Marsala Chicken Meatballs

cooking.nytimes.com

Chicken Marsala is an Italian American classic consisting of seared pounded chicken that’s smothered in a sweet-savory Marsala wine mushroom sauce. For more spoon-ability, this crowd-pleasing dinner replaces the thin cutlets with tender chicken meatballs, simmered in a similarly indulgent Marsala sauce. Ground chicken is very lean, so to ensure a perfectly moist bite, Marsala-soaked bread crumbs and extra-virgin olive oil are added to the meatball mixture. For a flavor-packed fond, take the time to brown the onions and mushrooms; the time spent will pay off. This recipe is dairy-free as written, but if you’d like to finish the dish with a few knobs of butter or a splash of heavy cream, the sauce will certainly accommodate the additional richness.

Servings: 4

2 large yellow onions (about 10 ounces each), finely chopped

⅓ cup bread crumbs

1¼ cups dry Marsala wine

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 pound ground chicken

1 pound sliced button or cremini mushrooms

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for serving

To a medium bowl, add 1 cup of chopped onion, plus the bread crumbs, ¼ cup wine, 2 tablespoons olive oil, a hefty pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper; mix until combined. Add the chicken and mix until combined. Form the meat mixture into 14 balls (about 3 tablespoons each), setting them on a sheet pan or plate.

Heat a large (12-inch) heavy skillet or braiser over medium-high, and add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Sear the meatballs for 2 to 3 minutes, until a dark brown crust forms on the bottoms, then flip, and continue searing for 2 minutes on the other sides. Return the meatballs to the sheet pan or plate.

Adjust heat to high. Add the remaining onions to the skillet and cook, stirring every 2 minutes, until golden, translucent and slightly darker on the edges, about 6 minutes, turning the heat down as necessary.

Add the mushrooms and cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until reduced in volume and slightly darker in color. Sprinkle the flour on top, mix to coat the mushrooms and onion and continue cooking for 1 minute, lowering the heat as needed.

Carefully pour the remaining 1 cup of wine into the skillet while constantly stirring. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the caramelized bits off the bottom of the pan and cook for 2 minutes, until the wine reaches a thicker, honey-like consistency. Add 1¾ cups of water and bring to a vigorous simmer. Season with a hefty pinch of salt.

Return the meatballs to the skillet. Adjust heat to medium, partially cover and simmer for 12 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly and the meatballs are cooked through.

Taste and season with salt. Sprinkle parsley on top and serve.

Very tasty with a few mods:

Chop onions for the meatballs finely in a food processor and squeeze out most of the water using a kitchen towel before adding to chicken.

Brown the rest of the onions and the mushrooms very well. Do the mushrooms in batches.

Add garlic and thyme to the onions and mushrooms before adding flour.

Replace water with chicken stock.

Finish with a splash of sherry vinegar.

Is this helpful? 261

Jamie

2 months ago

Also, don't return cooked meatballs to sheet pan they were first on. That's raw chicken. Change out pans.

Is this helpful? 77

Bellaverdi

2 months ago

Very nice result! Delicious with egg noodles.

Pretty much followed recipe, though replaced water with chicken stock. My mushrooms from grocery were cut quite thick, so I did a quick rough chop of the entire pack.

This is a definite do-over!

Is this helpful? 65

2 months ago

Use chicken stock instead of water. D'uh.

Is this helpful? 51

Nic

2 months ago

I think this recipe has potential, but having made it as written I found the meatballs kind of bland and the sauce too thin. Next time I will up the salt and pepper, add some garlic and aromatics while browning the onions and mushrooms, use chicken stock instead of water, and reduce the amount of liquid added towards the end.

Is this helpful? 50

Mike

2 months ago

The chicken mixture was too sticky to form into balls, so I ended up using about a cup of breadcrumbs instead of the 1/3 cup the recipe called for. I also added an extra 1/2 tablespoon of flour and used 2 cups of chicken stock in place of the 1 1/4 cups of water. Since the sauce turned out a bit watery (probably due to the extra liquid), I added 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken it, and that worked perfectly. I also found it needed a little more salt to enhance the flavors. The chicken mixture was too sticky to form into balls, so I ended up using about a cup of breadcrumbs instead of the ⅓ cup the recipe called for. I also added an extra ½ tablespoon of flour and used 2 cups of chicken stock in place of the 1 ¼ cups of water. Since the sauce turned out a bit watery (probably due to the extra liquid), I added 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken it, and that worked perfectly. I also found it needed a little more salt to enhance the flavors.

I’ll definitely make this recipe again with my adjustments. Next time, I plan to grate the onions and mix them into the meatballs, and I might replace the cornstarch with an additional tablespoon of flour to see how that works.

Is this helpful? 34

JayNYC

2 months ago

Eh, the meatballs go back in the sauce to continue cooking (for 12 minutes) so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Is this helpful? 30

Amy

2 months ago

Lovely for a dinner following a gloomy rainy day with crusty bread or served over pasta. This recipe is so easy and came together fairly quickly. I did take others advice and use chicken broth not water. My sauce thickened up well without any additions. At the end I finished it with some butter but I might try cream next time. I also saw the need for some spices and went with some dried rosemary and thyme and I added garlic right before the flour went in - I would do a little more of all the spices next time. Lovely for a dinner following a gloomy rainy day with crusty bread or served over pasta. This recipe is so easy and came together fairly quickly. I did take others advice and use chicken broth not water. My sauce thickened up well without any additions. At the end I finished it with some butter but I might try cream next time. I also saw the need for some spices and went with some dried rosemary and thyme and I added garlic right before the flour went in - I would do a little more of all the spices next time.

Is this helpful? 25

Suevee

2 months ago

To those suggesting chicken stock, I agree. But unless you've made your own, use low-sodium stock, or wait to salt the dish until you've tasted the sauce. Most regular bought stocks and "Better than Bouillon" are very salty.

Is this helpful? 21

Michael

2 months ago

Needed way more bread crumbs (panko) that called for as the farce was rather wet. I put the meatballs in the freezer for about a half an hour to firm them up so they wouldn't fall apart when browning. Way too many onions in the sauce, though it did thicken up just fine. For those complaining about sweetness, were you using dry Marsala? Sauce was not sweet at all. Used my own chicken stock. Overall a good comfort meal served over buttered egg noodles. Needed way more bread crumbs (panko) that called for as the farce was rather wet. I put the meatballs in the freezer for about a half an hour to firm them up so they wouldn't fall apart when browning. Way too many onions in the sauce, though it did thicken up just fine. For those complaining about sweetness, were you using dry Marsala? Sauce was not sweet at all. Used my own chicken stock. Overall a good comfort meal served over buttered egg noodles.

Is this helpful? 19

robert

2 months ago

Reasonably good but when all is said and done, a real chicken marsala is better.

Is this helpful? 17

Ang S

2 months ago

I really liked the marsala sauce recipe but the meatballs fell apart and didn't taste great to me. I love this idea in theory though!

Is this helpful? 15

Marla

2 months ago

Sauce was too thin and not enough flavor. I might try again using less water.

Is this helpful? 14

Mark S.

2 months ago

This has to be one of the blandest meals I've cooked in a while. It needs spices of some kind...I didn't find the marsala wine was enough to inject flavor into it. I served it with pappardelle and sweet peas.

Is this helpful? 14

Dean

2 months ago

Add garlic and time.

Use chicken Roth, not water

Serve with pasta?

Is this helpful? 12

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Recipe Tags

MeatballsBread CrumbBudgetCreminiGround ChickenMushroomStovetopWhite MushroomWineDinnerEasyWeeknightMain CourseFallWinter

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Servings: 4

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