Instant Pot Chicken Marsala Tastes Better From Scratch

Looking for more Instant Pot recipes? Make my Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, Instant Pot Spaghetti, or Instant Pot Short Ribs! I’m not lying when I say this could be my FAVORITE dish to make in the Instant Pot. (And if you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can make it really easily on the stove. Read on 🙂 .) And if you need help, let me teach you how to use your instant pot! The sauce is creamy with the best flavors from the mushrooms and marsala wine and the chicken cooks perfectly in the instant pot. This is the type of meal I would happily serve to dinner guests, and it’s just a bonus that’s it’s so simple to make.

What is chicken marsala?

Chicken marsala is an American-Italian dish made with chicken, mushrooms, and sweet marsala wine. It makes for a fast and easy weeknight meal but it’s fancy enough for a special occasion.

How to make Chicken Marsala:

Lightly coat the chicken pieces in salt, pepper, and flour. Put a little oil in your instant pot and turn it to SAUTE. Brown chicken on both sides for about 3-4 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and sauté the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Add chicken broth and chicken thighs back to the instant pot. Cook on the POULTRY setting for 10 minutes with a 12 minute natural release. When the chicken is finished cooking in the instant pot, remove it to a plate and add the marsala wine to the instant pot. Sauté for a few minutes, add the cream, and you have created your yummy chicken marsala sauce. Serve the chicken and sauce over noodles or mashed potatoes!

Which marsala wine is best for chicken marsala?

This chicken marsala sauce is made up of chicken broth, onions, garlic, mushrooms, green onions, marsala wine, and heavy cream. You can find real marsala wine in the wine section of the grocery store, or you can buy cooking marsala wine that is usually found in the baking isle. I used the cooking wine because it’s a little less potent and I knew my kids would like it better. But you can use the real deal as well!

Substitutions for marsala wine:

Marsala wine has a unique flavor, and given that it is the star of this dish, any substitutions won’t taste quite the same. If you’re concerned about adding alcohol to this dish just know that the alcohol gets burned of as it boils, in step 7. I’ve read that the following substitutes can be used for marsala wine (but I haven’t tried them myself):

¼ cup of white grape juice + 1 tablespoon vanilla extract + 2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar1 ⅓ cup grape juice with a teaspoon of brandy dry sherry

Recipe Variations:

Stove Top: Use the same method but brown the chicken in a skillet until completely cooked through. Remove the chicken to a plate while you make the sauce in the skillet. Add a little oil to the skillet and cook the mushrooms, green onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the marsala wine and bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and cream and cook for a few more minutes, until thickened. Spoon sauce over chicken, to serve. Chicken Breasts: I HIGHLY recommend using chicken thighs for this recipe because they cook so much better in the instant pot than chicken breasts do. If you must use chicken breasts, you can. Cook time is the same.