With the way I love meatballs, this food holiday is deserving of a celebration.

A Meatball Palooza if you will.

I have so many meatball recipes to share (and several I’ve yet to create) that we’ll need days to properly honor those perfectly packaged bundles of love.

I shall call this celebration March Meatball Madness and share a meatball recipe every day for the remainder of the month.

We shall begin with Chicken Marsala Meatballs.

Let me just put it to you straight.

If you love Classic Chicken Marsala you’re going to love those flavors rolled into tender savory meatballs.

I mean luuuuv them!!

In order to keep the meatballs soft and tender, I combine all the ingredients except the chicken first, then gently fold that mixture into the ground chicken.

Overworking the meatballs can make them tough.

Baking ground chicken meatballs is my preferred method. When the mixture is quite soft and these meatballs are large (2″ diameter) they do better in the oven. I baked them at 400 degree F. for 15 minutes to firm them up a bit before pan browning them in butter and sage.

Earlier today when I passed a Chicken Marsala Meatball over the fence to Ms. Pat {share the love}, she gave me a lovely complement on my mushrooms.

She said, “I don’t know how you do it but your mushrooms are always incredible.”

The truth is I work a little harder for just that reason.

If you take the time to pan brown your mushrooms in a single layer (remember Julia Child’s advice “never crowd the mushrooms”) they will caramelize and take on the most incredible texture.

No mushy mushrooms here.

You will brown the mushrooms on both sides then remove them from the pan. You’ll add them back near the end of preparation.

I apply this method to most every recipe that incorporates mushrooms.

For the Marsala Pan Sauce, I add butter, shallot, and garlic to the pan and sauté until the shallot is soft.

The Marsala wine is added, then allowed to cook down until reduced by at least half.

Marsala wine comes in a variety of finishes. They range from sweet to dry and are not created equally.

During a trip to Sicily we were able to visit the wonderful coastal town of Marsala and sample several varieties, ranging from very sweet to a wonderful dry marsala that’s perfect for making Chicken Marsala.

Below are a few pictures from our visit to Marsala.

Once the Marsala is incorporated, good rich chicken stock is added with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Once that comes to a simmer I dust it with a little arrowroot (for gluten free version) or flour to thicken it just a bit.

Then the mushrooms are returned to the pan along with a little cream and the browned meatballs.

Let the meatballs gently simmer in the sauce for 5 minutes or so before serving.

I chose to serve these meatballs over spaghetti but they would be fabulous over egg noodles or cauliflower rice.

Every tender bite is bursting with hints of marsala and buttery sage. I am so in love with these Chicken Marsala Meatballs. I can’t wait for you to try them and let me know what you think!

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook!

All my best, Libby

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Chicken Marsala Meatballs

Every tender bite is bursting with hints of marsala and buttery sage.

Course Entree or Appetizer

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs (or GF Panko)
• 1/3 cup pecorino romano cheese grated
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons cream
• 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley fine chopped
• 1 Tablespoon dry Marsala wine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic & herb seasoning recipe on blog

For the Marsala Pan Sauce

• 4 Tablespoons butter divided
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 16 ounces fresh button mushrooms sliced
• 1 bunch of fresh sage 8-10 leaves
• 1 shallot fine diced, about 1/4 cup
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 3/4 cup marsala wine
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 Tablespoons flour or arrowroot (for gluten free)
• 2 Tablespoons cream
• salt & pepper to taste

For Serving

• 1 pound spaghetti prepared al dente
• fresh parsley for garnish

Instructions

For the Meatballs

• Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl combine breadcrumbs, Romano cheese, egg, cream, parsley, marsala wine, salt, pepper, garlic & herb seasoning. Fold mixture into ground chicken until just combined. Form into 12 meatballs, about 2 inches in diameter, place onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

For the Marsala Pan Sauce

• While meatballs are baking, pan brown mushrooms in batches using large skillet over medium-high heat with 1 Tbl. butter & 1 Tbl. olive oil, adding additional butter/olive oil with each batch. Once deep golden brown, remove mushrooms from pan and reserve. In same skillet over medium heat, melt 2 Tbl. butter with fresh sage leaves. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Remove sage leaves and reserve as edible garnish.
• Remove meatballs from oven and add to skillet with sage butter; cook until nicely browned on all sides. Remove from pan and reserve.
• Add shallot and garlic to pan and saute over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until shallot is tender. Return the mushrooms to pan, add marsala wine and simmer until reduced by at least half. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil then dust with flour/arrowroot whisking until slightly thickened. Stir in the cream, then return meatballs to sauce to heat through.

For Serving

• Cook spaghetti al dente and divide into four bowls. Top each bowl with 3 meatballs, a generous serving of pan sauce and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

The post Chicken Marsala Meatballs for National Meatball Day! appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I love this dish.  Veal Marsala is a favorite Italian dish.

You might also like our Chicken Marsala recipe.

All my best,
xo Libby

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Veal Marsala

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 4 2-3 oz. each veal medallions
• 1/4 cup flour
• salt & freshly cracked pepper
• 1 Tbl. olive oil
• 1 shallot minced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 4 oz. mushrooms sliced
• 1 scallion thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 sprig fresh thyme leaves only minced
• 1 Tbl. butter
• 1 Tbl. cream
• parsley to garnish
• serve over buttered egg noodles

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
• Place flour, salt & pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge veal pieces in flour.
• Once oil is hot, brown veal pieces, cooking 2-3 minutes per side. Remove and reserve.
• Reduce heat to medium, add shallot, garlic, and mushrooms and saute until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown. Add wine, broth, and thyme and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Cook until liquid has reduced by half.
• Add 1 Tbl. butter and cream to the pan, return veal pieces to pan. Simmer for about 5 minutes until sauce has thickened slightly.
• Serve veal pieces over egg noodles, spoon on sauce and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

The post Veal Marsala appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

This recipe follows the Classic Chicken Marsala basics but we gave the dish a flavor jumpstart by browning the chicken in sage brown butter. 

We served ours over a bed of cauliflower rice.  Place chicken breasts over rice, then spoon on mushroom wine sauce.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley.  The sweet smooth buttery goodness that is this amazing sauce makes me happy.

As I mentioned in a previous post, weekly “whole” chicken dinners leave us with goodies to make beautiful chicken stock that we use in recipes throughout the week.  We’ve tried almost every chicken in a pot recipe we could find.  We’d love for you to share how you cook your whole chicken.

All my best,
xo Libby

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Classic Chicken Marsala

The sweet smooth buttery goodness that is this amazing sauce will make you happy.

Servings 2

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth simmer uncovered over med. heat until reduced by half
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves pounded to 1/2" thickness
• 2 Tablespoon butter
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 8 oz. mushrooms thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. fresh sage finely chopped
• 1 tsp. fresh lemony thyme finely chopped
• Sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 3 Tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley rough chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200°F.

For Chicken…

• Simmer chicken broth uncovered over med. heat until reduced by half.
• Pound chicken breasts to 1/2″ thickness and season both sides with salt & pepper.
• Lightly coat chicken with flour.
• Melt 2 Tbl. butter in heavy skillet.
• Add 8 fresh sage leaves and cook over med. heat until butter begins to brown slightly.
• Remove sage leaves and reserve for edible garnish
• Add 1 Tbl. of olive oil to remaining butter in heavy skillet and brown chicken on both sides.
• Then remove from pan and hold in warm oven while making sauce.

For sauce…

• Add shallot to pan and sauté until it begins to turn golden.
• Then add mushrooms, fresh sage, fresh lemony thyme, salt, and pepper and cook until mushrooms begin to brown.
• Remove from heat.
• Add Marsala wine and deglaze pan incorporating all the brown bits.
• Then add chicken broth and cook 6-8 minutes until sauce begins to thicken.
• Add cream at end to finish.

Notes

We served ours over a bed of cauliflower rice. Place chicken breasts over rice, then spoon on mushroom wine sauce. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

The post Classic Chicken Marsala appeared first on Lemony Thyme.