This single-skillet chicken and mushroom dish is packed with flavor from sweet marsala wine, smoky bacon, and mascarpone cheese.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Whether you love the romance of the holiday or think it’s over-commercialized and silly, I hope you’re having a great day.
My Duck Breast with Cherry Sauce and Duck Fat Fried Potatoes recipe has been getting a lot of traffic this week. I’m guessing that means some of you are planning to make it for Valentine’s Day. That was my very first blog post, and one I spent a long time perfecting.
A couple weeks ago we had my aunt and uncle and cousin and my cousin’s fiancé over for dinner and I made that duck recipe. Since there were six of us, I made the potatoes in a sheet pan in the oven rather than on the stove, so I could manage cooking six duck breasts on the stove. The potatoes still came out very crispy. That duck is so good! We need to invite more people so I have an excuse to make it again.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for a special recipe to make tonight, look no further. This bacon chicken marsala uses common ingredients you may already have and is fairly quick and easy to make. If you’re shopping for ingredients today, pick up some strawberries and chocolate and serve Chocolate Covered Strawberries for dessert.
Here are the main ingredients. Those are chicken breasts I pounded thin, bacon, minced garlic, marsala wine, mascarpone cheese, and cremini (aka baby portabella) mushrooms. Use any kind of mushrooms you like. I used a whole pound of mushrooms for this four-servings recipe, which is more than most recipes call for. But the mushrooms are so delicious the way they soak up the sweet sauce. Trust me, you’ll want more mushrooms.
Start off by cooking the bacon.
Then cook the chicken. (I had one more piece of chicken, I had to do it in two batches.)
Next cook the mushrooms and make the sauce.
Add the chicken and bacon back to the skillet and heat through.
Serve over pasta, rice, mashed potatoes, or a vegetable mash. We ate ours with whole wheat thin spaghetti and salad on the side.
Don’t worry about how you’re going to use up that bottle of marsala wine. Once you see how easy and delicious this recipe is, you’re going to want to make it over and over again.
Bacon Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 5 slices bacon, chopped
- 4 small chicken breasts (about 1 3/4 pounds), pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup marsala wine
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 4 ounces mascarpone cheese
- chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook bacon, stirring frequently, until fully cooked, about 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. (Discard excess flour.) Place chicken in the skillet with bacon fat in a single layer. (Cook chicken in 2 batches if it doesn’t fit.) Cook over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes per side, until chicken is cooked through (internal temperature of 165 degrees). Remove chicken to a plate.
- In the same skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release their juices, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1-2 more minutes, until fragrant.
- Pour in marsala wine and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Pour in chicken broth. Let simmer for 15 minutes, so sauce is slightly reduced.
- Add mascarpone cheese and stir until cheese is melted and incorporated into the sauce. Stir bacon pieces into the sauce. Nestle chicken back into the mushroom sauce and cook 3-5 more minutes, until heated through. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Bon Appétit!
Leave a Reply