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.
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 4 to 6 servingsIngredients
- 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) ($4.99)
- Pinch salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 1/2 cup flour ($0.03)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.27)
- 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
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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.
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.