The Best Substitute For Marsala Wine In A Recipe

Recipes can include wine for many reasons, and the recommended variety is usually fairly forgiving, provided you follow guidance about when to uncork a dry wine and when to pour a sweet one. You'll also typically want to reserve your reds for things like tomato sauce or Sunday gravy and your whites for preparations like shrimp scampi. Think twice about using so-called cooking wine, and use wine that you'd actually want to drink, too. And when a recipe calls for something as specific as marsala, a fortified wine that can be sweet or dry, you need to be particularly considerate about possible swaps should the need arise.

Chef Jasper J. Mirabile Jr., owner of Jasper's Italian Restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, and host of local talk radio show "Live From Jasper's Kitchen," knows marsala. And he tells Chowhound exclusively that a few other fortified wines are among the best marsala substitutes. "I would suggest a Madeira or a sweet cream sherry wine," chef Mirabile says. "I have even used port wine which I really enjoy. [It] has a nice sweet flavor and becomes syrupy when reduced." But there are exceptions. "I think vermouth is just too dry and becomes bitter when reduced," he says.

Given chef Jasper J. Mirabile Jr.'s marsala exchange preferences, his examples of wines better served in a glass, than stirred into a sauce, also track. "Cabernet, Chianti, and malbecs for sure," he says of varieties to skip in your cooking. "These are too dry. Too much acidity and it would make the sauce tart," he says. "Just like marsala, you're looking for a rich caramel flavor with notes of dried fruit."

This all means, naturally, that if you were making a marsala-inclusive dish absent the titular ingredient, you could achieve an effective dupe with a similarly flavored and bodied bit of booze. While "chicken port" might not have the same ring as "chicken marsala," it should turn out rather similarly. And, should alcohol be off the table entirely, one secret ingredient known to infuse meat with flavor is another great option. "Balsamic makes a wonderful rich and caramel looking reduction," Mirabile says. "And of course, it has great notes of the grape (Trebbiano) that it is prepared from. I really enjoyed [it] over filet mignon and of course, pork."