Skip the restaurant wait times and recreate Olive Garden’s most beloved dish in your own kitchen. This chicken marsala delivers all the luxurious flavors of the Italian classic with tender, flour-crusted chicken simmered in a rich marsala wine sauce with earthy mushrooms. What makes this recipe truly special is its simplicity (one pan does it all!) and the restaurant-quality results you’ll achieve in just 40 minutes.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Table of Contents
What Makes the Olive Garden Chicken Marsala the Perfect Weekend Dinner
If you want to skip the crowds at Olive Garden this weekend, why not try making your version at home?
With this recipe, you can quickly whip up a delicious meal and enjoy quality time with your loved ones. It’s the perfect way to unwind after a busy week. The famous Italian dish feels so luxurious and indulgent. It is undoubtedly a great way to spoil your family!
Why You Should Try This Recipe
The secret to authentic chicken marsala lies in the flour dredging technique, which creates a golden crust that seals in juices while providing the perfect base for the sauce to cling to. The dry marsala wine reduces during cooking, concentrating its complex flavors and creating that signature restaurant-quality sauce. Cooking everything in one pan allows the chicken to absorb the wine and mushroom flavors while the fond (browned bits) add incredible depth to the final sauce.
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- Cake flour – Creates a lighter, more delicate coating than all-purpose flour
- Salt – Enhances all flavors and helps tenderize the chicken
- Freshly ground black pepper – Adds warmth and complexity to the flour mixture
- Dried oregano – Provides classic Italian herb flavor throughout the coating
- Chicken breasts – The protein base that becomes tender and juicy when properly cooked
- Cooking oil – Provides high-heat cooking fat for proper searing
- Butter – Adds richness and helps achieve golden-brown color
For the Sauce:
- White button mushrooms – Provide earthy flavor and meaty texture that complements the wine
- Yellow onion – Adds sweetness and depth to the overall sauce flavor
- Dry marsala wine – The star ingredient that creates the signature rich, complex sauce
How to Make Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
- Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and oregano and blend well.
- Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat until bubbling lightly.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and shake off the excess.
- Cook the chicken for about 2 minutes on the first side, until lightly brown.
- Turn over the chicken and add the mushrooms and onion around the chicken pieces.
- Cook for about 2 minutes more, until the chicken is golden brown on the second side.
- Stir the sliced mushrooms.
- Add the Marsala wine, cover the pan, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve the chicken covered with the marsala sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
What to Serve with Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
This is the perfect opportunity for you to make other Olive Garden dishes. Serve this recipe with Olive Garden fried mozzarella sticks, steamed broccoli, or Olive Garden house salad. You can also serve it on a bed of fettuccine noodles or rice, which is equally delicious!
Storage & Reheating Instructions
- Freezing: Best enjoyed fresh, but can freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw completely before reheating
- Refrigerator Storage: Store in airtight containers for up to 4 days. Keep chicken and sauce together to maintain moisture
- Reheating Method: Oven method preferred. Reheat at 350°F for 20-30 minutes until heated through. The stovetop works too – cover and heat gently over medium heat, flipping chicken once
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes
- Chicken Scampi
- Cappellini Pomodoro
- Crispy Chicken Fritta
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Shrimp Caprese
- Fried Mozzarella
Popular Italian Recipes
- Cavatini
- Pasta with Eggs and Parmesan Cheese
- Pasta con Broccoli
- Shrimp Pasta with White Wine Sauce
- Chicken Gorgonzola Pasta
- Gnocchi
- Homemade Italian Sausage
You can find the best Olive Garden copycat recipes at CopyKat.com, the web’s most popular destination for copycat restaurant recipes.
Olive Garden Chicken Marsala Copycat
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 cup oil
- 4 ounces butter
- 2 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1 medium onion sliced (optional)
- 1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
Instructions
- Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and oregano and mix well.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat until bubbling lightly.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and shake off the excess.
- Cook the chicken for about 2 minutes on the first side, until lightly brown. Flip the breasts and add the mushrooms and onions (if desired) around the chicken. Cook for about 2 more minutes, until the chicken is lightly browned on the second side.
- Add the wine, stir the vegetables, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
Hi just found this recipe. How can you tell if it is a dry wine? I am from a small town where the wine is sold in a grocery store and they don’t know either. I have American Marsala by cribari cellars, is that ok?
You need to get the one at the cooking section. I think it’s with the vinegar.
I cannot find Marsala wine anywhere! Can beef broth be substituted?
They sell it in most liquor/wine stores, this isn’t something exotic. You should find it near where they keep fortified wines. I would substitute out another wine, not beef stock for optimal flavor. Go for a dry wine.
Hi Wanda, you can find it at any superwalmart in the same section as venigar. Our smiths and Davis Jubilee also have it I the venigar section as well.
Vinegar*
This was amazing! Made this for my boyfriend last night and he loved it! Thank you!
I am so glad you enjoyed the dish.
a dish my neighbor had gotten from olive garden , beef and noodles and mushrooms with wine , do you have a recipe for that?
I haven’t tried that dish before, I will have to be on the look out for it.
Looks delicious. Going to try this today. Few minor issues: would standard gold medal flour work vs cake flour? And it was difficult to find cheap dry marsala wine without spending over $10.
You don’t wanna go cheap with marsala imo. The cheaper you get the more vinegar you get or the more over sweet you get. Hyvee usually has a good selection of wine. U could buy a dry for around 13 or so and a sweet for about 15 to 16 bucks.
You are going to be able to make this several times with the one bottle. I usually spend between 10 to 15 dollars a bottle for this.
I’m trying this for dinner tonight, as it seems like a quicker recipe than the one I usually make. BTW, in response to some of the comments, the old recipe I used called for shallots, beef broth and sour cream. The beef broth and sour cream give it a creamier consistency. This one was posted on my FaceBook page, and it looked delicious!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe.
Tried this recipe and it was delish! This will go into the dinner rotation at my home, thank you 🙂
I am so glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you.
Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed this.
Olive Garden’s sauce seems to have some cream and a touch of Kikkoman soy sauce. Do any former employees know what is really in the sauce?
Olive Garden actually has this recipe posted on their site..
Does anyone have the recipe for chicken and rice from the Cracker Barrel? I just retired and am now trying to cook for my wife. We love their chicken and rice.
Dave, I appreciate your request. I don’t have a similar recipe right now.
I have used this recipe but changed it a bit and it is great, when doing the recipe when it gets to the marsala wine add brown gravy mix, first prepare your brown gravy and add your wine and let it cook through, i make this all the time and yet had no complaints, i also always serve it with angel hair pasta.
oh my goodness!!! this was so delicious…my husband enjoyed it so much he would have had no problem with me making it again the next night….even my son loved it! This is what he has requested for his birthday dinner…and it’s only been a week since i made it for the very first time….great recipe..a keeper at our house.
It is wonderful when your family enjoys a recipe. I have a short list of my “no fail” and “crowd pleasing” recipes. Chicken Marsala is one of them.
me encanto esta receta ya la he probado vaqriasd veces. excelente.
I asked the manager at a Olive garden and she said they put molasses in their Marsala sauce…I don’t know how much.
That’s an interesting tip, I never would have thought of that. ~Stephanie
This is a great recipe. BUT please note that no onions are included in the list of ingredients, nor in the instructions for cooking. Should they be sauteed first? Please check this out. Thanks!
Leilani, checked it out, and made the modification. Thanks! ~Stephanie
Umm gonna try this recipie tonight, howver i noticed an onion on one of the chicken pieces in the picture above. I will add it to my dinner tonite…
I actually got this recipe on here a few years ago and have made it alot. It’s fantastic!! I’ve used regular white button mushrooms, which are great. But I definately prefer the baby bella mushrooms. It’s so good. I would love the recipe for the stuffed marsala also, if anyone can come up with that one!!
does anyone know how to make the Stuffed version of this? the one with the cheeses in between two chicken pieces?
Just finished making this for dinner and it was very good….a keeper. I used only two chicken breasts and right after I took the chicken breasts out I thickened the sauce with a smidge of cornstarch in water. I put the breasts over linguine and poured the sauce over that……looked great and tasted great. I used baby bella mushrooms for this.
What kind of fresh mushrooms do you use in this recipe?
I made this the other night and it was a big hit with my husband and two kids. It was easy and quick to make.
You can use the regular white button mushrooms you find in the grocery store on these.