Italian Veal Marsala Recipe (Scallopine al Marsala)

This 30-minute Veal Marsala recipe makes a budget-friendly Italian meal for busy days! It has tender veal cutlets smothered in a delicious marsala wine sauce, making it one of the best dinners ever!

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make this simple veal marsala recipe to serve 4 people, you'll need

• 1 pound of veal steak: It is important to thinly slice your veal steak (cutlets) and also use a mallet to tenderize them. If you prefer, use pork cutlets instead!
• Seasonings: Salt and pepper to taste. They will season the meat and the sauce!
• 2 ½ tablespoons of all-purpose flour: It is used to coat the steaks, creating a thin and crispy crust when browned. In addition, it serves as a thickening agent to the Marsala sauce when mixed with water or low-sodium chicken broth. For a gluten-free dish, replace it with cornstarch for dredging the meat (same amount) and use half the amount stated in the recipe for thickening the sauce. 
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted Butter: It will help brown the meat while adding extra flavor! To make it dairy-free, use dairy-free butter.
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil: It is a cold-pressed olive oil with a lower smoking point than regular olive oil. However, it is used for sauteeing or pan-frying meats in Mediterranean countries. It will saute the meat without burning because it still has a higher smoking point than butter. 
• ⅓ cup of marsala wine: It is the main ingredient for veal scallopine marsala, helping to deglaze the pan while adding both acidity and sweetness to the marsala sauce. 
• ½ Tablespoon of fresh thyme: It adds extra flavor to the dish! You may use dried thyme if you don't have fresh, although the authentic recipes use the fresh herb. 

How to Make Veal Marsala

This recipe for veal marsala has been adapted from Manu's Menu. To prepare it, follow the steps below:

• Tenderize and Season: Cover the veal steaks with a piece of plastic wrap and then pound the steaks with a meat mallet to tenderize them. Season them with salt and pepper and lightly coat them with 2 tablespoons of flour. Keep them aside at room temperature!
• Cook the veal cutlets: In the meantime, heat a large skillet over medium heat, and melt the butter with the extra virgin olive. Add the veal steaks and brown them well on both sides, about 1 ½ to 2 minutes per side. Remove the meat from the skillet and keep aside.
• Make the Marsala sauce: Pour the Marsala wine into the skillet and let the wine reduce by half and its alcohol content evaporate. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining ½ tablespoon of flour into 1 cup of water (or low-sodium chicken broth) and add it to the pan. Season with salt to taste and mix well.
• Finish and serve: Add the veal steaks and thyme, and warm them for 1 to 2 minutes, or just until heated through, turning them to coat in the sauce. You may need to add extra water/broth if the sauce thickens too much. Serve warm with hard-crusted bread to soak up the sauce!

About this Italian Veal Marsala Recipe

This Italian recipe is from a native Italian, Manuela Zangara from the blog Manu's Menu.

Here is what she says about this traditional Italian recipe:

"This recipe represents me on many levels. To begin with, it is a quintessential Italian dish. But that's not all, the main ingredient comes from Sicily, the place where my parents were born and where my roots are.

In fact, Marsala wine is made in the town of Marsala, near Trapani, on the western coast of Sicily. And to top it all, this dish shows how easily you can make a tasty meal for your family with just a few ingredients. I always say, there is no need to use fancy (or too many) ingredients to cook an authentic Italian meal! Simplicity is the key.

I know many of you are probably familiar with Chicken Marsala, but the traditional Italian version is slightly different: it uses veal (or pork) and it is made without mushrooms. Veal Marsala is known in Italy as Scaloppine al Marsala, where the term scaloppine simply means “thin slices of meat”.

Scaloppine can be made in many different ways, but what sets this specific recipe apart is the sweetness that Marsala wine imparts to the sauce.

Make sure to serve Veal Marsala with some crusty bread to soak up all the delicious sauce."

It is a one-pan dish and also a low-carb, high-protein recipe! It can be gluten-free if you replace flour with cornstarch, and dairy-free if you use dairy-free butter.

Tips for Making the Best Veal Marsala Recipe

• Remove the veal cutlets from the fridge 20-30 minutes before making this veal recipe. This will ensure even cooking!
• Cut the veal into the same-sized pieces to help the meat cook more evenly.
• To add extra flavor to the meat, mix dried herbs with the flour for dredging. Although these have a stronger flavor than thyme, oregano or rosemary make suitable substitutes!
• Cut the veal into similar-sized pieces! It will help the meat to cook more evenly.
• Check the internal temperature using a meat thermometer! Veal is safe to eat when the internal temperature reaches 145° F (63° C).
• Do NOT overcook the veal steaks; otherwise, they will become chewy. Because veal cutlets are tender and thin cut, they require less time to cook than beef steaks.
• Let the Marsala wine reduce by half before adding the slurry (mixture of water and flour ) to the pan. Make sure to whisk the mixture well to avoid clumping. 

Variations for Scallopine al Marsala

• Meat: You may use chicken or pork cutlets instead, making either chicken marsala or pork marsala. 
• Add mushrooms to make mushroom veal marsala.
• Make a creamy marsala sauce by stirring 2 tablespoons of heavy cream immediately after removing the pan from the heat. Let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving so the cream gets warm.

FAQs

What to Serve with Veal Marsala  

There are many side dishes you may serve with veal marsala, among them:

• Pasta: Spätzle or egg noodles
• Mashed potatoes, or air fryer potato wedges, or crispy smashed potatoes
• Risotto, or rice.
• Roasted carrots and parsnips
• Air fryer asparagus
• Broccoli au gratin
• Creamy polenta
• Fried polenta
• Toasted sourdough bread

How to Store

• FRIDGE: Store any leftover veal marsala in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• REHEATING: You may have to add more broth to loosen the sauce a little, whisking well, while heating over low heat just until heated through, and then add the veal steaks to warm up.  
• FREEZER: It is not recommended because the marsala wine sauce contains flour as a thickener and would be quite thin after defrosting. 

 More Italian Recipes 

• Italian baccala
• Spicy Italian sausage pasta
• Zuppa Toscana
• Strata
• Tortellini in brodo
• Ravioli soup
• Ziti al forno
• Shrimp scampi
• Shrimp scampi pasta
• Homemade farfalle
• Mediterranean pasta

PIN AND ENJOY!

This post was first published on July 17, 2017.