This easy and light chicken marsala recipe uses only fresh, whole ingredients and no heavy cream. The sauce is light and savory, and the mushrooms add delicious umami flavor. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.
I don’t know about you, but I’m always up for a chicken dinner. While I rotate between plant-based meals and meat meals, when it’s chicken night, everyone is happy.
Happiness turns to elations when it’s chicken marsala night.
Traditional chicken marsala can often feel heavy and caloric, but if you follow my recipe, you’ll end up with a flavorful-yet-light dish.
Gluten-free chicken marsala is surprisingly easy to make at home too. All you need is chicken (and I know you’ve got some chicken stashed away in your freezer!), along with a few other pantry staples.
Ingredients
To make this recipe at home, you’ll need a few key ingredients, most of which I bet you already have on hand:
- Chicken breast. You can also use chicken tenderloins.
- Mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms are the best.
- Gluten-free flour. Cornstarch will work well, too, and give your chicken a slightly more crispy coating.
- Fresh garlic. The more the better if you ask me. You can also use jarred garlic as a second option.
- Marsala wine. Found typically in the cooking aisle and marketed as a cooking wine. It looks like this.
- Chicken broth. You need it to boost the flavor – and bulk – of the sauce.
- Salt and pepper, for flavor.
Pretty simple ingredient list, right?
What you’ll notice missing from my chicken marsala that you might find in other chicken marsala recipes, besides gluten, is that I don’t use heavy cream or butter.
My version of chicken marsala is light and less caloric. It doesn’t taste heavy nor weigh you down. It’s just bursting with savory, guilt-free flavors.
How to Make It
Chicken marsala tastes best when the chicken is thin and flattened.
If you have thick chicken breast, slice them in half width-wise and then pound them flat with a meat mallet. You want them to be about 1/2 inch thick. The thinner the better.
You’ll then generously coat the chicken in a mixture of gluten-free flour and salt and pepper and place each breast in the hot oil inside your pan. Be sure to use a high heat oil like avocado oil.
Related Reading: What You Need to Know about Gluten-Free Cooking Oils
Cook each piece of chicken over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side until mostly cooked through. Flip once. Add chicken to a paper towel lined plate for later.
If you’re cooking more chicken than what fits in your pan, cook it in batches. Do not overcrowd the pan.
Next, you’ll want to saute your mushrooms in the leftover oil and chicken fat left behind in the pan. Cook until your mushrooms are soft and the moisture cooks off.
Add your garlic to saute for a minute before adding your marsala wine and chicken broth. Scrape the surface of the pan with your spatula to get the crispy bits left behind from the chicken into your sauce.
To thicken the sauce, if needed, add a little cornstarch slurry.
Once the sauce is thickened to your liking, add the chicken breasts back into the pan and coat with sauce. Cook chicken in the sauce for 1-2 minutes before serving.
Top with parsley or enjoy as-is.
How Does It Taste?
I think my gluten-free chicken marsala tastes outstanding, and trust me, you won’t miss the gluten.
The chicken is tender and the sauce is flavorful. The sauce has a smoky and slightly sweet taste.
You won’t miss the gluten, heavy cream or butter. You’ll just enjoy a light brown sauce over delicious, juicy chicken.
How to Make Roasted Potatoes
Chicken marsala is best served with a side of roasted potatoes.
Cut your potatoes into bite-sized cubes, then coat with avocado oil (or other high-heat oil), salt and pepper.
Place potatoes on a large foil-lined, well-greased baking sheet (do not overcrowd potatoes) and bake in 400º F oven for about 1 hour, mixing after 30 minutes and every 10 minutes thereafter.
Serve warm and enjoy!
More Recipes
Looking for more delicious dinner recipes?
First, be sure to sign up to receive my gluten-free meal plans. Enjoy variety and delicious recipes you can easily and quickly make at home. I’ve got 1,700+ gluten-free recipes in my database!
Also, you might enjoy these other chicken recipes:
- My light lemon chicken piccata recipe
- My teriyaki chicken made in the slow cooker
- My delicious and easy orange chicken stir-fry, which I think tastes better than Chinese take out!
Gluten-Free Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
Roasted Potatoes
- 3 lbs russet potatoes cut into bite-sized cubes
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil or other high-heat vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp Kosher salt or more, to taste
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
Chicken Marsala
- 4 Tbsp avocodo oil or other high heat oil, more if needed
- 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1/2 cup gluten-free flour
- 1 tsp Kosher salt more to taste
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 24 ounces portobello mushrooms stemmed and sliced
- 2 garlic cloves chopped into small bits
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup marsala cooking wine
- 1.5 tsp cornstarch optional
Instructions
Roasted Potatoes
- Preheat oven to 400º F and coat a large baking sheet with tinfoil and cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, add diced potatoes, oil and S&P and mix together well.
- Add potatoes to baking sheet and spread into an even layer, careful not to overcrowd the pan.
- Bake for 1 hour, mixing after 30 minutes and every 10 minutes thereafter until the potatoes are crispy and brown to your liking.
Chicken Marsala
- Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
- Combine flour, salt and pepper in a bowl, then dredge each pounded, thin slice of chicken breast into the flour mixture and then into the hot oil.
- Cook on one side for about 4-5 minutes, turning once to cook the other side. Chicken should be cooked through but not overcooked.
- Set aside chicken on a paper towel lined plate.
- Add sliced mushrooms to hot pan and cook until mushrooms soften and water cooks off, about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add chicken broth and marsala wine and stir trying to scrape up any leftover brown bits of chicken to add flavor to the sauce.
- If sauce needs thickening, add 1.5 teaspoons mixed with 2 tsp. of water (cornstarch slurry) to the mix and whisk until sauce thickens as desired.
- Lower heat to medium-low and add cooked chicken breasts into pan. Coat chicken with the sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes before serving.
- Top with chopped parsley (optional).
Please don’t use Marsala cooking wine! Use some decent real Marsala wine. The cooking wine has salt added to it, so by using regular Marsala, the sodium count should be considerably less.