Chicken Thighs Marsala is a quick and easy one skillet meal for a romantic date night, or a casual weeknight dinner. This classic chicken recipe gives you great restaurant style flavor in a jiffy.
Chicken thighs marsala sounds fancy but is ready in under an hour
Most nights I’m just cooking for Grant and me, so I’m ahead of the game when it comes to dinners for two, romantic or otherwise. Simple dinner’s for two are nice because everything fits in a cast iron skillet, and it takes just a few minutes to prep and cook. We eat at 6:30 and honestly most nights I don’t get into the kitchen until around 6. Since we watch the nightly news with dinner (not so romantic, I know) I have to get things organized by 6:30 or we’ll miss something huge, I just know it.
how to make quick chicken marsala
There’s just one pan and three easy steps to this classic recipe.
- Brown the chicken thighs over a high heat to kick start the cooking and give them a nice golden color.
- Sauté the shallots, garlic and mushrooms in the same pan.
- And finally make the sauce, again right in the same pan, and add back the chicken for a final few minutes of cooking in the oven. You can also finish if off on the stove if you like.
Marsala sauce adds instant elegance to simple chicken thighs.
I’ve said this a lot before, but the combination of shallots, mushrooms, garlic, cream, and Marsala wine (you can also use a dry Sherry) gives instant fancy restaurant appeal to the most basic chicken. Marsala is a fortified wine, which just means that is has a higher alcohol content than regular wine. It’s used in chicken dishes like this, and in risottos and even tiramisus. You’ll recognize the flavor instantly. Add fresh thyme and you will get rave reviews, no question.
Ingredient spotlight: MARSALA WINE
MARSALA is a fortified wine (it has a higher alcohol content than regular wine) from Italy that has a special affinity for any dish that features mushrooms. I love the flavor it imparts to sauces so I keep a bottle in the cupboard above the stove. Don’t buy cooking Marsala, buy a drinking grade wine, it’s not expensive and so great to have around!
More easy chicken dinner recipes
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Chicken Thighs Marsala
Equipment
- cast iron skillet or skillet than can go into the oven
Ingredients
- 4 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs
- olive oil
- 1 lb small mushrooms, I used a combination of white button and brown cremini
- 3 Tbsp butter, divided
- 2 large shallots, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- handful of fresh thyme sprigs
- 1/2 cup Marsala wine or dry Sherry
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper
garnish
Instructions
- Set oven to 375F
- Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth. Cut off the ends of the stems, and slice them, rather thickly. You can simply cut small mushrooms in half.
- Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat until quite hot. Brush the skin side of the thighs with a little olive oil and, when the pan is good and hot, but not smoking, brown the thighs, skin down, for about 5-10 minutes or until they have a nice brown color. Remove them to a plate.
- Wipe out any burnt bits and add 2 Tbsp of the butter to the pan. Saute the garlic and the shallots for about 5 minutes, stirring often and being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute for another 5 minutes, stirring often, until they start to shrink and brown.
- Add the wine to the pan and turn up the heat and let it reduce down a bit.
- Add the cream to the pan and mix well. Add the sprigs of thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper. Finish the sauce by stirring in the last bit of butter.
- Nestle the chicken thighs back into the pan, spooning the sauce over them a bit as well.
- Bake the thighs for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the thyme sprigs.
- Serve hot with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and/or thyme
Notes
- Chicken thighs are inexpensive and versatile, if you love them like I do, try my Lemon Chicken Biryani, or my Creamy Chicken with Wild Rice and Mushrooms for other great ways to use them.
Should I use dry or sweet marsala?
I like to use dry, Barbara.
Just got done eating this for dinner, it is delicious!! The house smelt amazing while it cooked and the chicken turned out perfect!
I agree with the above, you need to brown the chicken longer than 5 minutes, I did about 8.
I also didn’t have marsala or heavy cream (I have a two year old so there’s a lot of improvising in my cooking, it’s not worth the grocery store trip) so I used chianti and milk. Sauce was a lot thinner because of this (you’ll have to mix in a little flower to thicken)
Wife, husband, and baby approved ????
Thanks Nikki 🙂
Gotta triple this recipe!!:)
Go for it!
I just made this and I thought I should point some things out. 5 minutes isn’t long enough to properly brown the chicken skin and get it crispy (which is one of the appeals of using chicken thighs). 10 minutes is closer to being better. Also, I had to bake mine for 35 minutes rather than 20 minutes.
I think I prefer chicken stock to cream in these sorts of dishes, but the sauce was still pretty good.
This recipe is great! But, I noticed that it calls for thyme, and yet in the directions it’s never used… Is it garnish or am i missing something that would make this recipe even better than it already is?
Hey Charlotte, I just updated the recipe to mention the fresh thyme garnish, thanks!
I still don’t see it mentioned… Where do I use it? ?
It’s just a garnish, Tom, so scatter it on at the end. You could, if you love thyme, add it into the sauce, that would be lovely too.
Hey I don’t have a cast iron skillet is this still possible to make?!
Sure, any good sturdy pan will do!
JUST out of the oven again- and now ‘committed’ to memory! My market had great sale on thighs this week, and now my freezer is well-stocked with ‘do ahead’ dinners!! Thanks, Sue!!
You’re so welcome 🙂
would a 10″ skillet work?
Sure!
What if we have thighs without skin on? How do we altar the recipe?
Chrystal you can actually brown skinless chicken, too. The only change I would make in the recipe is to coat the bottom of the pan with oil as well. Good luck!
Just took the pan out of the oven!! Thanks for GREAT recipe- once again! Could easily be prepped ahead, browned, and then baked off just before serving!! My SHARE button on FB having ‘fits and starts’ this am….not enuff Feb?? so back there later!!
Thanks Savvychef!!