The Best Veal Marsala Recipe with Step-by-Step Instructions

How to Prepare the Absolute Best Veal Marsala

Veal Marsala is a classic Italian dish that showcases tender veal cutlets simmered in a rich and savory Marsala wine sauce. This elegant yet approachable recipe is perfect for home cooks who want to create a restaurant-quality meal with minimal effort.

The key to Veal Marsala’s distinctive flavor lies in the combination of earthy mushrooms, sweet Marsala wine, and a touch of garlic, which perfectly complements the delicate veal. Whether preparing a special dinner for guests or simply elevating your weeknight cooking, this dish is a crowd-pleaser.

One of the best things about Veal Marsala is its versatility. It can be served with various sides, such as pasta, mashed potatoes, or a simple green vegetable, making it easy to adapt to your preferences or the occasion. Plus, with just a few ingredients and a straightforward cooking process, you don’t have to be a professional chef to master it.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the essential steps to prepare a flavorful Veal Marsala that’s sure to impress. From selecting the proper cut of veal to achieving the perfect sauce consistency, you’ll have all the tips you need for success.

Chef Ricco Deluca's Help

I learned this veal marsala recipe from my friend Chef Ricco Deluca, who has forgotten more about cooking Italian food than I'll ever know. Ricco grew up in a family of cooks, including his mom, who was Frank Sinatra's family cook for over 15 years.

I wanted to know how to make the best veal Marsala, so I asked Ricco for his recipe and asked him to give me everything he could think of to make this the best veal Marsala recipe ever. I questioned why he did something this way and why others were that way. The final result is filled with many details that only a real foodie would enjoy.

For those who want the recipe without all the detailed explanations, I've included it below. But if you want to know why Chef Ricco cooks the mushrooms separately from the rest of the dish, you'll want to check out the other parts of the story.

I'll discuss different ingredients like salted or unsalted butter, what type of veal, and why demi-glace. Ricco and I discussed cooking equipment, including what kind of pan to use and what size. We also discussed cooking techniques and adjustments to make while preparing this dish.

You may think it is information overload, but this is what I love about cooking. I don't just want to know what to do, when to do it, and how long to do it; I want to know WHY.

And remember to check out my recipe for Chicken Marsala here.

📖 Recipe

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What Ingredients Do I Need to Make Restaurant Quality Veal Marsala?

What I want to do here is to start looking at this recipe in more detail. When I asked Ricco for his recipe, I was much more novice than I am today and had many questions. I wanted to know what he did in his recipe and why he did it. I also like to know what products he used and why they mattered.

Veal Marsala Recipe Ingredients

There are few ingredients in the Very Best Veal Marsala Recipe, but what you use can make a difference in the final product. So here are the ingredients in Ricco's recipe and why he likes to use them.

What is the best cut of veal for this recipe?

You want the thin, lean, boneless cutlet or scaloppini that comes from different muscles in the leg.

Butter - Salted or Unsalted?

Best to use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt. You can and will adjust the seasonings at the end, but it's easier to add salt and impossible to remove if over-salted.

Clarified butter would work great with this dish, but it takes extra time and effort unless you have some in your refrigerator.

What type of oil?

Use 90% canola oil blended with 10% olive oil. Chef Ricco explained that many professional chefs use a blend of oil because the canola oil has a higher smoking point while the olive oil adds flavor.

Besides, as much as I love the taste of olive oil, you want its flavor to be balanced with the flavor of the meat and Marsala.

Why use both oil and butter?

I like using a combination of butter and oil because the butter adds flavor while the oil, with its higher smoking point, allows you to cook at a higher temperature. Heat is your friend when sautéing, so the combination gives you the best cooking fats.

Why coat the cutlets with flour?

Although Ricco likes the flavor of veal Marsala better without flour, he suggests using it for the following reasons:

•  After tenderizing the meat, it will bleed, and the flour will help seal it in.
•  Unless you will immediately serve the veal from the pan to the plate and eat it immediately, the flour crust will hold in some of the juices and, therefore, flavor.
•  The flour will hold more of the sauce to the veal.
•  Some people enjoy the "mouth feel" associated with a flour-created crust.

What is seasoned flour?

If you take some flour and add salt and pepper to it, you have seasoned flour. Chef Ricco likes to make a batch of seasoned flour and store it in a container in his pantry. This way, he always has some on hand whenever he needs to coat something for sautéing.

To make a batch for yourself, combine 2 cups of all-purpose flour with one teaspoon of salt & 1 teaspoon of pepper.

You can experiment with different seasonings to create your unique blend, but don't get too carried away, or you will have a pantry filled with too many flour containers.

What is demi-glace?

Demi-glace is a brown sauce reduction essential in making classic sauce. A simple way to describe demi-glace is to say it is a rich brown sauce reduced to a thick gelatinous consistency.

Culinary students spend much time in cooking school learning to make stocks, stock reductions, and glaces like demi-glaces. Professional chefs often have a large pot of veal and beef bones simmering day and night to make the stuff. You can find a good recipe for making it at home at demi-glace.

What is Marsala?

Marsala is a fortified wine that is imported from Sicily and can be used for cooking or drinking. You will find it in both dry and sweet flavors at your local liquor store. I prefer to cook with dry-flavored wine. Marsala has a dark amber color with a distinctive smoky flavor.

You don't have to buy the most expensive bottle of Marsala, but stay away from the cheapest. You especially want to avoid the fake Marsala cooking wine in supermarkets. It's not worth the bottle they put it in.

You may want to use what you don't cook with as an aperitif, a light alcoholic drink that is often served before dining to stimulate the appetite.

What is a shallot?

Shallots are members of the onion family. They are much smaller than traditional-looking onions and have a paper-thin brown skin covering purple-tinged white flesh. They have a combination of onion-garlic flavors but are milder than either one.

You can find them at most supermarkets, usually next to the garlic. Look for well-shaped heads that are not sprouting. You will find them in various sizes, so buy according to your recipe.

What is white pepper?

White pepper comes from the same dried berry as black pepper, the Poper nigrum, but when producing white pepper, the berry is allowed to ripen so the outer skin shrinks entirely and is removed. The remaining grayish-white kernel has a milder flavor than black pepper.

It is typically used in lighter-colored dishes where you don't want the color of black pepper to contrast with the sauce. You see, white pepper is used a lot in cream sauces.

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What Type Of Cooking Pan For Veal Marsala?

This section looks at the best cookware for making this dish at home, but these are only suggestions from Chef Ricco. They are by no means absolute requirements.

If your kitchen is equipped with other cookware, don't feel like you have to go out and buy additional pans to make this dish. Instead, use what you have and adapt your cooking to your tools.

What type of cooking pan and what size?

Ideally, Chef Ricco recommends using an 8 – 10 inch sauté pan or frying pan and cooking three at a time. You never want to crowd a pan when you are sautéing, or the meat will steam rather than fry properly.

Besides, you will add the meat back to the pan to reheat when the sauce is done.

Why not just use a 14-inch pan and cook them all simultaneously?

I had a question about using my large frying pan. Ricco explained:

• A smaller pan holds heat better, especially on smaller home stovetops. Large 14-inch pans work well in commercial kitchens with high-BTU stoves. But most home stoves don’t have enough power to heat big pans properly or keep them hot.
• All pans, like ovens, have hot spots. Larger pans create bigger hot spots, leading to uneven cooking.
• Smaller pans handle heat more efficiently. They maintain proper temperatures for better cooking. When you add meat to a hot pan, the pan cools down temporarily. Chef Ricco always reminds me, "Heat is your friend when cooking." A smaller pan bounces back faster from sudden temperature drops.
• On my stove, larger pans don’t fit the burners well. So, for now, I stick with smaller pans until I can upgrade to a new stove.

What about non-stick-coated pans?

Not a good idea for this dish. We want the pan to get hot and create a fond (the brown bits stuck to the pan after sautéing, also called sucs) that will add flavor to the sauce. It doesn't work well with nonstick pans because nothing sticks to the pan to create fondness.

Does the frying pan material matter?

Copper

Experienced cooks love copper pots and pans for their excellent heat conductivity. Turn up the heat, and copper heats up quickly. This works great if you know what you’re doing, but it’s easy to overcook or burn food without paying close attention.

Another advantage of copper is its even heating. Copper pans don’t have hot spots, so the entire pan cooks evenly.

They also look beautiful, but there’s a trade-off. Copper cookware is expensive and requires a lot of maintenance to stay in top shape.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is an excellent choice for this dish. The veal will stick slightly, creating a fond—flavorful base for a pan sauce. Many people prefer nonstick pans because they don’t want food to stick. That makes sense for foods like eggs and fish. But when making a pan sauce, stickiness is an advantage.

Stainless steel is also more affordable than copper. It doesn’t conduct heat as quickly, making it easier for beginner and intermediate cooks to manage. Plus, stainless steel requires much less upkeep. Many brands are dishwasher-safe, making cleanup easy.

Stainless steel is also versatile. Unlike copper or aluminum, it doesn’t react to acidic foods.

The downside is its heat conductivity. Stainless steel doesn’t distribute heat as evenly as copper, so you’ll get more hot spots. But with careful cooking, you can work around that.

Aluminum and Hard Anodized Aluminum

So, what’s the difference? Anodized aluminum means manufacturers place aluminum in chemical baths. Then, they apply an electrical charge. This process thickens the oxide layer, making it stronger, harder, and less likely to corrode.

I love hard-anodized aluminum pans. They conduct heat well—better than stainless steel but not as well as copper. Plus, they’re tough. They’re twice as hard as stainless steel and much more durable than regular aluminum. You can toss them around on the stove or in cabinets without much worry.

These pans also perform well. They heat quickly and evenly, though not as fast as pure aluminum. Maintenance is simple. When I started teaching myself to cook 25 years ago, I bought anodized aluminum pots and pans. I still use them, but they’ve started to warp, so I’m slowly replacing them.

Here’s the downside: all anodized aluminum pans today are nonstick. I haven’t found any that aren’t. This frustrates me because I want some foods to stick. It helps me make great pan sauces.

I know little about pure aluminum pans, but I decided to try them. I found a restaurant supplier and bought a few. They conduct heat exceptionally well, cost less than stainless steel or copper, and are standard in professional kitchens.

But there’s a catch. Pure aluminum reacts with acidic foods and can leach into the dish. Research on this issue goes both ways. I recommend doing your homework before buying any pan, regardless of material. That’s where I’ll leave it.

Blends

I just purchased this incredible Vollrath 3 Quart Saute Pan from an online restaurant supply store I love. It has a 3-ply construction with an 18-8 stainless interior and an aluminum core to provide even heat on the bottom of the pan and side walls. With a silicone-coated handle that is oven-safe to 450°F, it feels great in my hand; I can't wait to see how it performs.

Another blend is copper with stainless steel; I'm sure there are others. Depending on your budget and cooking needs, there's something for everyone.

Bottom Line

The best pan for making this dish is the one you have in your kitchen cabinet. You'll do better if you use a pan that is not nonstick, but if all you have is nonstick, don't let that stop you from making this veal Marsala perfected. If you plan to make more pan sauces, you can purchase one of the pans I described above.

Some of My Favorite Veal Recipes