This Instant Pot Chicken Marsala is made with juicy chicken cutlets that are cooked in mushroom and Marsala wine sauce. This flavorful dish comes together in your pressure cooker in less than 30 minutes!
Quick chicken meals are my favorite to make in the pressure cooker. We love the Sweet Garlic Chicken and my Instant Pot Chicken Thighs.
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Dish
If you never had Chicken Marsala in your life, you are missing out. This Italian-American dish is easy to make and packed with flavor! I browned the chicken first, then made the sauce base and pressure-cooked everything together. Lastly, I thickened the sauce and served this delicious dish with pasta or mashed potatoes.
You can use chicken breast, boneless thighs, or bone-in skin-on chicken thighs to make this. I think even pork cutlets will work! It's the sauce that makes the dish. The sweet and nutty Marsala wine, which tastes like dried fruit and brown sugar, has a deep flavor that complements the mushrooms so well. The chicken is infused with all of the flavors during pressure cooking. The results are outstanding!
If you want to make an easy dish but one that is impressive, try this recipe. You will love it!
Ingredients:
- chicken breasts - I used boneless skinless chicken breasts and sliced each lengthwise to make cutlets.
- mushrooms - For this dish, I prefer baby Bella mushrooms.
- Marsala wine - This wine gives the dish that signature flavor. You can find it in the grocery store, next to cooking wine and vinegar. I used the Holland House brand and it was great!
- chicken stock - Necessary for deglazing the pot and it's the liquid that will allow the Instant Pot to build up pressure. You can use water as well.
- onion and garlic - The veggies add more flavor to the sauce.
- flour - I used it to dredge the chicken just before browning. It creates a beautiful brown color and gives it a nice texture. You can skip it to keep the dish gluten-free.
- cornstarch - Mixed with water, this ingredient will allow us to make a delicious sauce with all of the liquid leftover from cooking the chicken.
How to make Instant Pot Chicken Marsala?
- Cut each chicken breast lengthwise into two cutlets, season with salt and pepper, and dredge in flour.
- Brown in olive oil, right in your Instant Pot. Remove onto a plate.
- Add garlic, onion, and mushrooms to your Instant Pot and saute until fragrant.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
- Add chicken stock and Marsala wine to the veggies in your pressure cooker.
- Close the lid, set the valve to sealing, and set the timer to 7 minutes.
- Once the cooking time is done, remove the chicken cutlets onto a plate and thicken the sauce by adding cornstarch mixed with water.
What to serve with this dish?
This dish can be served over rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, or roasted potatoes. We enjoyed it with mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. Crusty bread pieces help soak up every last drop of the delicious sauce.
Marsala wine substitutes:
Marsala wine has a distinct flavor and I highly recommend using it in this dish. You can find it next to cooking wines and vinegar in your grocery store. Some cooks recommend the following substitutes:
- dry sherry
- grape juice with a little bit of brandy
- dry white wine with brandy.
Recipe FAQs:
Yes! You can use boneless chicken thighs and keep the cooking time the same or use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and increase the time to 12 minutes.
Both actually! This sweet wine can be sipped on and used in cooking, to make a delicious sauce like we did in the dish above.
Absolutely! Add ½ cup of heavy cream to the simmering sauce and stirring often, cook until creamy and thickened.
More Instant Pot Dinner Recipes:
To learn more about the Instant Pot, check out my Guide for Beginners. If you experienced the “burn” message while using your IP, check out my Instant Pot Burn Message post to learn how to fix the issue and prevent it in the first place.
If you like this recipe and make it, let me know in the comments below! Don't forget to rate it if you enjoyed it!
Instant Pot Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
for the chicken:
- 2 medium chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
for the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 8 oz. white or baby Bella mushrooms
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ½ cup Marsala wine
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Make sure that your stainless steel insert is in your Instant Pot. Press "saute" setting and wait 2 minutes.
- Add oil and butter to your Instant Pot and let it melt.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Cut each chicken breast lengthwise, to make two cutlets. Season with salt and pepper and dredge in flour.2 medium chicken breasts, ¼ cup flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Brown each chicken cutlet on each side. Remove onto a plate.
- Add more butter to the Instant Pot. Add garlic, onion and mushrooms and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes.1 tablespoon unsalted butter, 3 garlic cloves, ½ cup chopped onion, 8 oz. white or baby Bella mushrooms
- Press "cancel/off" button. Add chicken stock and wine to vegetables. Stir well.½ cup chicken stock, ½ cup Marsala wine
- Place chicken in the sauce. Close the lid, set valve to "sealing" positions (the newer IP models do it on their own).
- Make sure the IP is set to cook at HIGH pressure. Set timer to 7 minutes.
- The IP will beep and it will start coming to pressure. That can take about 5 minutes.
- Once the timer is done, press "cancel/off" button and let the Instant Pot release pressure naturally.
- Once the pressure pin drops, carefully open the lid away from your face.
- Remove the chicken and set on a plate.
- Mix cornstarch with water and add to the sauce. Stir and let it sit for a few minutes to thicken.1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water
- Serve chicken with sauce over mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, rice or noodles.
Notes
- You can use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs to make this dish. Increase cooking time to 12 minutes.
- For boneless chicken thighs, the cooking time stays the same.
- Please note, that the nutrition value can vary depending on what product you use. The information below is an estimate. Always use calorie counter you are familiar with.
Linda says
Could you use a dry white wine instead of Marsala wine?
LuAnn Gallagher says
white wine will be fine but now you will lose the "deep" flavor profile. If you have whit wine make a picata.
Wanda says
How do you get the sauce to look brown like the picture? I’m wondering if I did not sauté the mushrooms and onions long enough .
Kristen says
I just got an instant pot for Christmas and I’ve already made this recipe twice! Very easy and so tasty. A lot of the ingredients are already in the pantry. Favorite way to serve this is over egg noodles 🙂
Anna says
Thank you so much, Kristen! I am so glad the chicken was a hit!
Daniel Berman says
Now that was good. Oh my. I did double the wine and chicken stock but everything else I followed exactly as you lay out. So delicious. Thank you!!!
Anna says
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Daniel!
Linda says
Do I increase the cooking time if my thighs are frozen
Libbi says
It would be helpful if you would give an estimate of how long it will take to release pressure.
Libbi says
Oops I found it haha thanks!
Anna says
Glad you found it, Libbi!
Kimball says
About 10 minutes on my DUO
Angela says
One of my first instant pot recipes. Easy to follow recipe and hubby and kids loved it.
Jessica says
if I double the recipe, will I have to adjust the time?
Tarah says
I’d love to know this, too!
Marge says
No, it just may take longer to come to pressure.
Steph says
WAs this made in a 6 qt? I have a 3 qt should I adjust anything? Thanks 😊
Anna says
Hi Steph! Yes, I used a 6qt IP. If the chicken breasts will fit in your 3qt, then you should be fine.
Courtney says
Delicious! I doubled the sauce after reading xomments. This is a new family favorite!!!
Anna says
Thank you so much, Courtney! I am so glad it was a hit!
Lilia says
First time with this recipe and using the IP, sauce was a bit watery, will modify with less liquid for next time. Otherwise, meal was tasty.
Louise says
Or you can add more cornstarch to cold water and saute until thickened.
Lil says
Can frozen chicken pieces be used, and will it affect cook time?
Kim says
I like thing chicken breasts. Would you keep the same cooking time or do a minute or two less? Thank you!
Anna says
Hi Kim! If you are using thin chicken breast, you can cut down the cooking time to 3 minutes. Hope this helps!
Nicole says
This was my first attempt at an IP recipe & it was super easy & delicious! I doubled the sauce recipe but other than that I followed the recipe exactly! Yum!
Anna says
Awesome! Thank you so much, Nicole! I hope you will try more of my Instant Pot recipes!
Marnie says
Delicious!
Anna says
Thank you, Marnie!
Jackie says
The flavor was good, but the sauce was way lighter than in the picture. Not sure why? I used white mushrooms instead of Bellas but can’t imagine that’s why. First try, but we’ll definitely make it again. Just wish the sauce looked like the picture. I guess it could also be because I bought Marsala “wine sauce” in the olive oil section of the grocery store.
Lori says
Thats the only place i found it too!! Hmmmmmmm