Easy and flavorful Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala in a savory sauce filled with mushrooms and garlic!
Loving this super easy Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala? You’ll also want to try my NEW Instant Pot Chicken Marsala, Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots, One Pan Garlic Herb Chicken and Asparagus, and Healthy Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore.
Here’s How You Make It
Delicious — It’s SO good! Incredibly easy with just a few minutes of prep and that creamy sauce is heavenly. It’s easy peasy and crazy delicious meals like this that get me through stressful weeks. I could use a few more like this after our kitchen disaster.
Easy — I mean, you just can’t beat a slow cooker for busy weeknight cooking. Simply add your ingredients, cook, shred the chicken, and add it back in. Serve over rice and dinner is DONE.
Great for busy weeknights — It’s so great for those busy days when you don’t have time to make anything at dinner time, because when dinner time rolls around, dinner is done!
Leftovers — IF you have any leftovers (big if!) this chicken marsala is great the next day too. You could double this recipe to ensure leftovers as well, no problem. Leftovers keep just fine in the fridge, I would not recommend freezing this dish.
Ingredients
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts — This kind of chicken cut is the best no-muss, no-fuss way to enjoy chicken marsala in the slow cooker.
- Minced Garlic — Minced garlic adds a wonderful flavor to this dish and is a key ingredient, don’t skip (or skimp) on it!
- Sliced Mushrooms — You can skip the mushrooms if you’re not a fan but they give this dish such a great depth of flavor and texture that you’ll be missing out if you don’t add them! (You can always add them for flavor and pick them out later, too.)
- Sweet Marsala Cooking Wine — Marsala cooking wine is the best option for this slow cooker chicken marsala, but if you don’t like it or can’t find it, you can also use chicken broth.
- Water & Cornstarch — Mix these two ingredients together at the end of cooking to create a slurry that will thicken your chicken marsala.
- Fresh Parsley — There’s nothing like fresh herbs sprinkled over dinner before serving! Roughly chop some parsley to add over the top of this chicken for extra flavor and color. If you don’t have fresh, you can use dried too.
Here’s How You Make It
- First, lightly grease your slow cooker insert with nonstick spray to make for easier clean up later. Then, season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and place in the bottom of the insert. (photos 1-2)
- Next, add the garlic, mushrooms, and marsala wine right on top of your seasoned chicken. Add the lid and set the slow cooker for 5-6 hours on low. (photos 3-4)
- When the chicken is done, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to a plate. Then, whisk together the water and cornstarch until dissolved to make the slurry. Pour this into the sauce in the slow cooker and stir. (photos 5-7)
- Add the chicken back to the slow cooker and turn the heat to high. Re-cover and allow the chicken marsala to cook for another 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened. Right before serving, taste the sauce and add salt and/or pepper as needed. (photos 8-10)
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve. (not pictured)
Expert Tips + Tricks
- Serve this chicken marsala over noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.
- Don’t like mushrooms? Then I suggest cooking with them and picking them out or leaving them out entirely.
- This chicken marsala will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
The most important ingredient in chicken marsala is marsala wine. If you don’t have marsala wine you can use chicken broth in a pinch, or another kind of cooking wine like dry Madeira, port, or red vermouth.
Some sauces also call for the addition of chicken broth and cream but I like to leave that out, as I think the wine, mushrooms, and garlic make the best sauce!
I’ve found the easiest way for me to clean a slow cooker is to let it sit in the sink with warm water and dish soap to soak before cleaning. I typically let it soak overnight. If it’s not too bad, you can also put it in the dishwasher (check to make sure it’s dishwasher safe first, though).
More Recipes
- Creamy Mushroom Garlic Chicken
- Sautéed Garlic Butter Mushrooms
- Mushroom Sauce for Chicken
- Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Bacon
- Slow Cooker Beef Roast
- Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste - (I used about ½ teaspoon of each)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup sweet marsala cooking wine - (may sub chicken broth in a pinch)
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup corn starch
- fresh parsley - roughly chopped
Instructions
- Lightly grease your slow cooker with nonstick spray. Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Top chicken with garlic, mushrooms, and marsala wine. Cover and cook for 5-6 hours on low.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken to a plate. Whisk together water and cornstarch til dissolved, then pour into slow cooker and stir.
- Add chicken back to slow cooker, switch heat to high, cover and cook another 20-30 minutes until sauce is thickened. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe slightly adapted from Tablespoon.
What exactly is Marsala wine? Can you email me the exact name of wine you use. Thank you.
Would adding cream of mushroom soup affect the recipe In a negative way?
Hi! Can I use frozen chicken?
You can but it will require some additional cooking time. 🙂
I was disappointed with how this turned out. I thought the Marsala was tasty when I tried a bit before cooking but I found the taste of the sauce to be unpleasant. Maybe it was too strong for me. I will try to thin it out with broth but I wouldn’t make this again
I made this last night and not sure what went wrong but it was absolutely terrible and tasteless. I did everything according to the recipe. My husband agreed so I will not be cooking it again!
Sounds like you probably didn’t add enough salt and pepper – that’s what really brings the sauce to life!
The same thing happened to me. While I’m not happy that it turned out badly for you, I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who had this problem. I don’t think it’s the salt/pepper in my case, cause I added tons. I was actually worried it would come out too salty.
How do I adapt the slow cooker recipe for chicken marsala for an oven please? I currently don’t own a slow cooker. (yet)
Please indicate recipe name in subject heading.
Also, I plan on using the broth but would consider using white wine — your thoughts?
Hi Joanne, You could prepare it in a casserole dish, then cover with foil and bake for probably 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Keep an eye on cooking time as I’m not positive how long it will take but when your chicken is white through the middle it’s good to go!
What type of mushrooms do you use? Fresh sliced? The look darker than canned sliced mushrooms.
Thank you 🙂
They are fresh whole white cremini mushrooms that I sliced. 🙂
If I am making this recipe for 2 people only do you think I can use only two chicken breasts and it still turn out ok? I guess I would need to cut back the cooking time to maybe 4 hours? What are your thoughts?
Yes you could use just two chicken breasts and cut back the cooking time, just keep all the other ingredients the same! 🙂
Just made this dish And I used all the right things but boy was the sauce thick I had to thin it down a lot it was like paste maybe a 1/4 cup cornstarch is too much ,any one else hav this problem.
I had a similar problem. My sauce became gelatinous just about ten or fifteen minutes after I added the cornstarch. Not sure what happened! Anybody have any tips?
This was delicious and incredibly easy. I only had frozen bone-in chicken breasts. I made the recipe without the mushrooms and heated it on warm for 2 hours, added the mushrooms and cooked on low for 6. Fabulous.
Live in the country, no Marsala available. What is the closest wine to it that I could use?
wonder how this would work with porkchops vs chicken? I’ve made this and it’s delish with chicken…
I bet pork chops would be great! I personally would opt for boneless. Probably about the same cooking time would work!
I was so excited to find this recipe. Stumbled on it on Pinterest. Just made it tonight and unfortunately it was a disaster. So overcooked that I am not sure what to do with it. I cooked 5 chicken breasts, put a few extra mushrooms in , an extra 1/4 cup of marsala and put it on for 5 hours on low. I have an All Clad high end slow cooker that is only a year old. That’s it. Almost like rawhide it is so tough. Bummer for dinner when I thought we’d have a yummy meal. I’ll try again at some point, but highly recommend checking this much sooner than 5 hours.
Hi Anne Marie! So sorry to hear that, this is a very popular recipe on my site and gets great reviews all the time! I’m so sad that it didn’t turn out for you – it sounds like you did everything according to the recipe so I’m not sure what went wrong!?
Would it hurt if the slow cooker went long than the 5-6 hours? I typically leave at 6:00 am and return at 4:00pm which would be 10 hours. I would hate to ruin it.
Thanks
Hi Karen! The only thing you want to be careful of is overcooking the chicken which would dry it out. Does your slow cooker have a timer? If so you could maybe delay it an hour or two. Another good idea is to try it for the 10 hours with frozen chicken breasts!
In retrospect, upending the bottle of Marsala cooking wine was not my smartest moment. Next time I promise to measure 1c and keep it at that. Because I used too much, I never managed to convince the sauce to thicken at the end of the recipe, and the chicken tasted, well, alcoholic. Completely my own fault! I look forward to trying it again soon though 🙂
(In my defense, I’m used to slow cooker recipes telling me to use enough liquid to -cover- the meat)
Hello. Thank you for this recipe. We just finished eating and my husband loved it. I liked it but I wanted it to taste like my favorite restaurant ( which I’m sure pan fries it and uses butter so I may be unrealistic.). What brand of Marsala do you use? Also I used baby baby bellos, would another type of mushrooms be better? I sincerely appreciate any advice you can give me. Next week I’m going to try the one pot lime chicken, that looks awesome too.
Hi! I have the same question as Stacy. I’m curious what brand of Marsala wine you use? Some mentioned the flavor was quite strong – I’m guessing that might be from using different kinds of Marsala wine. I’m guessing they’re not all created equal!?
I just found your website and I love that you have so many slow cooker recipes! I’m all about the slow cooker too! 😉 Thanks for sharing your talents with us!