Learn how to make restaurant-style Instant Pot Marsala chicken! Creamy, rich, and bursting with flavor! Perfect for weekend or weeknight dinner, this easy chicken dish will definitely become on your dinner rotation.
What is Marsala Chicken?
You may have had Marsala chicken in a restaurant before, and loved it and you just found this recipe. But if you’ve never heard of Marsala chicken before, let me tell you more about it.
It’s at American-Italian (Americanized) dish that you can find in Italian restaurants in the US, made with chicken, mushrooms, garlic, and marsala wine. It’s typically served with pasta in the US, but not in Italy.
Marsala wine is a fortified wine from Sicily with a deep golden color, it can be found in most supermarkets in the wine section. If you can’t find Marsala wine, you can substitute it with dark sherry.
To make this marsala chicken even more delicious and creamy, I added heavy cream at the end of the cooking process to the syrup like mushroom marsala sauce. It not only makes it super creamy but also balances the flavors as the wine has a very strong taste which in my opinion can overpower the rest of the flavors in the dish.
Instant Pot Marsala Chicken ingredients
- Chicken breasts – I used 2 large ones and cut them in halves to make 4 pieces.
- Flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper – this mixture is used to dredge the chicken and create a lovely flavorful coating for the chicken breasts.
- Olive oil and butter – to saute the chicken until it’s golden.
- Mushrooms and garlic – I use chestnut mushrooms.
- Vegetable stock – I make my own in the Instant Pot, here’s my recipe. It’s low in sodium, and almost free to make!
- Marsala wine – preferably dry.
- Heavy cream (or double cream if you’re in the UK). Feel free to omit the cream to make this dairy-free.
How to make Marsala Chicken in the Instant Pot
In a semi-shallow dish, combine the flour with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken breasts until well coated.
I recommend slicing the chicken breasts in halves lengthwise to make them thinner, this will make sure that they’re cooked through and more flavorful.
On the Instant Pot, press on SAUTE and choose 20 minutes. When the HOT message appears, add olive oil and butter. Then saute the chicken until brown (see the 2 picture below).
You have to have a little patience and brown the chicken well! Otherwise, you won’t get that nice crust, and your chicken will look and taste like it has been steamed.
You won’t need to crisp the chicken up in the oven or anything. This is a one-pot recipe, and the key here is to brown the chicken well using the SAUTE setting.
After browning the chicken, take it out and let it rest on a plate.
Deglaze the Instant Pot with a little bit of vegetable stock, and make sure that you scrape down any chicken bits from the bottom of the pot. Do not get rid of these bits as that’s where all of the flavors are! Then add the sliced mushrooms, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Cook for a few minutes until mushrooms change color, and the garlic is fragrant. Add the rest of the vegetable stock, and the Marsala wine along with the chicken.
Cover with the lid, and press on MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK and set on high for 4 minutes.
Allow the Instant Pot to come to pressure, then cook. Once it’s finished, quickly release the steam, and open the lid carefully (see picture below).
Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot again to reduce the sauce. You can leave the chicken in, but it will make it more difficult to mix in the cream, plus you don’t want to overcook the chicken.
Press on SAUTE and reduce the sauce until you get a syrup-like consistency.
If you look at the steps below, it shows how to check if the sauce is reduced enough. Check with a wooden spoon like in the picture below.
Switch off the SAUTE setting, and stir in the cream. The Instant Pot will still be hot, so the cream bubble.
Return the chicken to the pot, and now it’s ready to be served!
What to serve Marsala chicken with?
Serve with pasta, Instant Pot rice, cauliflower rice, or mashed potatoes. Pour sauce over the chicken, and enjoy!
More great Instant Pot dinner ideas
- Instant Pot sesame chicken
- Instant Pot hibachi steak
- Instant Pot hibachi chicken
- Instant Pot shrimp and broccoli
- Instant Pot beef and broccoli
- Or check out my Instant Pot recipe collection!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Instant Pot Marsala Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts boneless and skinless, sliced lengthwise into thin cutlets
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter divided into 2
- 2 cups mushrooms sliced
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- ½ cup vegetable stock
- ½ cup Marsala wine
- ½ cup heavy cream double cream in the UK
Instructions
- In a semi-shallow dish, combine the flour with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken breasts until well coated.
- On the Instant Pot, press on SAUTE and choose 20 minutes. When the HOT message appears, add olive oil and butter. Then saute the chicken until it's brown. You have to have a little patience and brown the chicken well! Otherwise, you won't get that nice crust, and your chicken will look and taste like it has been steamed.
- After browning the chicken breasts, take them out and let them rest on a plate.
- Deglaze the Instant Pot with a little bit of vegetable stock (use as much as you need, but not too much), then add the sliced mushrooms, garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Cook for a few minutes until mushrooms change color, and the garlic is fragrant. Add the rest of the vegetable stock, and the Marsala wine along with the chicken.
- Cover with the lid, and press on MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK and set on high for 4 minutes. Allow the Instant Pot to come to pressure, then cook. Once it's finished, quickly release the steam, and open the lid carefully.
- Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot again to reduce the sauce. You can leave the chicken in, but it will make it more difficult to mix in the cream, also, you don't want to overcook the chicken.
- Press on SAUTE and reduce the sauce until you get a syrup-like consistency.
- Switch off the SAUTE setting, and gently stir in the cream. The Instant Pot will still be hot, so the cream bubble.
- Return the chicken to the pot, and now it’s ready to be served! Serve with pasta, rice, cauliflower rice, or mashed potatoes. Pour sauce over the chicken, and enjoy!
Notes:
- I recommend slicing the chicken breasts in halves lengthwise to make them thinner, this will make sure that they’re cooked through and more flavorful.
- If you can’t find Marsala wine, you can substitute it with dark sherry.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Serve with pasta, rice, cauliflower rice, or mashed potatoes.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Gail Roper says
We enjoyed this recipe. My chicken was a little overdone, so may shorten cook time to 3 minutes next time, or maybe just need thicker chicken breasts. I would double the sauce, as we didn’t have enough for 4 chicken breasts, and it was so delicious! Hubby requests I make it again. 🙂
Karen says
Best Marsala Chicken recipe!!! I served it for dinner guests and they practically licked their plates. A must-do recipe
MARCY M says
Ohhhh my goodness this is a delicious meal. My family was licking their plates.
Diana says
So glad to hear that your family loved it, Marcy!!
Laura says
Can you please update your ingredients and/or your directions? You mention salt and pepper twice but only list it once. 🧐. That being said, I only placed it in the flour mixture. I also wasn’t sure where the 2nd tablespoon of butter (2 tablespoons, divided) was supposed to go, so I ended up not using it. Tasty recipe, though! Yummy flavor.
Maria says
I agree! Also, in the nutritional info, it lists the calories, carbs, protein, etc., but it doesn’t list how much a serving is. This is so important, especially if you’re diabetic. Can you please update that as well? It’s a beautiful recipe! Thank you
Maria says
Oops! I found it! So sorry.
Katie says
Delicious dinner… this was my first ever IP meal… I’d never made chicken marsala at home & this will be a repeat meal! I have the IP ultra 6qt & have to say I was only have to saute 2 chicken breast at a time due to space… this caused the cook time to lengthen but was still worth it. Then, once chicken was ready, the rest was fast!