Need a main dish that’s full of flavor but only requires a few ingredients? I’ve got you covered. This Chicken Piccata recipe is simple and flavorful, but totally restaurant quality and elegant enough to impress a date or your in-laws. When garlic and lemon come together with briny capers, creamy butter, and fresh parsley, you just can’t lose.
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What is Chicken Piccata?
Chicken Piccata is an Italian dish made with thinly sliced chicken that has been lightly dredged in flour, cooked until golden brown in a skillet, then drenched with a deliciously buttery lemon caper sauce. You can also make piccata with veal, but we’re Budget Bytes, so I think we’ll stick with chicken. ;) Either way, this dish is a simple classic that is sure to impress.
Where’s the Wine??
The lemon caper sauce in Chicken Piccata is traditionally made with white wine, but I didn’t have any on hand (I know, I was shocked too), so I subbed it with chicken broth. The sauce was still so good that I wanted to drink it straight out of the skillet, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out. But, if you have wine around, by all means, use it in place of the chicken broth in this dish!
What to serve with Chicken Piccata
The serving size might seem small (each piece is about the size of a deck of cards), so I suggest bulking out your meal by serving the Chicken Piccata over plain buttered pasta, or if you want something fancier, try this lemon parsley pasta. The flavors in this dish also go beautifully with asparagus, green beans, or broccoli. Or, just serve it with a green side salad and some garlic bread for a classic meal.
Delicious Homemade Chicken Piccata
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.79)
- 1/4 bunch Italian parsley ($0.25)
- 3 cloves garlic ($0.24)
- 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs) ($6.25)
- Pinch salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 1/2 cup flour ($0.03)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.28)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth* ($0.07)
- 1 Tbsp capers ($0.40)
Instructions
- Prepare the lemon, parsley, and garlic so they’re ready to go when you need them. Roughly chop the parsley leaves, juice the lemon, and mince the garlic. Set these ingredients aside.
- Trim the chicken breasts of excess fat. Cover them with plastic wrap and pound them with a mallet or rolling pin until they are an even thickness (about 1/2-3/4 inch thick). Cut each chicken breast in half so that you have four to six pieces about the size of the palm of your hand. Season both sides of the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet, over medium heat. While the oil is heating, place the flour in a bowl and lightly coat each piece of chicken on both sides. When the oil is very hot but not smoking, add the chicken pieces to the skillet and cook until golden brown on each side (about 3-5 minutes on each side). Cook the chicken in batches, if needed, to prevent them from overcrowding the skillet. Transfer the browned chicken on a clean plate.
- After removing the chicken from the skillet, turn the heat down to medium-low and add the butter and minced garlic. Sauté the garlic in the butter for about one minute. Add the chicken broth and lemon juice to the skillet and whisk to dissolve (or “deglaze”) the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan.
- Add the capers and half of the chopped parsley to the skillet. Increase the heat to medium, add the chicken back to the skillet, and spoon the sauce over top. Allow the chicken to simmer in the sauce for 3-5 minutes, without a lid, or until the sauce reduces by half. The flour on the chicken will help thicken the sauce as it simmers. Sprinkle the remaining parsley over top just before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Chicken Piccata – Step By Step Photos
Start by preparing the sauce ingredients. Pull the leaves from about 1/4 bunch of parsley and then give them a rough chop. Juice the lemon (you’ll want between 1/3 cup and 1/2 cup, it’s flexible). Mince three cloves of garlic.
This recipe will make enough sauce for about 2 pounds of chicken breasts, or 2-3 boneless skinless breasts, depending on their size. I had two breasts left in my freezer, one of which was rather large. Place the chicken on a cutting board and cover with a large piece of plastic wrap. Use a mallet or rolling pin to gently pound the chicken, concentrating on the thicker end, until the piece is an even thickness from one end to the other (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick).
Next, cut each piece of pounded chicken into 2 (or three if it’s extra large) pieces about the size of the palm of your hand. Season both sides with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place 1/2 cup flour in a wide shallow bowl and dip each piece of chicken in the flour until it is lightly coated on each side.
Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it is shimmering. Add the chicken pieces and cook on each side until golden brown (about 3-5 minutes each side). Cook the chicken in two batches if your skillet is on the smaller side, to prevent over crowding, which will cause the juices to pool. You want some of the flour and chicken to brown on the bottom of the skillet.
Once the chicken has browned, remove it to a clean plate and turn the heat down to medium-low. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and the minced garlic to the skillet. Sauté for about one minute or just until the garlic is softened a bit.
Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and the lemon juice to the skillet. Stir or whisk until all the browned bits are dissolved off the bottom.
Add half of the chopped parsley and 1 Tbsp capers to the sauce. Return the chicken pieces to the skillet and spoon the sauce over top. Allow the skillet to return to a simmer. Continue simmer for 3-5 minutes without a lid, or until the sauce is reduced by half. Spoon the sauce over the chicken a few times as it simmers.
Garnish with the remaining chopped parsley just before serving. I also happened to have an extra lemon, so I added lemon slices for visual effect, but you don’t need them for flavor. The sauce is QUITE flavorful on its own.
Oooh that sauce. Make sure to serve it over pasta, rice, or with a slice of bread to sop up that goodness!!
I thought I’d give you a close-up shot of that Chicken Piccata so that you can be jealous.
This was so good! I had made some crusty bread so a slive of that plus the chicken and some roasted zucchini made a delicious meal.
Delicious! I did add a dry white wine. Love that you added chicken piccata and chicken marsala recipes to the site. These are my mom’s favorite recipes and I like to be able to make them for her. <3
Amazing dish! Made it with a Greek rice and it was so good. Love your recipes, thank you so much!
Great and easy recipe. I made this for my friend who is taking care of her mom and it was delicious. I wish I could post a pic. I used wine and an extra lemon bc we like it super lemony.
This is better than any chicken piccata you’d find in a pricey restaurant!! I doubled the sauce so I would have extra to serve over mashed potatoes.
This is one of my favorites! I’ve made it twice now – both times it’s been hands down the best chicken I’ve cooked. Will be adding this to my monthly rotation for sure!
This was very delicious and my whole family loved it! I highly recommend tripling the sauce so you can soak it up with some crusty bread or put on top of mashed potatoes or rice. Definitely making this recipe again!
Seriously loved this! It felt fancy, but was still simple enough to make. This is one to impress with!
Delicious! The flavors blend together so well. I let the chicken cook a bit longer to make it even more tender. My family loved it!
i didn’t even know i could make chicken this soft and delicious. it was amazing. my boyfriend and i fought over the leftovers lol
Absolutely delicious.
EXCELLENT! I used twice as much butter, zested the lemon, used chicken bone broth, and used lemon pepper grinder vs salt and pepper. Just WOW! I will be using this recipe as a base forever! Thank you!
Thank you for this recipe.. So easy and delicious!! Will definitely make this again and try you other chicken recipes.
Oh my gosh. Thank you for this recipe. It was mouth watery and so delicious.
I had chicken breasts in the fridge and no idea what to do, thank god i found this recipe. It was so easy and you get juicy chicken. I did everything minus the capers just seasoned the liquid a bit and i had very good results!
Hi Beth – your tweet brought me here. Can I substitute for or leave out the capers entirely? I don’t like them and hate to buy them just for this dish when I have no intention of eating them anyway.
thanks!
Yes, it will still be pretty tasty without the capers. I enjoy their salty/briny flavor in this, but if you’re not a fan of that, you’ll probably like it better without! You’ll still have a delicious lemony chicken. :)
Eric, the first time I cooked with capers, I felt the same way. They were too salty/briny for me. However, after cooking pork piccata for my family, who LOVE my pork piccata, I think you might try something before giving up on capers altogether. Before starting your cooking, drain the capers, then SOAK THEM in water while waiting to use them in the recipe. Then, just before adding the capers to the recipe, drain them. The capers still have the wonderful flavor without all the bite and briny flavor. It really made the difference for me! Hope this helps.
Tried it with fish, worked well :)!
(It was quite lemony, especially since I added the zest as well, but I didn’t mind :)).
Do you think I could make this with white fish :) ? Would it influence the cooking time a lot?
I only had a red blend on hand. It turned out so good! I’ve never had Chicken Piccata before, so idk if it made a difference. But it was still so good! It will definitely be added to the rotation, though!
Delicious recipe! Very simple to make. We used wine and even the kiddo liked it!
This was absolutely delicious. A new favorite for sure!
I love this recipe. It’s super flavorful while keeping the ingredients to a minimum and being pretty quick to execute. Perfect weeknight dinner
Some recipes have sacrificed flavor for cost or convenience, but not this one! 5 Stars
So my husband and I made it again with half as much lemon and he loved it! He said we could make it everyday! It still was enough lemon for me to get that nice tang! It also warms up so nicely for work left overs!
My husband and I made this tonight. Chicken picatta is one of my favorite meals, but my husband has never been a fan of the lemon. I will say this was the best chicken picatta I’ve had. It was still too lemony for my husband. I think next time I will do a half of the lemon and possible add 1/4 cup of Parmesan into the sauce. Thank you! My husband and I have really enjoyed cooking together using your site!
This was a little too lemony for our taste but we all still really liked it!! I even burned the pan bits a little and it still turned out great! I served it over spaghetti with a salad. Any tips on browning chicken like this? I ALWAYS seem to burn the leftover bits in the pan and would love to get better at this! My oven is on the low setting and this still happens! :( Someday maybe I’ll understand my oven enough to do it right! I usually avoid recipes like this since I always burn stuff but with your blog I think I will try them more often!
You may want to invest in a better skillet. If the metal is very thin the heat will not be even and it can burn quickly.
Hi Beth,
Can this be done in the slow cooker?
No, unfortunately this one needs to be done in a skillet.
I started using your website to eat healthier and cheaper with more variety after I moved out on my own. Just two months ago I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and made it my mission to still be able to eat all my favorite recipes. We substituted a gluten free all purpose flour in this recipe and served it over brown rice and quinoa pasta from Trader Joe’s and it was fantastic. Probably my favorite recipe I’ve found on this website so far! Thanks for all the kitchen inspiration!
Awesome! Good to know that GF flour works for this one! :D
Hi Beth,
The mouth-watering photos for this recipe tempted me to make this dish without delay. I mixed 1 teaspoon of chicken bullion powder with 1 cup of dry Pinot-Noir wine to make a little extra sauce for serving. After mixing in the fond at the bottom of the pan I let the mixture reduce to about 3/4 cup, then adding in the partially-cooked chicken . I made 2 minor changes in the initial prep, which included a light fork-mixed seasoning of the dredging flour with salt, pepper and Spanish paprika. I also rinsed my brined capers with cold water, which has always helped to reduce the sodium in any of my caper dishes. When the chicken was done, after a 5 minute simmer, I did tend to violate the low-carb scenario. I turned off the heat and swirled in 2 tablespoons of “cold” butter. This helped to further thicken the extra sauce I chose to make, eliminating the risk of over-cooking the chicken by having to further simmer for desired thickness. I served it with a side of Angel Hair pasta and leftover spaghetti sauce, along with a spinach, arugula, red onion, Mandarin orange and Feta salad. Thank you for another outstanding dish!
I loved the flavor of this. I doubled the sauce and used 1/2 white wine, 1/2 chicken broth. I added cooked angel hair pasta to the pan to soak up the sauce. I didn’t have capers so did not use them.
I used really huge chicken breasts and cut them in half but they were still too thick. The chicken took too long to cook, and I ended up burning the bottom of the pan. I made the sauce in a new pan so it would not have a burned flavor.
Next time I think I’ll use chicken tenders so they cook faster and I don’t have the burning problem.
Will definitely make again!
I’m wondering approximately how many each chicken should be. I have some chicken in my freezer that I already halved and they are approximately 4 oz already. I’m not sure if I should cut these in half again or just use the 4 oz pieces. Can you let me know your expert opinion?
Thanks :)
My breasts were fairly large, between 8-12 oz. each when raw. I’m not sure what the cooked weight was. I’d probably just use the 4oz. pieces as one per serving.
Thank you so, so, so much for this recipe. I’ve been making it for years. In fact, I eat it too much. Hah. I made this for my best friend and her husband, a few years ago, and she tell me he still won’t stop raving about it and he says it’s restaurant quality, which my boyfriend agrees with(me too). I make jasmine rice with this with a bit of garlic, butter, and lemon juice, sometimes parsley mixed in with the rice. I always make 4 times the sauce, no lie, because I’m so in love with it. Heart you!
Made this last week and it’s amazing! It was so good that I have been asked to make this as a freezer meal for a friend; Beth would you suggest freezing this? Thank you for all of the recipes, I’ve had tons of luck with your site ;)
This one would probably just freeze so-so. Definitely not as good as fresh, but still edible (IMHO, anyway. Freezing is somewhat subjective.)
Cooked this recipe using some chicken thighs and it turned out excellent! I didn’t have lemon juice like I thought I did, so I went and put in some lemon pepper seasoning. Definitely did the trick. Can’t wait to make again.
It doesn’t say in the ingredients how much wine/chicken stock to put into the pan. Any ideas on an estimated amount? Thanks! LOVE your blog!
Sorry about the confusion there! The chicken base gets mixed with 1/2 cup water to make 1/2 cup broth. If you want to use wine, you can use the same amount (1/2 cup). :)
A wonderful flavorful dish.
Many thanks!
Can’t wait to try this! Instead of cutting/smashing the chicken (I cant’ stand cutting raw chicken and I don’t have a mallet haha) could I just use those chicken tender pieces they sell instead?
Yes, that would probably work. :)
So very good! Made this tonight with fresh, local asparagus and high protein pasta on the side. My family and I loved it. Definitely will make it again.
We used to have a restaurant that delivered Chicken Piccatta.. it went out of business.. it was a favorite of mine. Now with this recipe I have it back!!!!
Just made this tonight and O. M. G. it was amazing!!! It tasted like something you would get at Olive Garden, only cheaper :). I just want to say thank you so much for this website. I’ve been living on my own now for a year and a half paying an absurd amount for rent. Every penny is pinched to the full extent and your recipes have spared me from a ramen noodle/spaghettios diet. You’re seriously the best and I look forward to new recipes! :)
Wonderful recipe. It is one of my families favorites. Day 1 is great but leftovers are even better, always make a double batch just for this purpose.
I omitted capers in this recipe, it was really great!
I enjoy the subtle heat from the garlic and pepper. The lemon was a nice change from regular meals I make.
Ermuhgaw, this is such an easy and delish recipe and I make it all the time. It also has the added appearance of looking fancy while not being expensive. Thanks so much for sharing! My boyfriend loves the sauce so I try and add some extra broth or wine to the pan.
Excellent tip, Erika! Thanks! :D (and I loved the “eleventy time easier”, made me laugh)
Thanks for a tasty recipe : )
A suggestion, though–rather than pounding the chicken, it’s eleventy times easier and faster to slice chicken breast halves into cutlets. I’m sure the blog author knows how to do this, but for any novices out there: trim off the fat and other yucky stuff, then, holding the breast steady on a cutting board with the palm of your non-cutting hand, slice sideways through it with a sharp, non-serrated knife until you have two thin, roughly equal pieces. I do this with chicken breasts a lot because it solves the problem of the narrow end cooking faster than the thick end, and it’s a more reasonable serving size than a large 7-8 ounce breast half.
Made this tonight and enjoyed it a lot! I paired it with white rice and your marinated mushrooms recipe. My liquid was a bit more than in your pictures, not sure what I did wrong there, but it still turned out pretty flavorful. I love love love your website, thank you!
Where can I find your blog. I am about to faint because I am so hungry and cannot decide which receipe to use. Appreciate very much. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.
shirleyanntillery@yahoo.com
I love to make this dish, I add a little paprika and it’s so good! Love it!
I just made this with my boyfriend. I never had capers before so we took a risk on those but I LOVE them and they are so nice with their vinegar taste and the lemon juice. We made it with pasta and if we made it again, we’d probably have a vegetable and garlic bread to go with it. This is a great recipe though!
Made this tonight sans capers (gross!) and it was delish! Thanks!
Thankyou so much! i’m 14 years old and I made this for my family for dinner last night and served it with spinach, potatoes & carrots and they all loved it. the sauce was amazing and the capers gave it extra flavour, definatley going to make it again!
I made this for my son’s 21st birthday dinner. Everyone loved it! I made 2 slight adjustments. I added a can of drained diced tomatoes and also about 1/3 cup of white wine to the sauce. And next time I will add some artichoke. Thanks for another great recipe! I based my entire weekly menu off of your blog…and I’m never disappointed!
Tina
Rebecca – They tend to have a stronger flavor, but it should work okay. Just make sure to get boneless, skinless thighs so that you can pound it thin like I did with the breasts.
If thighs were used in place of breasts would it work as well?
This was so delicious! Admittedly, I burned the butter a little bit :-$ but it was still fantastic. Worth every minute of prep work.
also- the sauce. omg so good. i made a side of garlic mashed potatoes and spooned the extra sauce on and it was delicious.
So I make a dish very similar to this that my boyfriend calls “lemon chicken”. the only differences are that i make breaded chicken cutlets with italian breadcrumbs and parm.. and for the sauce i just used butter, garlic, dried parsley and cream… he always loved that. i made your version tonight exactly as the recipe stated and he will not stop raving about it. this is definitely a keeper and feels a little lighter than my breaded version. i love having the capers in there- never wouldve thought about them before.
thanks!
newsprout – There is a green button just below the first picture at the top of the post that allows you to print or download as a pdf :)
Looks great, will have to try this recipe. Wish there was a pdf format so I could print it out and refer to it easily as I cook. Thanks for sharing.
I made this tonight and it’s a keeper! I used almond meal instead of flour and I didn’t have capers, so left them out. Wish I’d thought of green olives, because I do have those on hand. I served this with steamed broccoli and the lemon sauce was excellent on top of the broccoli as well. My 8 yr. old asked for seconds, yeah! Thanks for this recipe!
made it, shared it, we both agreed: delicious! thank you for your website!
Made this just earlier for dinner. It was delicious and my housemates loved it also. I didn’t have fresh parsley so I subbed dry parsley flakes but still turned out great.
Stop what you are doing and go make this!!! It is excellent. I also omitted the capers since I didn’t have any on hand and served over egg noodles tossed with steamed broccoli. Delicious!
I just discovered your blog and I know I’ll be coming back to it. I made this tonight, and even though I had no fresh garlic, parsley, salt, or capers, it was still delicious with powdered garlic and dried parsley. I served it with sauteed mushrooms and spinach over soba noodles. Mu husband liked it, I liked it, and my two-year-old was unimpressed. Oh, well. Two out of three ain’t bad.
-Maia
Thanks so much for posting this! My husband and I just made it, and it was fabulous. We did leave out the capers as we didn’t have any, and used basil instead of parsley because that’s all I have in the garden right now, but it was still SO amazing. We’ve just discussed making it when his parents come visit– that’s how good it is!
I don’t suggest leaving out the capers because they add a salty element that balances the lemon… but others have left them out and still really enjoyed the recipe. So, it’s your call :)
If I leave the capers out will it still pass muster? I really can’t abide by their taste…
Hoping to make this soon!
Just want to say I really appreciate that you have the step by step photos. It helps me to remember all the steps when I get that mental image in my head, and then I don’t have to keep running back and forth between the computer and the kitchen. thanks!
I made this tonight and it turned out great!
I made this last night with no variations on your recipe. It turned out perfect and delicious! Thank you for your great recipes and instructions!
Just finished eating this and rave reviews all around! I omitted the capers since 1) I didn’t have any lol and 2) after some research on the Googles I found that the closest substitute is green olives (yucko!) which I didn’t have and didn’t want XP. Still turned out AMAZING! I took your pasta suggestion to heart and tossed in some cooked rotini and served up to 1/2 breasts apiece. Really great dinner and I LOVE that I finally found a use for all that lovely fresh italian parsley I have in my “garden” :)Will def be making again!
Oh, mine isn’t less than a $1 per pound… it’s $1 less per pound than if I bought smaller packs :)
I seriously wish I could find chicken for less than a dollar a pound. I’ve looked everywhere locally for weeks and $1.99/lb was the best I could get. :(
It looks yummy, though!
Have you tried buying chicken thighs instead of breasts? They are cheaper and more flavorful because they are dark meat. :)
I’m sure that would work, too! Sounds delish :)
Yeah, I try to keep my meat servings at about the size of my palm or a deck of cards… definitely not the American norm, but I think it’s reasonable. But, no matter what, everyone will have a different interpretation of “a serving,” so what are ya gonna do ;P
This looks delicious! My only question is… 6 servings out of 3 chicken breasts? That seems like.. not really a main dish
This looks so easy and yummy!! I’ll have to try this one soon :)
It looks so versatile too, many sides could go with this!
Makes things easy, for sure!
Thanks, Beth!