We Made a Spot-On Copycat of Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
Updated: Apr. 16, 2024
Learn how to replicate the magic that is Olive Garden chicken Marsala in your own kitchen.
Hold the lasagna, forget about the chicken Parm and ditch the breadsticks (unless it’s this 60-minute Olive Garden breadstick recipe). Tonight, Olive Garden chicken Marsala is on the menu.
This classic recipe is a staple at Italian restaurants everywhere. Perhaps it’s the juicy, tender chicken breasts, or maybe it’s the flavorful, slightly sweet, mushroom wine sauce. Not to mention the side of creamy, dreamy fettuccine Alfredo.
Whatever the reason, it’s a dish that we love to eat and love to make at home. Serve with this copycat Olive Garden minestrone as a first course!
How to Make Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
This recipe serves 4.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded 1/2-inch thick
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 8 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-1/2 cups Marsala wine
- 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, optional
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1-1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Fresh chopped parsley, for serving
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Editor’s Tip: Dried porcini mushrooms are the secret ingredient for infusing the Marsala wine sauce with a robust mushroom flavor that’s exactly like Olive Garden’s. Most grocery stores carry dried porcini, but you can also find porcini mushrooms on Amazon.
For Fettuccine Alfredo:
- 8 ounces fettuccine pasta
- 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
- 4 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
Editor’s Tip: You can, of course, use your favorite store-bought Alfredo sauce to save time.
Tools You’ll Need
- Large Skillet: Use a skillet like this for pan-frying the chicken and making sinfully delicious mushroom wine sauce.
- Pasta Pot: Boil the fettuccine until it’s perfectly al dente.
- Saucepan: Use a saucepan to whip up the smoothest, richest Alfredo sauce.
Directions
Step 1: Prep
Bring a large pasta pot of salted water to a boil. At the same time, warm a skillet over medium heat filled with 1/4 cup of canola oil.
Step 2: Coat the chicken
Next, season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge each piece in flour to lightly coat. Dust off the excess, then set aside.
Step 3: Cook the chicken
Add the chicken to the skillet, pan-frying the chicken until golden on one side; about 3-4 minutes, then flipping to the other side. Fry until golden and the chicken is fully cooked; about 4-5 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside.
Step 4: Boil pasta
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente according to the package directions. (Make homemade pasta if you’re feeling ambitious.) Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water in a glass measuring cup, and set aside.
Step 5: Saute mushrooms
Meanwhile, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the same skillet you cooked the chicken in. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium heat until softened; about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
Next, deglaze the pan with the Marsala wine and add the dried porcini mushrooms. Bring the sauce to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the wine is reduced by half and dried mushrooms are tender.
Step 6: Finish the Marsala sauce
Whisk in the Dijon, Worcestershire, brown sugar and chicken broth, season with salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the butter until melted. Return the chicken to the pan and keep warm over low heat until ready to serve.
Step 7: Prepare the Alfredo
If preparing Alfredo from scratch, combine the 1 cup of heavy cream and the garlic in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce down to 2/3 cup. Add the butter and remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Bring to a simmer, and then stir in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce along with the Parmesan and Romano cheese and toss to coat.
Editor’s Tip: Add some of the reserved pasta water from cooking the fettuccine to thin the Alfredo to the desired consistency and help coat the pasta with the creamy sauce.
Step 8: Plate
To serve, divide the fettuccine Alfredo evenly between four plates. Arrange two pieces of chicken on each plate, beside the pasta, then top the chicken with a generous amount of the Marsala wine sauce and mushrooms. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley. Enjoy!
How to Store Chicken Marsala
Chicken Marsala may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat, warm in the microwave until steaming. You may add a few tablespoons of milk to the fettuccine to rehydrate the sauce and pasta before warming. Don’t miss our best pasta reheating tips.
Tips for Making Chicken Marsala
Here are a few tips for perfecting this copycat Olive Garden chicken Marsala.
Shop the wine aisle
Marsala cooking wine is readily available at most grocery stores near the olive oil and vinegar. While this “wine” will deliver fantastic results, we highly recommend venturing over to your grocer’s wine aisle and seeing if there’s a higher quality Marsala wine available for a more robust, deeply flavored Marsala wine sauce.
Multitasking is key
Don’t be deterred by the multiple components of this dish. The key to making sure everything comes together at the same time is multitasking.
- Boil your pasta water while cooking the chicken
- Start the Marsala sauce while the fettuccine is boiling
- Prepare the Alfredo sauce as you return the chicken to the sauce to simmer and warm up
When in doubt, recruit help in the kitchen!
Originally Published: November 23, 2021
