The Ideal Non-Alcoholic Substitute For The Wine In Chicken Marsala

As you can tell by the name of this chicken recipe, one of the main ingredients is Marsala, which is a fortified wine that tends to be on the sweet side (although it does come in dry varieties, as well). While one pervasive cooking myth holds that all of the alcohol will cook out of any dish, this simply isn't true. As developer Ksenia Prints' chicken Marsala calls for a full cup of wine that's only boiled for five minutes, the dish will still pack a punch and therefore won't be suitable for non-drinkers if made with its eponymous ingredient. You can, however, prepare a non-alcoholic dish that technically won't be chicken Marsala, but will be marsala-adjacent.

To make a booze-free sweet Marsala substitute for cooking, combine four parts white grape juice, two parts sherry vinegar, and one part vanilla extract. If you're following Prints' chicken recipe, she recommends using only half as much of this mixture as you would of the wine. However, if the chicken dish looks too dry, you may need to make up the deficit by adding water or broth.

Marsala may not be called for in too many cocktails these days, nor does it seem to have undergone the same sort of trendy revival that port did in the late 20-teens. It still pops up in a surprising number of recipes, though. Our vinegar-vanilla-juice blend may not be the kind of thing you'd want to sip on, it's perfect for use in cooking. Try plugging it into a different recipe such as our low-effort slow cooker chicken Marsala, copycat Olive Garden stuffed chicken Marsala, or casserole based on Jeff Mauro's chicken Marsala.

Our wine substitute can also be used in less chicken-centric recipes such as copycat Cheesecake Factory Pasta Da Vinci, gourmet stuffed pork chops, or homemade cream of mushroom soup (no can opener required). It can also take the place of whatever booze you use in your tiramisu, so sober folks and under-21's can also enjoy this delicious dessert.