Chicken marsala soup takes the classic chicken marsala dish and turns it into a thick, creamy, bowl of soup. Seasoned with fresh rosemary, and the rich flavors of mushrooms and white wine, it’s comforting and warm on cold winter days.
Soups, stews, and chilis are a staple in the kitchen during the winter months, and this creamy chicken marsala soup is one of our favorites. It is simple to make, and features the classic flavors of chicken marsala turned into a hearty soup that is sure to become one of your family favorites!
Pair it with a slice of sourdough Italian bread or crusty sourdough bread and a fresh salad with homemade dressing for a delicious lighter meal any night of the week.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy – This easy recipe has a pretty quick prep time, so its simple to pull together at the end of the day and let simmer on the stove. You can also make it even quicker by the addition of pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken you have on hand, instead of cooking the chicken with the soup.
Flavorful – This recipe combines all the Italian flavor of the classic Italian-American dish to make the most cozy soup.
Bone Broth – This nourishing soup is a great way to utilize bone broth. We try to get bone broth in our diets a few times a week, and this delicious dish makes it easy to serve it to the whole family.
Ingredients
Chicken broth – You can use regular chicken broth from the grocery store in this recipe, or you can opt to make homemade bone broth in the instant pot to add more nutrients to this soup. It’s delicious, healthy, and so easy!
Dry white wine – Choose your favorite dry white wine. Whatever you enjoy drinking, go with that!
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Chicken Marsala Soup
Step 1: In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until they soften. Remove the cooked mushrooms from the pot and set aside.
Step 2: In the same pot, melt another 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the celery, carrots, and onions. Sauté the vegetables until they become soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
Step 3: Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to combine. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, to cook off the raw flour taste.
Step 4: Pour in the white wine and allow it to cook for a minute or two.
Step 5: Add the chicken broth, stirring to combine.
Step 6: Add the barley and chicken breasts to the pot. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and an instant-read thermometer reaches 165 degrees.
Step 7: Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot. Shred the chicken using two forks (or do it quickly with a hand mixer) and set it aside.
Step 8: Continue simmering the soup until the barley is cooked through, for me this was about 40 minutes total. Taste a piece of barley to ensure it’s tender and fully cooked. Once the barley is done, return the shredded chicken and the sautéed mushrooms to the pot.
Step 9: Stir in the fresh rosemary, salt, pepper, and heavy cream.
Step 10: Heat the soup through, and taste to adjust seasoning if needed. Careful not to let it return to a boil after adding the heavy cream. Serve hot.
Tips
- You can make this gluten-free by using cornstarch in place of flour. Instead of adding it to the celery, onions, and carrots, create a slurry with water and cornstarch and add towards the end. Also, swap out barley for rice. For a non-dairy option, you can use (slightly less) oil, and almond milk or full fat coconut milk in place of heavy cream. The flavor will change slightly, but you’ll still end up with a delicious soup.
- Fresh rosemary works best, but if fresh is not available, you can certainly use dried. I like to rub it between my fingers to help break up the larger pieces and help release the flavor.
- Use homemade bone broth for the best flavor and nutrition. But if you are in a pinch or forgot to start your broth, store-bought will also work.
Recipe FAQs
Simmering the chicken on a lower heat for a longer amount of time can help to create a more tender meat.
In this recipe, the chicken breasts are added to the soup and simmered until they are cooked through fully. You can also opt to use pre cooked chicken you have on hand to save an extra step.
You can easily use rice or noodles. I would recommend cooking them before adding them to the soup.
Store leftover chicken marsala soup in the fridge up to three to four days in an airtight container.
More Dinner Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Chicken Pot Pie
- Cheeseburger Soup
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
- Sausage Sauerkraut Soup
- Lemon Rosemary Chicken
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Chicken Marsala Soup
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons flour or cornstarch for GF *
- 2/3 cup dry white wine
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup pearl barley
- 2 cups shredded chicken, Two boneless skinless chicken breasts **
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream 35%
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until they soften. Remove the cooked mushrooms from the pot and set aside.
- In the same pot, melt another 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the celery, carrots, and onions. Sauté the vegetables until they become soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to combine. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, to cook off the raw flour taste.
- Pour in the white wine and allow it to cook for a minute or two. Add the chicken broth, stirring to combine. Add the barley and chicken breasts to the pot.
- Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and an instant-read thermometer reaches 165 degrees.
- Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot. Shred the chicken using two forks (or do it quickly with a hand mixer) and set it aside.
- Continue simmering the soup until the barley is cooked through, for me this was about 40 minutes total. Taste a piece of barley to ensure it’s tender and fully cooked.
- Once the barley is done, return the shredded chicken and the sautéed mushrooms to the pot. Stir in the fresh rosemary, salt, pepper, and heavy cream.
- Heat the soup through, and taste to adjust seasoning if needed. Careful not to let it return to a boil after adding the heavy cream.
- Serve hot.
Notes
-
- *You can make this gluten-free by using cornstarch in place of flour. Instead of adding it to the celery, carrots and onions, create a slurry with water and cornstarch and add towards the end. Also, swap out barley for rice. For a non-dairy option, you can use (slightly less) oil, and almond milk or full fat coconut milk in place of heavy cream. The flavor will change slightly, but you’ll still end up with a delicious soup.
-
Fresh rosemary works best, but if fresh is not available, you can certainly use dried. I like to rub it between my fingers to help break up the larger pieces and help release the flavor.
- Use homemade bone broth for the best flavor and nutrition. But if you are in a pinch or forgot to start your broth, store-bought will also work.
-
If you don’t have barley, you can easily use rice or noodles. I would recommend cooking them before adding them to the soup.
- **You can also use pre cooked shredded chicken opposed to cooking the chicken breasts in this recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, Chicken Marsala soup sounds great, although there doesn’t seem to be any Marsala wine in it. That what distinguishes the taste from any white deglazing the pan. It’s good, try it!
Where’s the Marsala wine in this recipe?
Made this with marsala wine and its the most delicious soup I have ever tasted! 😋
Although, I haven’t tried with white wine yet. I’m sure it’d be just as tasty!
While this does seem like it would be a tasty soup, I don’t think you can call it Chicken Marsala soup when it doesn’t even have marsala wine in it. White wine is not marsala.
Is there a reason you don’t use Marsala wine?
I tried your Sausage & Sauerkraut soup with the barley. It was a hit. You have introduced me to barley, and continue to use it in my soups. Also, using Kimchi more often. I actually used kimchi instead of the sauerkraut!
This sounds good and I’m planning to make it tonight- just wondering why you use white wine for marsala soup and not marsala wine?
Hello, this cold weather (-26C) is making me want to try this soup. Unfortunately the print button is not working for the Chicken Marsala Soup. I updated Chrome and it’s still not working. Just thought I should let you know. Stay warm.
This was delicious, but it took much longer (about the usual 40 minutes) for my barley to cook. Did you use quick cooking barley, or was the barley supposed to be pre-cooked? Also, white wine made a nice tasting soup, but this didn’t give the Marsala flavor I was looking for.
I agree, it took longer. But mine was tasty! I cheated though and used a rotisserie chicken, which I think would have tasted better with the breast/deglazing. I also used 1/3 cup white wine vinegar and 1/3 cup water instead of alcohol since we don’t drink. It was good. I would make it again but I don’t like so many mushrooms