can add the chicken in.
It might be a little snug in the beginning,
but the chicken will shrink as it cooks
and will leave you some more room
after they start to cook up a bit.
At this stage, don't worry
about cooking the chicken completely.
We're gonna do that in the next stage.
We really just wanna make sure
that it's opaque on each side.
And then you can remove it and put it to a plate to rest.
Then you're gonna add 1/3 of a cup of Marsala wine,
and you wanna let it simmer there
just until it's reduced by about 1/3.
And then we're also gonna add a cup and 1/2
of chicken broth.
And at this stage, I also like to add two garlic cloves
that have been minced.
And then once you get that simmering,
you can add your chicken breasts back in
and top with the mushrooms.
And then we are going to cover this
and let it simmer to cook the rest of the chicken
and for that sauce to kind of develop in flavor
for at least 10, maybe 15 minutes.
You just wanna check it periodically
to see how the chicken is cooking inside.
While your chicken is simmering,
you also wanna create a slurry
to be able to thicken our sauce.
So we're gonna do a tablespoon of cornstarch
and then a tablespoon of really cold water.
So the way that cornstarch works is you wanna make sure
that you have cold water going into boiling sauce,
and that will actually thicken it.
And then when you open your cover,
you'll see that sauce should be simmering and bubbling.
I wouldn't put the whole cornstarch slurry in there at once.
Do it in stages.
So we just put a little bit, and then stir it,
and then a little bit more,
just until it thickens to how you like it.
Because if your sauce is really bubbling
and you put all of that in, it might be too thick.
At this stage, I would also test it for seasoning.
I really don't put any more seasoning in the sauce
because between the salt that we put on the chicken
and the seasoning that we put in the flour dredging,
I think it's perfect just like this.
But taste it,
and if you feel it needs a little salt or pepper,
go ahead and add.
And then we're also gonna add some freshly chopped parsley,
and you can give that a stir.
And then to plate, I like to use a long oval platter.
Put the chicken breasts sort of overlapping on first,
and then spoon over the mushroom sauce.
And you can also finish it off
with a little more parsley if you wanted to.
And when you cut into this chicken,
you'll see how tender and juicy it is,
mixed with those mushrooms and that delicious sauce.
I hope you guys give this one a try
and let me know what you think,
and I'll see you back here next time
for another quick and easy recipe.
Until then, bye.