Instant Pot Chicken Marsala

This easy and tender Instant Pot chicken marsala is an explosion of flavor – seared chicken breasts in a rich mushroom and onion gravy – all thrown together in minutes in your crockpot or instant pot – no extra pans required. Serve it with mashed potatoes for a knockout dinner the whole family will love!

Guys, I’m rather proud of this latest Instant Pot recipe. You see, ever since getting our Instant Pot, I’ve sort of fallen down the rabbit hole of Instant Pot and crock pot (a.k.a., slow cooker) recipes. I love the ease of making dinner in under twenty minutes, throwing it all in a pot, and walking away, only to come back at the end of a busy day and having dinner ready and waiting. I’m amazed at how many delicious things you can make in a slow cooker, all while doing very little work. The Instant Pot pulls double duty because you can sear your meat first, and then let the slow cooker feature work it’s magic.

We’ve discovered some really GREAT recipes that our whole family loves, including our picky four year-old. Like slow cooker chicken vegetable quinoa soup, copycat Trader Joe’s vegetarian Harvest Chili, easy crockpot tortilla-less creamy chicken enchilada soup, and 3-ingredient Trader Joe’s thai coconut curry chicken.

And today, I’m sharing the latest hit in our house: this instant pot chicken marsala; because why should soups have all of the fun?!

By the way, if you’re looking for even more crockpot and instant pot recipe inspiration, I have a bunch of Instant Pot and slow cooker favorites saved to this board on Pinterest.

Now let’s talk about this almost too good to be true instant pot chicken marsala …

I love our instant pot for soups, but I’ve been determined to find a few good protein-forward meals that I can make in our Instant Pot.

I’ve seen recipes for crockpot chicken marsala, but I’m a big believer that if I’m making dinner (or really, anything) in an Instant Pot or crockpot, I want as few steps, and as few dishes, as possible. Most crockpot chicken dishes require browning the chicken in a sauté pan first, before adding ingredients to the crockpot, and crockpot chicken marsala recipes usually call for coating the chicken first in flour, then sautéing the chicken and mushrooms, etc., and well, ‘aint nobody got time for that.

You can make every step of this incredibly yummy instant pot chicken marsala in your instant pot. And the best part: it’s actually a lightened up recipe, that is still totally delicious.

Seriously, this one’s a crowd-pleaser.

I’ve long loved chicken marsala and I had this idea that the classic dinner could work in an instant pot.

Does it ever!

The flavor in this chicken marsala is incredible. The seared chicken cooks to tender perfection. It’s rich and hearty, but still somewhat lighter since you’re not breading the chicken, and the end result is basically the perfect dinner pair with mashed potatoes. YUM.

Also, because this is an instant pot style dinner, other than browning the sliced mushrooms in a little bit of oil and garlic, and searing the chicken breasts (in your instant pot)* – all of the other ingredients (including a fun and surprisingly simple ingredient you probably already have in your pantry) are dumped into your instant pot, and left to simmer away for hours until dinner comes out tasting like heaven on a plate. This leads to super tender, flavorful chicken that melts in your mouth.

*NOTE: If you want to keep this Instant Pot dinner extra easy, have no fear – you don’t actually need to sauté and sear your mushrooms and chicken first. You can totally just lightly grease your slow cooker with nonstick spray or 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil, season your raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper, place in the bottom of your slow cooker, top with all of the other ingredients, and cover and cook for 5 – 6 hours on the slow cooker setting. You’ll still get that juicy, moist, and tender chicken, packed with flavor … I just love a good sear on things.

How to Make Chicken Marsala in an Instant Pot

Yield:

Instant Pot Chicken Marsala

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Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 - 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 - 2 garlic cloves, diced
• one pack of mushrooms, about 8 oz., sliced
• 1 can of French Onion Soup
• 1/3 cup of marsala cooking wine
• 1 - 2 tablespoons of corn starch or flour (optional)
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)
• chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Instructions

1. Set your Instant Pot to the meat setting and quickly sauté a little less than 2 tablespoons of olive oil and diced garlic.
2. Once the garlic starts to become a bit translucent, add in your sliced mushrooms. Allow the mushrooms to brown a bit, tossing them every couple of minutes.
3. Using a wooden spoon, move your mushroom and garlic mixture to one side of the Instant Pot. Pour another 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and lay your chicken breasts on the oil in the instant pot. Sprinkle the raw chicken with a little bit of salt and pepper, and sear the chicken on both sides. (Just a few minutes on each side - you won't actually be cooking the chicken through, just giving it a nice sear on either side.)
4. Once the chicken breasts have a golden sear on either side (it will still be raw in the center), switch your Instant Pot to the slow cooker setting, and top everything - the chicken and mushrooms - with one can of French Onion soup and the marsala cooking wine. If you like your marsala gravy to be a bit thicker, in a separate small bowl, using a fork, mix together about 1 tablespoon of corn starch or flour with tap water, and add that mixture to the instant pot as well.
5. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours.
6. Top with chopped parsley and serve with mashed potatoes. Yum!

Notes

NOTE: If you want to keep this Instant Pot dinner extra simple, you don't actually need to sauté and sear your mushrooms and chicken first. You can just lightly grease your slow cooker with nonstick spray or 1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil, season your raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper, place in the bottom of your slow cooker, top with the garlic, mushrooms, French Onion soup, and marsala wine, and cover and cook for 5 - 6 hours on the slow cooker setting. You'll still get that juicy, moist, and tender chicken, packed with flavor ... minus the crispy outside sear.

I love serving this crockpot chicken marsala with mashed potatoes, but it also works great with pasta – like egg noodles – or rice. You’ll want to serve your chicken marsala with something to soak up all of that delicious marsala gravy.

The marsala gravy, or sauce, really adds such a flavorful punch to this dish. There’s plenty in this recipe, so don’t be shy about dipping every single tender bite into that rich sauce.

Are you a fan of the Instant Pot? Any favorite Instant Pot or crockpot recipes I should know about?

Love this recipe for crockpot chicken marsala? Head to our recipe page to check out what else we’re dreaming up in the kitchen! And if you’re looking for more delicious dinners, these are a few of our favorite things to serve up for supper.

SHOP THE CROCKPOT CHICKEN MARSALA RECIPE POST | CLICK LEFT & RIGHT ARROWS TO EXPLORE

Photos by Annie Timmons Photography for Glitter, Inc.

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