Weight Watchers Recipe of the Day: Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala
Here's a lightened-up version of the classic Italian-American chicken dish made in the slow cooker.
You just toss everything into the slow cooker and in four hours you've got an easy, healthy and delicious dinner ready and waiting.
Easy enough for a weeknight dinner, this slow cooker chicken marsala is impressive enough to serve to guests.
If you're not convinced here's a skinny chicken marsala recipe for the stovetop.
Slow Cooked Chicken Marsala Recipe Notes
The recipe called for marsala wine, but didn't specify dry or sweet.
According to Betty Crocker you should use sweet marsala to prevent the dish from being too acidic.
Unfortunately, I read this after pouring in dry marsala. We both thought it was delicious anyway.
Cooking chicken breasts in the slow cooker can be tricky. They're usually done in four hours or less.
If you overcook them they'll be dry and stringy.
I substituted chicken tenders for the chicken breasts with good results.
How Many Calories and Weight Watchers Points in this Chicken Marsala?
According to my calculations, each serving has 235 calories and:
5 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
3 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
3 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
5 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
To see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
Enjoy!
Update: A few commenters have stated that they found the flavor of the marsala wine overpowering and ended up throwing out the entire recipe.
This, of course, makes me feel terrible 🙁
We liked it, but then again, we like wine.
If you are concerned about the alcohol flavor being too strong, I would suggest cutting way back on it. Use a couple of tablespoons to ¼ of a cup and substitute the rest with chicken broth.
Hope this helps.
Are You Ready To Slow Cook Yourself Slim?
If you've made this Low Fat Crock Pot Chicken Marsala, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped shallot
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 5 ounces each)
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- ¾ cup Marsala wine (Note: The recipe didn't specify whether to use dry or sweet marsala. Betty Crocker suggests sweet marsala, but I inadvertently used dry. Several commenters have complained that the flavor of the wine was overpowering for them. If in doubt, I would use ½ cup chicken broth and ¼ cup marsala instead.)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons chopped parsley, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Ideal slow cooker size: 4-Quart.
- Coat slow cooker insert with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the olive oil, shallot and garlic in bottom of slow cooker.
- In a shallow dish stir together the flour, salt and black pepper. Pound the chicken to an even thickness and coat it with the flour mixture and add to the slow cooker. Scatter mushrooms over chicken and add the Marsala.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours or until the chicken is tender.
- To thicken the sauce, turn the slow cooker up to HIGH. Combine the cornstarch with 2 teaspoons water and stir it into the chicken mixture. Cover and cook until the sauce has thickened 10 to 25 minutes.
- Stir in parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
Recipe Notes
Source: adapted from September 2014 Family Circle
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
More Easy Healthy Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes for Weight Watchers
- Slow Cooker Chicken & gravy (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken & Olive Tagine (SkinnyTaste)
- Skinny Slow Cooker Southwestern Chicken (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Slow Cooker Crack Chicken (RecipeDiaries)
Find More Easy & Healthy Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
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wendy nalder
Would it be better (less WW+points to use coconut flour?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Wendy, I've never worked with coconut flour so I'm not sure how it would work. In this recipe the flour serves to help thicken the sauce. If you try it would love to know how it turns out!
Elaine
As a fellow WW, I would say it's a toss up: 1tbs. Of wheat flour is 1 point, as is 1 tbs. coconut flour, but the gluten in wheat flour serves as a thickener. I don't know if coconut flour would serve the same purpose.
Martha McKinnon
Thanks for your thoughts Elaine! I haven't had experience working with coconut flour.
Kim
What about trying cornstarch or potato starch as a thickening agent? I don't use flour anymore, but I also don't follow Weight Watchers, so I do not know if the points would be reduced by these options.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kim, Those are both great alternatives to flour but I think the calories/points would be the same. I like quick/minute tapioca as a thickening agent in the slow cooker. It can hold up well during the long cooking time. Hope this helps.
Bob Pegram
Corn starch could be used for those avoiding gluten. It should be equal in thickening power.
Liz Capobianco
This was amazing!! I made this for my family tonight and not one bite is left!!! Will def be adding this to my favorites, thank you!!!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Liz,
So glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to let us know!!
LeeAnn Franks
Would you be able to substitute chicken stock for the wine? Hubby is not a fan of wine.
Martha McKinnon
Hi LeeAnn,
Sure, substitute chicken stock if you like. The flavor will be different, of course 🙂 But still yummy. Hope this helps.
Connie Ceban
perhaps Bob's Red Mill all purpose baking flour would lend a gluten free version? They advertise "cup for cup" . Think I will try it. What's the worst that can happen?--too thin sauce?????. I cook with Holland House cooking wines. More convenient.
Martha McKinnon
Thanks, Connie. I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.
Lauren
This was delicious! Thank you for sharing! I had it with brown rice and sugar snap peas.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Lauren, Glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to let me know. I really appreciate it 🙂
Francesca
do you have a recipe that is easy and delicious to make for company? I never know what to make... Help!!!!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Francesca,
I have served this slow cooker artichoke chicken for company. Everyone loved it: https://simple-nourished-living.com/crock-pot-artichoke-chicken/
Libby
Can I cook this on high? (For 2 hours?) or is that a no-no?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Libby,
I haven't tried it on High for 2 hours, but I think it should work. Please let us know how it turns out if you try it!
Tami
Is this sauce to thick to use over pasta? How could I make more of the sauce to do so?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Tami, I don't think it's too thick to serve over pasta. I would thin it to desired consistency and/or make more sauce by adding chicken broth. I liked the jarred Better Than Bouillon brand. It has good flavor and you can make as much or as little as you want by adding water. Hope this helps.
Merwin L Chambers
I won't be making this again. Both my wife and I thought it was awful. Doesn't achieve any of the flavor of the origin+ WW+ points and have the real thing. No flavor, waste of time.
Martha McKinnon
Sorry it didn't work out for you Merwin 🙁
Sara
Delicious recipe and appreciate it is healthy. Any suggestions thickening it up? We have to add more corn starch than suggested and keep it on high for a long time.
Thank you.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Sara,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I've had great success using quick-cooking tapioca to thicken crockpot recipes. It's heat resistant so you can add it to the crockpot at the beginning with the rest of the ingredients. The kind I buy is in a red box, labeled "minute tapioca." I think Kraft makes it. Hope this helps.
jessica
hello I had a question can I make this in the oven??
Martha McKinnon
Hi Jessica, I'm not sure. I've never tried it in the oven. I've only made it in the slow cooker. I have another recipe for chicken marsala that you make in a skillet that's good too.
sandra
I followed this recipe exactly last night and unfortunately, we had to throw the whole thing out. It looked beautiful but all we could taste was the alcohol and the mushrooms were even worse because it soaked up ALL of the alcohol flavor.. Ended up eating frozen corn dogs for dinner. 🙁
Martha McKinnon
Dear Sandra, I'm so sorry you didn't like it. Everyone's tastes are so different, as your experience demonstrates 🙁
Aw
The key to cooking with any alcohol is the dish has to cook got enough and long enough for the Alcohil to evaporate, leaving the flavor but not the booze taste. That's tough to do in a crockpot on low. I don't think it's the amount of Marsala you are putting in at all... It's this issue.
Martha McKinnon
Thanks for your insight into slow cooking with alcohol Aw. Really appreciate you taking the time to share.
Jamie
My husband has celiac disease so everything has to be gluten free...I substituted rice flour and also used boneless thighs, just because we are a dark meat family. Everything else I followed to the letter. It was amazing, the wine flavor was not too strong for us. Thanks for the awesome EASY recipe.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Jamie, Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. I really appreciate it. Glad to hear that the wine flavor wasn't too strong for you 🙂
Lynn
I had never made it in a slow cooker before. Great idea. I added a squeeze of the double concentrated tomato paste and two small bay leaves and I also reduced the amount of wine. It's just my personal twist on an already delicious recipe. Thank you very much.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Lynn,
Love the idea of adding concentrated tomato paste and bay leaves for additional flavor depth. Thanks for taking the time to share!
Kelly
Made this tonight exactly as written. It was WONDERFUL! I didn't find the Marsala to be too overpowering. I'm not sure if I used sweet or dry as I bought it at Target and it was just called "cooking Marsala wine". I have a 4 setting crockpot. After 4 hours on the low (8 hours) setting ,it was fall apart tender. Will absolutely make again.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kelly,
So glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to let me know. I really appreciate it.
Allison
Made this tonight. Based on the other reviews I was afraid to make this with the full 3/4C wine. I opted to use 1/2c chicken broth and 1/4c masala wine as suggested to be safe. Poor outcome it had little to no flavor. Next time I will use the full 3/4c masala.
Mary
I had the same experience - no flavor. I find it hard to believe 1/4 cup more masala will make a difference.
Gloria
Rather than marsala, i suggest doubling the spices and a tad of butter. I also used chicken broth instead of water in the corn starch.
Amy
I agree, we have had a lot of great meals from our slow cooker.
DHA
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I divided the 3/4 cup of wine half and half with chicken stock and it was really good. Served with brown rice and steamed snap peas. Thank you for the great recipe.
Do you know how many smartpoints are in one serving?
Martha McKinnon
Hi DHA,
Thanks for letting me know! I've updated the recipe. According to WW Recipe Builder this has 4 SmartPoints 🙂
T C
I made the recipe as is and it was absolutely delicious...thanks for sharing with us...
Martha McKinnon
Glad you liked it TC
Therese
It turned to be very good. Everybody enjoyed it.
The only thing I did different is adding some chicken bouillon granules.
Thank you so much for sharing healthy delicious recipe.