Home Dinner Chicken Olive Garden Chicken Marsala (Copycat Recipe)

Olive Garden Chicken Marsala (Copycat Recipe)

Who’s ready to make Olive Garden chicken marsala at home?

It’s sweet, earthy, savory, and worth the time it takes to whip up this stunning main course. 

Homemade Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms and Pasta

Olive Garden has a long list of deliciously addictive dishes, and their chicken marsala lands high on my list. 

WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox.

The marsala sauce is amazingly flavorful, with plenty of rich spices, mushrooms, and Marsala wine.

If you crave Olive Garden but don’t want to face the crowds, check out this spot-on chicken marsala recipe below. 

Olive Garden Chicken Marsala

What is it that makes Olive Garden chicken marsala so delightfully addictive? First, it’s the marsala wine sauce.

It’s rich, flavorful, and adds a beautiful sweetness that pairs perfectly with mushrooms and pasta. 

While most of the ingredients are pantry staples, you might need to make a special trip to the grocery store for it.

There’s simply no substitute! 

Marsala wine hangs out with the vinegar in the baking section, not the wine selection. 

With fragrant marsala wine, earthy mushrooms, and juicy and crispy chicken breasts, it’s sure to be your family’s next favorite meal.

The best part? It’s surprisingly easy to whip up on a hectic weeknight. 

Ingredients

Chicken. Two boneless and skinless chicken breasts pounded thinly are all you need for this hearty dinner dish. 

Flour, garlic, salt, and pepper. Adding flour to your stock helps to thicken it, and the spices add even more flavor. 

Vegetable oil. A dash of vegetable oil in the pan helps sautee your protein to perfection. 

WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox.

Butter. Adding butter makes the sauce so rich, creamy, and glistening. Be sure to opt for unsalted butter, or your dish will be overly salty. 

Mushrooms. Mushrooms add hearty and earthy flavors that make this dish so filling. Any mushrooms work in this dish, like white, cremini, or porcini. 

Marsala wine. This fortified wine adds a robust and slightly sweet flavor to this dish. When picking it up at the grocery store, it’s found in the vinegar section, not in the wine section. 

Chicken stock. Chicken stock helps create a meaty, decadent sauce. For a different flavor profile, you can also use vegetable stock.

Brown sugar. There are a lot of heavy, earthy flavors in this dish. Brown sugar helps to keep the sauce light and slightly sweet. 

Worcestershire. Adding a dash of Worcestershire plays so well with earthy mushrooms. It’s tart, sweet, and adds intense flavor. 

Dijon mustard. Dijon mustard is slightly spicy and bitter and takes the earthy flavors of this dish to new heights. 

Chicken Marsala with Pasta, Mushrooms and Herbs

How to Make Olive Garden Chicken Marsala 

1. Pound the chicken breasts about 1/2 inch thick. Thinly pounded chicken breasts ensure a crusty crust and more surface to soak up that magical marsala sauce. 

2. Bread your chicken. Coat chicken breasts in a coating of flour and spices to get a nice crusty crust that locks in moisture.

3. Sautee breaded chicken breasts. In a heavy pan, cook chicken breasts until they’re golden, crispy, and delicious. Set it aside, and cover it. 

4. Cook the mushrooms. In the same pan used for the chicken, sautee the mushrooms until they’re soft. 

5. Make the marsala wine sauce. Pour the wine and chicken stock into the pan, and cook it on low until the wine reduces. Add the brown sugar, Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, and butter into the pan and cook it until the butter is nice and creamy. 

6. Combine the chicken and sauce. Add the cooked chicken back into the pan, and cover it with the marsala sauce. Keep the chicken warm on the stove in the sauce until it’s ready to serve. 

7. Garnish it right before serving. For that authentic Olive Garden experience, garnish it with fresh parsley, and don’t be shy about adding grated Parmesan cheese. 

Delicious Homemade Chicken Marsala with Pasta and Mushrooms Served with Green Salad

Tips and Tricks 

Weigh your chicken. No one wants raw or overly dry chicken. Weigh your chicken breasts on a kitchen scale so they cook evenly in the pan. 

It ensures that both chicken breasts cook at the same rate. 

Leave your chicken alone. Ensuring a crispy crust is key to insanely moist chicken. Avoid the urge to flip your chicken every few minutes. Let it cook in the pan, and only flip it when necessary. 

Leave no crispy bits behind. After your chicken and mushrooms cook, crispy bits will be in the bottom of the pan. 

Scrape up those bits and infuse them into the sauce. These crispy bits pack loads of flavor and are the secret to a rich and flavorful main course. 

Give the sauce the time it needs to thicken. Waiting for your sauce to thicken is a test of patience. Cook it low and slow to draw out those flavors, and resist the urge to turn up the heat to speed up the thickening process. 

It will thicken. You have to be patient!

Taste as you go. It’s easy to get carried away with the salt. Many chicken or vegetable stocks boast a lot of sodium, so be sure to taste your sauce at each step to ensure that it’s not overly salty. 

Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms, Gravy and Pasta

Storage

There are two ways to store your chicken after it cooks.

You can pop it in the fridge or the freezer. If you want to reheat leftovers for lunch the next day, place the chicken in an air-tight container.

It will keep fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

If you want to make a batch on hand for another day, you can freeze it.

Place it in a freezer bag, and squeeze out as much excess air as possible.

It will stay fresh for up to 3 months in the freezer. 

When you’re ready to make it, let it defrost in the fridge overnight, and heat it in an oven set at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. 

What to Serve With

If you want to recreate the Olive garden at home, serve your chicken marsala with fettuccine Alfredo.

Making a homemade alfredo sauce is easy, but you can also opt for store-bought.

It also goes great with simple angel hair pasta, mashed potatoes, or rice. 

To keep calories low, swap out heavy carbs for zoodles (zucchini noodles) or a bag of cauliflower rice.

More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love

Chicken Milanese
Chicken Riggies
Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
Chicken Murphy
Greek Chicken

Olive Garden Chicken Marsala (Copycat Recipe)

Servings

4

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes
Calories

720

kcal

Skip going out to eat and make Olive Garden chicken marsala at home! This easy copycat recipe is just as good as the real deal, if not better.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup 1/4 canola or vegetable oil

  • 1 1/2 pounds 1 1/2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

  • 1/2 cup 1/2 all-purpose flour

  • 8 ounces 8 white or cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

  • 2 tablespoons 2 olive oil

  • 2 cloves 2 garlic, minced

  • 1 1 -1/2 cups Marsala wine

  • 1 ounce 1 dried porcini mushrooms (optional)

  • 1/2 cup 1/2 chicken or vegetable broth

  • 1 tablespoon 1 Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 tablespoon 1 Dijon mustard

  • 1 1 -1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

  • 1 tablespoon 1 unsalted butter

  • Salt and pepper, to taste

  • Fresh chopped parsley (for serving)

  • Grated Parmesan cheese (for serving)

Instructions

  • Warm a skillet over medium heat filled with 1/4 cup canola oil.
  • Season the chicken with flour and the spice mixture until evenly coated, and shake off the excess flour. Place the chicken breasts in hot oil, and cook each side for 3-4 minutes.
  • Remove the chicken from the heat, place it on a paper towel, and cover it.
  • Using the same skillet, add two tablespoons of vegetable oil and mushrooms. Cook for three minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and fragrant. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
  • Add 1 cup of marsala wine, and scrape off the crusty bits at the bottom of the pan. Bring the sauce to a rolling boil, then lower the heat to a simmer until the wine reduces by half.
  • After the wine reduces, add the Worcestershire, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, chicken broth, salt, pepper, butter, and optional Porcini mushrooms. Stir it until it’s combined and creamy.
  • Place the chicken breasts back into the pan, and coat them with the Marsala sauce.
  • Plate the chicken breasts, pour the extra marsala sauce, and garnish them with fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Olive Garden Chicken Marsala

Did you like the recipe?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 3.6 / 5. Vote count: 9

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

Thanks!

Share on social media:

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

INSANELYGOOD

Hey there! I'm Kim. I love running, cooking, and curling up with a good book! I share recipes for people who LOVE good food, but want to keep things simple :)

Leave a Comment