Dry Marsala wine, browned mushrooms and plenty of butter make Carrabba’s Marsala Sauce rich, glossy and far more wine-forward than a typical creamy mushroom gravy.
Photo by Sarah Stierch
Copycat Carrabba’s Italian Grill Marsala Sauce
Carrabba’s Italian Grill Marsala Sauce is a buttery mushroom and Marsala wine sauce best known from the restaurant’s Chicken Marsala. Carrabba’s currently describes that dish as wood-grilled chicken topped with mushrooms and its Lombardo Marsala wine sauce, and the sauce is also offered with steaks and pork chops.
Use a real dry Marsala rather than supermarket “cooking wine” if possible. The important technique is reducing the wine dramatically before adding the cold butter a little at a time. That creates the glossy steakhouse sauce without cream or a heavy flour-thickened gravy.
Quick Recipe Overview
- Best For: Grilled chicken, steak, pork chops, veal and pasta
- Flavor Profile: Rich butter, earthy mushrooms, savory onion and concentrated dry Marsala wine
- Skill Level: Easy
- What Makes It Like the Restaurant: Mushrooms and onion cooked with dry Marsala, reduced intensely and finished with butter for a glossy wine-forward sauce
Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Carrabba’s Italian Grill was founded in Houston, Texas in December 1986 by Johnny Carrabba and his uncle Damian Mandola. Their concept drew heavily from the Sicilian-American cooking they grew up with, including family recipes passed down through generations.
Carrabba’s built its identity around big bowls of pasta, made-from-scratch sauces and a wood-burning grill used for chicken, steaks and seafood.
The restaurant itself points to Marsala as one of the signature dishes particularly enhanced by that grill.
A Marsala Sauce That Actually Tastes Like Marsala
Carrabba’s version is much more about wine, mushrooms and butter than cream. Dry Marsala is reduced until its flavor becomes concentrated, then butter is worked in gradually to make the sauce smooth, rich and glossy. The result has the slightly nutty, caramelized character of Marsala with earthy mushrooms rather than the pale creaminess found in many Americanized Marsala sauces. Carrabba’s has long emphasized the wine itself, even noting that its Marsala came from the Lombardo family in Sicily.
Carrabba’s representatives have also shared their Chicken Marsala preparation publicly, specifically recommending the sauce with grilled veal, steak or pork chops as well as chicken. That versatility is one of the best reasons to make the sauce separately. Spoon it over grilled pork tenderloin, steak tips or mashed potatoes, toss a little with pasta or use it to rescue an otherwise very respectable plain chicken breast from a dull evening.
Carrabba’s Italian Grill Marsala Sauce Recipe
Carrabba’s Italian Grill Marsala Sauce combines browned mushrooms and onion with intensely reduced dry Marsala wine and butter for a rich, glossy sauce perfect for chicken, steak, veal or pork.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 1/4 cup sliced White Button Mushrooms
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped Yellow Onion
- 1/2 cup Dry Marsala Wine preferably Lombardo
- Pinch Kosher Salt
- Pinch freshly ground Black Pepper
- 3 tablespoons cold Unsalted Butter cut into small cubes
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped Fresh Italian Parsley
Instructions
Prepare the Mushrooms and Onion
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet over medium heat.
- Add mushrooms and onion.
- Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to brown and the onion softens.
Reduce the Marsala
- Add Marsala wine.
- Season lightly with salt and black pepper.
- Bring to a brisk simmer.
- Cook until the wine has reduced by about 85 percent and becomes thick and syrupy.
- Remove skillet from heat.
- Let cool for about 1 minute.
Finish the Marsala Sauce
- Return skillet to low heat.
- Add cold butter 1 cube at a time.
- Whisk constantly until each piece melts and incorporates before adding the next.
- Do not allow the sauce to boil or become too hot or the butter may separate.
- Remove from heat.
- Stir in parsley.
Serve
- Spoon warm Marsala Sauce over grilled chicken, steak, pork chops or veal.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Carrabba’s specifically uses dry Marsala, and the restaurant currently calls its version Lombardo Marsala wine sauce. A real drinking-quality dry Marsala will give a noticeably better result than salted cooking wine.
- The sauce is deliberately concentrated. If you want more volume for pasta or mashed potatoes, double the entire recipe rather than thinning it heavily with broth.
Related Copycat Recipes
- Carrabba’s Italian Grill Fettuccine Carrabba – Creamy sauce, tender chicken, and perfectly cooked pasta make this Italian classic rich and deeply satisfying.
- Olive Garden Spaghetti Carbonara – Creamy pasta tossed with bacon, cheese, and rich, comforting sauce
- Bravo Italian Kitchen Pasta Woozie – This Italian restaurant favorite blends bold sauce and savory toppings into a comforting pasta dish that always satisfies.
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Questions People Ask
What kind of Marsala does Carrabba’s use?
Carrabba’s identifies its restaurant sauce as Lombardo Marsala wine sauce and has historically noted using Marsala produced by the Lombardo family in Sicily.
Does Carrabba’s Marsala Sauce contain cream?
The restaurant-shared preparation used for this recipe does not. Its richness comes from reducing the Marsala and gradually incorporating butter.
Does Carrabba’s Marsala Sauce have mushrooms?
Yes. Carrabba’s currently describes Chicken Marsala as wood-grilled chicken topped with mushrooms and Lombardo Marsala wine sauce.
What else can I serve Marsala Sauce with?
It is excellent with steak, pork chops, veal, pork tenderloin, pasta, mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables as well as chicken.
Can I use sweet Marsala instead of dry Marsala?
You can, but the sauce will be noticeably sweeter. Dry Marsala gives the closest balance to Carrabba’s savory restaurant version.
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Photo of “Chicken marsala” is by Sarah Stierch and is used by permission under the Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License. Read the Full License Here – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. Photo of “Carrabba’s Italian Grill Restaurant” is by Mike Mozart and is used by permission under the Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License. Read the Full License Here – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode.en. Thank you, Sarah and Mike. Great Picture. Photos may be representative of the recipe and not the actual finished dish. All photo licenses listed were correct at the time of the posting of the page. Recipe is original to Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes. Recipe created by Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes based on information from the restaurant and other sources on the internet – many courtesy of the Wayback Machine. Additional Information is from original research done by Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes and/or courtesy of Wikipedia and is used by permission.
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