Hearty and simple Easy Mushroom Marsala Wine Sauce Recipe is a great simple sauce to use on pasta and meats like a thin chicken cutlet or pork chops. Made with rich flavors of mushrooms and herbs. Gluten free.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Recipe
This easy Mushroom Marsala Wine Sauce recipe is a secret weapon in your kitchen arsenal, adding a burst of rich, savory flavor to any dish.
With just a handful of ingredients and a few simple steps, you’ll be whipping up gourmet-level sauces like a pro. This makes it perfect for a weeknight meal!
Mushroom Marsala Wine Sauce recipe is a savory and flavorful sauce that pairs wonderfully with various dishes, particularly chicken breast or pasta. And creamy mashed potatoes, asparagus, or my Tomato Garlic Italian Green Beans are great side dishes to serve.
This marsala wine sauce recipe is versatile and easy, making it perfect to be the star of a dish or a finishing sauce for dinner. With a slightly sweet flavor and lots of earth components, the rich flavor that is classic in Italian recipes comes through. It is perfect as part of our Copycat Olive Garden Fettuccine Chicken Marsala recipe based on an Italian-American classic.
Ingredients
Full quantities and details can be found in the recipe card below. Let’s talk about the ingredients you need to make this Italian sauce recipe!
Fresh Mushrooms – I prefer to use crimini or white button mushrooms, but you can use any variety of meaty mushrooms you prefer. Canned mushrooms will work but will have a much softer texture and not brown as well.
Marsala Wine – The key ingredient! It is best to use a real marsala wine from a liquor store and not a cooking wine from a grocery store. The cooking wines do not taste nearly as good. Dry marsala wine is best as sweet marsala wine will have a sweeter flavor. Marsala is an Italian fortified wine.
Vegetable Stock – mushroom stock (or using mushroom base with water) is ideal if you have it. But vegetable stock (or even chicken stock if it does not need to be vegetarian) works great. Chicken or beef broth will also work.
Cornstarch – to slightly thicken the sauce. You can also use flour if preferred. The cornstarch keeps the sauce gluten free (just check your wine if this matters to you).
Dried Rosemary – you can also use fresh rosemary, just increase to 1.5 Tablespoons
Garlic Cloves – minced garlic
Butter – An easy way to add a little creamy texture to the sauce. You could also use olive oil instead if preferred.
Olive Oil – or more butter if preferred
Salt
Black Pepper
Pasta – this sauce will cover a pound of pasta. But you could also use it for chicken, pork, vegetables, or however you wish.
If you want a creamy sauce, you can add heavy cream as well.
How to Make Marsala Wine Sauce Recipe
This section provides additional details compared to the recipe card below. Here are the general steps for making this rich marsala wine sauce recipe:
Sauté the Mushrooms: Heat oil in a medium pot over medium to medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté until they are golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes.
Add Garlic: Stir in the minced garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper to the sautéed mushrooms and sauté for an additional 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Then add the cornstarch (or flour) and stir. Let it slightly cook about 30 seconds.
Deglaze with Marsala Wine: Pour in the Marsala wine to deglaze the skillet, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the wine simmer for a few minutes until it has reduced just slightly.
Add Broth: Pour in the chicken or vegetable broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Allow it to cook for another 5-7 minutes, allowing the flavors to meld and the sauce to thicken slightly.
Add Butter: Add the butter and whisk in to combine.
Season and Garnish: Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed based on the exact ingredients you are using and how you are using the sauce. which will vary . Garnish with chopped fresh parsley for added freshness and color.
Make it a creamy mushroom marsala sauce recipe by adding heavy cream as desired.
Serve: Serve the Mushroom Marsala Wine Sauce hot over your favorite cooked protein (such as chicken, pork, or steak) or pasta. It also pairs well with mashed potatoes or rice.
Delicious leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated up to 4 days.
Modifications and Substitutions
You can swap out the cornstarch for flour instead, if you do not need it to be gluten free. Use 2 Tablespoons flour if replacing for the cornstarch. The cornstarch and flour can also be skipped completely if you want a very thin broth-like sauce.
Mushroom stock or base (with water) is ideal to drive home the mushroom flavor. But vegetable or chicken broth or stock works great.
Not a fan of mushrooms? Many people still like the flavor but do not want to eat the mushrooms themselves. You can cut the mushrooms into larger pieces to make them easy to avoid.
FAQs
What is Marsala?
Marsala is a wine that tastes very similar to mushrooms. A marsala sauce is a marsala wine based sauce, typically made with mushrooms and other herbs or flavors.
What is a Marsala sauce made of?
Marsala sauce is made with marsala wine, mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, and a thickening agent like cornstarch or flour.
How do you thicken Marsala wine sauce?
Thicken marsala wine sauce by adding cornstarch or flour and cooking it in the sauce, which will activate it to thicken.
Does the alcohol cook out of chicken Marsala?
Yes, most if not all of the alcohol cooks out when making marsala sauce. It is difficult to say zero alcohol is left but if any is, it is not noticeable.
Is Marsala wine high in alcohol?
Yes, marsala wine has a higher alcohol percentage than a standard wine.
How much cornstarch to thicken marsala?
1 Tablespoon of cornstarch does a great job at thickening marsala sauce without making it too thick.
More Pasta Sauce Recipes
Easy Mushroom Marsala Wine Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil (or other neutral oil)
- 6 ounces mushrooms cremini or white button, sliced (2 cups)
- ½ Tablespoon minced garlic ½ (approximately 3 cloves)
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (or 2 Tablespoons flour)
- ½ Tablespoon dried rosemary chopped
- 1 ½ cups vegetable stock or broth
- 1 ½ cups marsala wine
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Heat a medium pot over medium heat. When hot, add the oil.1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- Add the mushrooms and cook until lightly browned, approximately 3 minutes.6 ounces mushrooms
- Add the garlic, rosemary, and cornstarch. Stir to combine. Cook until fragrant and flour is cooked, 1 minute.½ Tablespoon minced garlic ½, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, ½ Tablespoon dried rosemary
- Add the wine, stock, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes.1 ½ cups vegetable stock, 1 ½ cups marsala wine, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Add the butter and stir in to combine into the sauce. Remove from heat.2 Tablespoons butter
- Toss with pasta or use as desired. Add more stock, pasta water, or water as needed to loosen and get the consistency you want. Or thicken with more cornstarch mixed into liquid over a simmer.
