Unlock the Secret to Perfect Keto Chicken Marsala in Your Slow Cooker – Easy, Delicious & Low-Carb!

This article provides a comprehensive guide to making a flavorful and healthy Keto Chicken Marsala using a slow cooker. This dish is a variation of the traditional Italian scaloppine, offering a creamy, mushroom-studded chicken dinner that's surprisingly easy to prepare at home.

What is Chicken Marsala?

Chicken Marsala is an Italian-American dish featuring tender chicken breasts in a creamy Marsala wine sauce, generously loaded with mushrooms. It derives from the classic Italian scaloppine, which involves thinly sliced meat dredged in flour, sautéed, and then cooked in a sauce reduction. Originating possibly from western Sicily, where Marsala wine is produced, this dish typically includes golden, lightly pan-fried chicken breasts topped with mushrooms and smothered in a rich Marsala wine reduction, enhanced with garlic for added flavor.

Why Use a Slow Cooker?

Using a slow cooker to prepare Chicken Marsala simplifies the cooking process and enhances the depth of flavor. Unlike traditional methods, you don't need to pound the chicken breasts or constantly monitor them on the stove. The slow cooking process allows the flavors to meld together, creating a restaurant-quality meal with minimal effort, perfect for busy weeknights or special occasions.

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to create this delectable dish:

Chicken: Use chicken tenders for this keto chicken marsala recipe because they are thin enough to cook through quickly. You can also take breasts and slice them in half to make two thinner cutlets. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (try to pick chicken that is all the same size and thickness for even cooking. You can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs in this dish instead of chicken breast if you want.)
Mushrooms: Use button or cremini mushrooms. You can slice your own or buy pre-sliced mushrooms. Button, baby portabella, and cremini work best. You can also use anywhere between 1-3 cups of mushrooms depending on your preference. The flavor of the Marsala wine is a perfect complement to the mushrooms.
Shallot: A shallot provides a milder flavor. You could use onion or garlic, but I really love the milder flavor of shallot for this recipe.
Marsala Wine: Marsala is a fortified wine, dry or sweet, produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala contains about 15-20% alcohol by volume. Different Marsala wines are classified according to their colour, sweetness, and duration of their aging. The three levels of sweetness are secco (with a maximum of 40 grams of residual sugar per liter), semi-secco (41-100 g/l), and sweet (over 100 g/l).You want to make sure that you are buying dry Marsala wine and not sweet to keep the carbs at a minimum. Dry Marsala Wine is the best choice for Chicken Marsala, as it deepens the flavor of the dish without making it too sweet or adding too many carbs. Dry Marsala Wine only has about 4g of carbs per 5-ounce serving.
Chicken Broth: Adding some broth helps to thin out and round out the sauce.
Heavy Cream: The addition of cream makes a velvety sauce that pairs so nicely with the chicken and mushrooms. Using full-fat ingredients for the sauce will give you the creamiest results. Half and half will be the next best thing to heavy creamy. You could use coconut cream for a dairy-free version.
Olive Oil: Use a good grade extra virgin olive oil for this keto slow cooker recipe.
Butter: Use real butter not a butter substitute for the best flavour.
Spices: Poultry seasoning, garlic salt, and pepper season the chicken to add some extra flavour.
Xanthan Gum: Xantham gum is used at the very end to thicken the sauce. Just like cornstarch but without all the carbs, start with ¼ teaspoon of xantham gum and whisk it into the boiling sauce. Continue to whisk for 1 minute. If the sauce is still not thick enough, whisk in an additional ⅛ teaspoon.

Step-by-Step Slow Cooker Instructions

Follow these simple steps to create a delicious Chicken Marsala in your slow cooker:

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Prep the Slow Cooker: Lightly grease a 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray and set aside.
Prepare the Chicken: Season chicken breasts all around with garlic powder, dried basil, thyme, paprika, salt, and pepper.
Sear the Chicken Breasts (Optional): Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the seasoned chicken breasts to the hot oil and cook for 3 minutes per side or until just browned. Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker and top with mushrooms and garlic. Skipping the step of browning the chicken breasts is okay if you’re short on time, though doing so does enhance the flavor and helps to seal in the juices. You do not need to brown the chicken first. In fact, I typically do not take the time to brown the chicken. However, the pictures in the post are from using browned chicken breast so just realize that you will not end up with the same "look".
Add the Wine: Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add the marsala wine; cook for 1 minute, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour the wine over the chicken and mushrooms.
Cook: Close with a lid and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours. The chicken is done when its internal temperature reaches 165˚F.
Remove Chicken: Remove the chicken breasts from the slow cooker and set aside on a plate.
Thicken the Sauce: Combine the water and cornstarch in a mug or a small mixing bowl and whisk until incorporated; then, whisk the slurry into the wine sauce. Add heavy cream to the wine sauce and whisk until combined. Taste for salt and pepper, and adjust accordingly.
Continue to Cook: Return the chicken to the slow cooker, cover with the lid, and cook on HIGH for 20 more minutes or until the sauce has thickened. You can add more heavy cream for a creamier texture.
Serve: Serve hot and enjoy!

Instant Pot Instructions

Here's how to make this comforting meal in an Instant Pot:

Prepare Chicken: In a small bowl, whisk together arrowroot starch and sea salt. Place the chicken in a sealable bag or container with lid, and add powdered mix gently shaking the chicken to evenly coat.
Sear Chicken: Select the saute function on your Instant Pot. Coat the bottom of your pot with oil. Place chicken inside the pot, and saute for 1-2 minutes per side, or until chicken has a golden sear. Remove from the pot and set aside.
Sauté Vegetables: Now add the butter to the pot and let it melt. Toss in garlic, and mushrooms. Saute for 3-5 minutes, or until veggies are softened and fragrant.
Deglaze and Cook: Select cancel on your Instant Pot, and pour in wine and chicken broth to the Instant Pot. Stir the mixture, scraping anything from the bottom of the pot. Place the chicken on top of the wine/mushroom mixture.
Pressure Cook: Secure the lid, ensuring the valve is in the sealed position. Select manual on your Instant Pot, and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
Release Pressure: Use a quick release; turn the valve to release all steam before opening the lid.
Finish and Serve: If using coconut milk, stir into the mixture. Serve immediately over vegetable noodles or rice.

Tips and Considerations

Wine Selection: Try to use Dry Marsala Wine. Sweet Marsala Wine is for desserts. If you don’t want to use wine, you can use low-sodium chicken broth instead. If you don’t have Marsala Wine, you can use Sherry, Madeira, Dry White Wine, or Port.
Chicken Doneness: For perfectly cooked chicken breasts, use an Instant Read Thermometer to check for doneness.
Low Carb Options: Conventional chicken marsala requires you to dredge the chicken in flour, which adds quite a few unnecessary carbs. However this Keto Chicken Marsala skips the flour and has only 4.8g of carbs per serving. It comes as a surprise to many people that dry Marsala Wine does not contain many carbs and can be used for cooking keto recipes.
Alternative Cooking Methods: You can follow this recipe exactly and instead, cook the entire recipe in a saute pan. To brown the chicken, pat the chicken dry and sprinkle the chicken with the poultry seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat the pot on medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Cook the chicken: Add in the mushrooms and the Marsala wine to the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker on "low" and cook for about 3-4 hours or until the chicken is no longer pink and registers 165 degrees F.
Chicken Cooking Time: The time for slow cooking this chicken varies due to the thickness of the chicken, the type of chicken you are using (breast vs. thigh) as well as the temperature that the chicken is when you start the slow cooker. chicken cooking time will vary - if you brown the chicken and the slow cooker is already hot, it will only take about 3 hours.

Serving Suggestions

Now that you have a creamy, incredible chicken ready to go, what do you serve with it? I like Chicken Marsala on its own, but you can serve it over penne pasta, egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice. It would also go great with cauliflower rice or creamy mashed cauliflower. For a classic Italian side, try Vesuvio potatoes - they’re a delicious match!

Storing and Reheating

To Store: Store any leftovers in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To Reheat: Gently rewarm chicken in a large skillet on the stovetop over medium-low heat. You can also reheat this dish in the microwave. When I reheat chicken, I like to shred or cut it into smaller pieces first to help it heat evenly.
To Freeze: Store chicken Marsala in an airtight freezer-safe storage container in the freezer for up to 3 months, either with or separate from the sauce.

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