This slow cooker chicken marsala is tender chicken breasts cooked in a mushroom and marsala wine sauce. It’s a delicious meal option that the whole family is sure to love!
I always used to order chicken marsala at restaurants, but now that I know how to make it in the crock pot, it’s become a dinner time favorite at home too! I love to use my crock pot to make comfort food classics including slow cooker beef bourguignon, slow cooker whole chicken and this creamy chicken and mushrooms.
Chicken Marsala is a super popular dish, and for good reason. How can you go wrong with chicken and mushrooms in a savory sauce? Well, I guess if you’re not a mushroom lover, but we love mushrooms at my house! This slow cooker chicken marsala is my take on the classic dish. It’s a great way to get the flavors of this restaurant favorite with minimal work.
How to make slow cooker chicken marsala
The first step in this recipe is to brown your chicken breasts. I understand that some people are looking for “dump and go” crock pot recipes where you just put everything in the slow cooker and walk away. If you really want to skip the browning of the chicken, you can, but it really adds SO much flavor to the end dish so I highly recommend it.
The chicken goes into the slow cooker along with some mushrooms, chicken broth, garlic and marsala wine. Most grocery stores carry marsala wine, but it’s not always mixed in with the standard red and white wines, so if you don’t see it, ask. My store has their marsala wine in the liquor section instead of the wine area.
The chicken and mushrooms simmer away in the sauce until tender. After the chicken and mushrooms are cooked, I add some corn starch to the slow cooker to help thicken up the sauce.
I also like to add a splash of cream at the end, it really rounds out the sauce and makes it taste so delicious. You can omit the cream if you prefer, or add a little butter for a similar result.
I serve my slow cooker chicken marsala over mashed potatoes, but rice or orzo would also be nice choices. My family loves this version of chicken marsala just as much as the kind we get at restaurants, and I love how easy it is to make!
More easy chicken recipes
- Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken
- Chicken Madeira
- Bourbon Chicken
- Honey Garlic Chicken Stir Fry
Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala Video
Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/2 cup marsala wine
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Place the chicken in the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Place the chicken breasts, garlic, wine, chicken broth and mushrooms in the slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW for 5 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker. Whisk together the cornstarch with 1/3 cup cold water. Pour the cornstarch into the slow cooker and stir to combine.
- Add the chicken back to the slow cooker, turn the heat to HIGH and cook for 30 minutes or until sauce has thickened.
- Stir in the heavy cream and season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- If you're really pressed for time, you can skip browning the chicken breasts, but I highly recommend taking the time to brown them!
- You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts if you prefer.
- Adapted from Creme de la Crumb
- Stove top instructions: Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover with foil to keep warm. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Add the marsala wine and chicken broth to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch that's been mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water. Simmer until just thickened. Stir in the cream and simmer for 2 more minutes. Add the chicken back to the pan and spoon the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
I doubled the sauce and chicken using thighs, added 1 Tablespoon of Herbs de Provence and it turned out amazing. The Herbs de Provence made a huge difference tasted like the dishes I have ordered in France.
How large should the chicken breasts be?
I use 4-6 ounce sized chicken breasts.
Planning on cooking this soon, Can I omit the wine? Also we are trying to watch carbs and can’t eat rice or potatoes. Any ideas?
You can omit the wine but the flavor will be a little different without it. You could try serving it over mashed cauliflower or cauliflower rice!
The marsala wine I bought is sweet. Is. It the right one
Yes that’s correct!
mine doesnt say sweet?
That’s fine, some are labeled that way and some are not!
I’m prepping to make this tonight, quick question why do you remove and re add the chicken in the crockpot during step 5?
You just remove the chicken so you can thoroughly whisk the cornstarch into the liquid. Otherwise you could end up with raw corn starch on your chicken!
Makes sense, also sense I’m low on time if I cook it on high instead what would be the recommended cook time?
Can I omit heavy cream, I can’t have dairy products
Yes that’s fine!
oh my !!! delicious!! I suggest that you double the sauce recipe. i would take an hour off the slow cook time. We are already talking about using this marsala recipe for meatballs with buttered noodles or using beef broth and doing a salisbury steak. mmmmmm. thanks for the recipe. its a keeper
Can I cook it on high in order to speed up the process a bit if I don’t have 5 hours? Thanks!
That should be fine!
Do. I use fresh portabello or canned mushrooms?
I use fresh button mushrooms, fresh portabello would also be great!
Would this be good to make the night before and rewarm?
I think that would work just fine although I’ve never tried it myself!
The flavor of the sauce was really good but the chicken was a bit dry. Next time I will shorten the cooking time. Maybe I should have shortened it this time since I browned it first so it already had been cooked for a bit.
Easy and delicious. I had a slice shallot after browning the chicken, and all those browned drippings seemed a shame to waste, so I deglazed with the Marsala. That’s the only change. Everyone loved it. I served with steamed rice and buttered broccoli. So good!
Sounds amazing, so glad you enjoyed it!
For the heavy cream would you use heavy whipped cream? I’m planning on trying to cook this over the weekend and I want to know the specifics please.
Yes heavy whipping cream is fine!
Making it now. Easy to assemble so far. I split breasts into cutlet like portions, pounded a bit between waxed paper.
Im going to follow this recipe to the T. Last week I made crockpot teryaki chicken and didnt follow recipe exactly and it suffered.
What would you recommend if I don’t like mushrooms? Should I just omit altogether or maybe use cream of mushroom soup??
I’d just omit the mushrooms!
Best Chicken Marsala…better than restaurant. Super, super easy to make and minimal amount of ingredients. My entire family loved this recipe!!!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
Made it tonight and it was absolutely delicious! And easy prep! What more could you want?
So happy to hear you enjoyed it, I appreciate you reporting back!
This is my favorite go to dish. It is so flavorful and easy. If we have mushrooms in the fridge, I make it. Nice for company too because it seems more difficult than it is.
We tried this tonite. It was really easy! I didn’t add any salt because I used cooking Marsala wine (I read it has more salt than Marsala wine). It turned out great! I also used Bob Even’s mashed potatoes and the sauce from the chicken as a gravy. Awesome! Thank you for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it, thank you for leaving a comment!