Chicken Marsala Fettuccine
on Feb 12, 2024
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Chicken Marsala Fettuccine is such a rich, tasty and creamy chicken and mushroom pasta dish. This quick & easy chicken dinner recipe is ready in 30 minutes!
Serve this fancier dinner with a side of Cheesy Garlic Bread and a House Salad.
I enjoy sharing our family favorite chicken recipes. Creamy pasta like Parmesan Garlic Chicken Pasta is one I make frequently. But Marry Me Chicken in cream sauce is also comforting. Today, I am sharing Chicken Marsala Fettuccini, it looks good, tastes delicious, and can be cooked up in around 30 minutes.
If that name sounds a little intimidating, you don’t need to worry: Chicken Marsala with Fettuccini is nothing more than some delicious pan-fried chicken and mushrooms with a marsala sauce. You may have had a similar dish at Olive Garden. We’ll go over exactly what Marsala wine is in a bit but know that it means you get this delicious cream sauce that tastes wonderful over these golden-brown chicken cutlets!
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this easy Chicken Marsala Fettucine Recipe
- For as tasty and delicious as this Chicken Marsala with Fettuccine turned out, it was so dead-simple to make. It’s nothing more than juicy pan fried chicken, sauteed mushrooms, and a quick marsala cream sauce served over Fettucini- it all comes together in around half an hour!
- A lot of us aren’t big fans of mushrooms but they actually work really well in this recipe. Cook them up with butter, olive oil, and some garlic before coating them in that chicken marsala sauce and you’ll love mushrooms soon enough.
- Since you make this Chicken Marsala with pasta, you cut down on a lot of extra prep time making sides for quick weeknight dinners. Just cook up a vegetable side dish or two and you’ve got a delicious and filling chicken dinner made easy!
Chicken Marsala Fettuccine Ingredients
Chicken Marsala with Fettuccine might sound like a really fancy recipe that needs tons of exotic ingredients. Trust us when we say that you’ll have no problem finding any of these ingredients- most are fridge and pantry staples! If you gotta run to the store, here’s all you need:
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- Chicken Breasts – Like with a lot of chicken recipes, you can get away with grabbing some chicken cutlets. This will help you skip the step of halving chicken breasts and pounding into cutlets. We used some fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Salt and Pepper
- Flour – Just use some all-purpose flour for this recipe.
- Mushrooms – We went with some Baby Bella mushrooms. You can also find these sold as cremini mushrooms. Any white button mushrooms cook work as well.
- Butter
- Olive Oil – Nothing too fancy here, since we’re cooking with it.
- Garlic – Minced garlic from the jar is perfectly fine here and is what we used.
- Marsala Wine – You might be asking “What is marsala wine?” It’s an Italian fortified wine, which basically means they’ve added some extra alcohol and ingredients to it. Try to get something like this sweet marsala from Florio: it’s good enough to drink while not being too expensive which is perfect for cooking wine! If you are looking to omit the wine, you could make this dish with chicken broth but the flavor will not be the same.
- Heavy Cream
- Fettuccine – We just went with some basic Barilla fettuccine noodles here. Feel free to use spaghetti noodles or linguine noodles. Any long and flat pasta works best.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Chicken Marsala with Fettuccine
Chicken Marsala is such an impressive but easy to make chicken recipe! Here’s all you have to do to make this dish yourself:
- Start by butterflying chicken breasts in half. This will give you thin cutlets which you’ll pound out to 1/4-inch thickness with a meat tenderizer. Generously season both sides of each cutlet with salt and pepper.
- Pour flour into a shallow bowl or plate. Dredge chicken breast cutlets through the flour, flipping over and coating on all sides. Shake off excess flour and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add butter and olive oil. While the butter melts, prepare a cutting board.
- Clean mushrooms before trimming stems and thick slicing them and setting aside.
- Once butter has melted, carefully set 1-2 dredged chicken cutlets in the hot pan. Brown and cook 4-5 minutes per side before removing to a plate and setting aside. Use a meat thermometer to check that chicken is fully cooked. You will need an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees.
- It’s time to start boiling the water for your pasta. Make the fettuccine according to the package instructions.
- Add more butter to the pan and let melt before adding sliced mushrooms. Cook for around 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic to the pan with the mushrooms and cook another minute.
- Carefully add marsala into the middle of the skillet, minimizing splashing or spilling to prevent flaming. Use a firm plastic or wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any fond while your marsala deglazes the pan. Simmer for about 3 minutes or until the Marsala wine sauce reduces by about half.
- Turn heat down to low before adding in heavy cream. Briefly mix together, let cook for 3 minutes, and then add chicken cutlets back in to cook for another 2-3 minutes before cutting heat. Prepare fettuccine according to box instructions and serve Marsala chicken with sauce over cooked fettuccine.
Substitutions
Chicken Marsala Fettuccine is a pretty forgiving dish when it comes to the ingredients. There’s plenty of room to make different substitutes for ingredients- here’s just a few you can try out:
- Chicken Breasts – The easiest substitute for chicken breasts is going to be chicken thighs. Note that these “Marsala Chicken Thighs” may take a little longer to cook since chicken thighs cook faster than chicken breasts usually. Maybe aim for around 6-8 minutes per side.
- Marsala Wine – Yeah, it’s kind of hard to make Chicken Marsala without marsala wine but there are a few “close enough” marsala substitutes. Your first picks should be other sweet fortified wines like sherry, port, or vermouth. Other folks have tried using blends of brandy and white wine and gotten decent results.
- Heavy Cream – Heavy cream is going to give you the richest and creamiest marsala sauce for chicken, but there are a few cream substitutes you can use in a pinch. Half-and-half is your best bet and something like coconut cream can work if you don’t mind the extra flavor. All else fails, whole milk could work as well.
Variations
We’re sure you will love the flavors that this Chicken Marsala with Fettuccine brings to the table. Still, if you want some ways to mix some of the flavors up, here’s a couple ideas you can mess around with:
- Chicken Madeira – This Chicken Marsala variation is actually a popular menu item at Cheesecake Factory! Simply sub out the marsala for madeira wine and consider subbing out some of your heavy cream for some beef stock or beef broth. Serve over fettuccine like we did here or top with blanched asparagus, mozzarella, and broil for a few minutes.
- Chicken Marsala with Tomatoes – If you want something a little less creamy and a bit more “bright-tasting,” consider bringing in some tomatoes. Follow the recipe as normal, but sub out most or all of the heavy cream for some chicken stock instead. Toss a cup or two of whole or halved cherry tomatoes on top and let simmer for a few minutes until they’ve softened.
Storage / Freezing
Storage: Like with any cooked chicken recipe, your Chicken Marsala Fettuccine will last a good few days in the fridge. Transfer to an airtight container and keep refrigerated for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave, on the stovetop, or in a low oven.
Freezing: I have not tried to freeze Chicken Marsala with Fettuccine pasta. I do not think it will hold well when freeze due to the creamy sauce. Creamed sauce tend not to freeze as well. If you decide to give it a try, let me know.
Recipe Tip
Be sure the temperature on your chicken reaches 165 degrees.
Best Sides to Serve with Chicken Marsala with Pasta
Looking for a side dish idea to serve with your Chicken Marsala Fettuccine? Try these:
- Texas Roadhouse Rolls
- Cheesy Garlic Bread
- House Salad with Simple Salad Dressing
- Garlic Roasted Green Beans
Other Chicken Recipes
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Chicken Marsala Fettuccine
Ingredients
- 2 large Chicken Breasts boneless and skinless
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 cup Flour
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 5 tbsp Butter, divided
- 8 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms
- 1 tbsp minced Garlic
- 1 1/2 cup Marsala Wine
- 1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 8 oz Fettuccine
Instructions
- Slice each chicken breast in half horizontally to create 2 thin cutlets. Pound all 4 cutlets to about 1/4 inch thickness.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Dredge each cutlet in flour and shake off any excess.
- Clean, trim stems and thick slice the mushrooms. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter on medium heat.
- Brown the chicken, 2 cutlets at a time, for 4-5 minutes on each side. Chicken should be golden brown and internal temperature should be 165.
- Transfer cooked chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Now is the time to start the water for your pasta. Cook fettuccine according to package directions.
- Add the remaining butter to the skillet and add the mushrooms. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the marsala wine and deglaze the pan. Scrape any fond in the pan lose with a wooden spoon.
- Allow to simmer until wine is reduced by half (about 3 minutes).
- Reduce heat to low, and add the heavy cream cooking for 3 minutes.
- Return the chicken to the sauce to warm it, cook for 2-3 minute then remove from heat.
- Serve chicken marsala over fettuccine.
Notes
Nutrition
Oh my goodness, this looks so delicious!! I chose it for my SSPS link party last week, come check it out =) cookandcrumbs.com
When I can enjoy more carbs in the future, I need to try this one
Thanks so much for participating and sharing at SSPS 303. See you again next week!
If I’m not a wine lover or I don’t think the kids would like the wine flavor, would reducing the wine to 1 cup with 2 cups chicken broth (for 8 servings) work, giving me a slight taste of the same flavor?
Hi Sandi! I am not much of a wine fan myself. I will have a glass with a fancy dinner or in a sangria when at a get together, lol. I honestly could not taste any harsh wine flavor in this chicken marsala recipe. I would suggest reducing the wine and replace what you remove with the chicken broth. Give it a try, it’s a delicious dish. And, drop back by and let us know your thoughts with the reduction or omission, it will help other readers too! I hope that helps. Have a great day!- Jen