Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American dish made with breaded chicken, mushrooms, and a marsala wine sauce reduction that can be served with pasta, polenta, or mashed potatoes.  Not to be confused with Indian chicken tikka masala which is chicken in a spiced curry sauce, this is a rich, mellow comfort-food type of dish.

Breaded chicken cutlets don’t work well in the crockpot because the breading would be soggy, so when you make this dish in a slow cooker, you’ll skip that step and instead brown the boneless skinless chicken thighs (you can use breasts if you prefer) before placing them in the crockpot with some thinly sliced sweet onions and mushrooms.

I started with Dinner at the Zoo’s recipe, but then made my own modifications in order to make it dairy free and gluten free for my husband’s diet.  You can click over to her original recipe, or follow mine, below (subbing in “regular” ingredients if you wish!)  I served ours with mashed potatoes, but it does go great with fettuccine or pappardelle.

Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup thinly sliced sweet yellow onion
1 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup marsala wine (may substitute other dry red wine)
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons gluten-free all purpose flour blend
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Mashed potatoes, pasta, or polenta

Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and brown in olive oil on both sides for 2-3 minutes a side.  Add the minced garlic and onion, toss to coat in the oil then carefully transfer everything to a slow cooker.  Sprinkle the mushrooms on top of the chicken and pour the wine and broth on top, then cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

Remove the chicken pieces to a plate and increase the cooking temperature so that the liquid is bubbling.  Put the flour and coconut milk in a gravy shaker and mix throughly (or whisk together in a bowl), then whisk the flour mixture into the bubbling sauce to thicken it.  Place the chicken back into the sauce.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve with mashed potatoes, or pasta.