Last updated on February 12th, 2018 at 06:01 pm
Lemon Chicken Piccata – a simple yet super impressive chicken piccata in a tasty lemon, butter and capers sauce. Perfect with pasta for a quick and delicious dinner.
Ah, this chicken piccata.
MY LATEST VIDEOSThis could be that romantic dish for that special occasion. For that special someone. I truly believe that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and if you don’t believe me, I dare you to try it, and cook him a meal like this. All I can tell you is that my man sure enjoyed it. But hey, this dish isn’t only for men, all men out there can make this dish for their special someone.
Although I believe this chicken piccata is an impressive dish, it’s so simple to make. It’s amazing sometimes how you can turn a few simple ingredients into a fabulous and totally delicious dish.
Piccata is a method of preparing food where meat is sliced, coated, sauteed and served in a sauce. The dish is Italian as the name would imply, but it is originally made with veal. But here I chose to make mine with chicken breasts, thinly sliced, or butterflied.
Now there’s a reason behind my madness, there always is, and the reason I chose to make this dish is because I bought these beautiful Meyer Lemons from Costco and I have a lot of them, they came in a great big box and I’m just dying to use them. Of course I have many ideas, mostly desserts, but then I remembered this chicken piccata recipe. Perfect use of my gorgeous Meyer lemons.
The chicken breasts are skinless and boneless, and thinly sliced lengthwise or butterflied. They are generously seasoned with salt and pepper then dredged through flour. The chicken is than pan fried to a golden perfection on both sides in butter and olive oil.
The chicken is then removed from the skillet, and the lemon juice, white wine and capers are added, at the same time scraping all those delicious brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. That’s where all the flavor is, so you want to make sure you scrape real well. I chose to use a dry white wine here, but chicken broth would work just as well.
You then add the chicken back to the skillet and simmer the chicken in the sauce for another 5 minutes, after which you remove the chicken to a platter. The sauce is then thickened with a bit more butter and cooked for a couple more minutes until it just thickens a bit. At this point you can pour this delicious sauce over the chicken, or as I did mine, put the chicken back in the skillet, and garnished with lots of parsley.
It’s such an easy dish to make, so full of flavor, if you love Meyer lemons this dish is for you. Of course you don’t have to use Meyer lemons, but if you have them, please do.
Love this recipe? You might like to try these:
Check out the video for the Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata Fettuccine!
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
- 2 chicken breasts skinless and boneless, cut in half lengthwise
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp pepper or to taste
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour for dredging
- 4 tbsp butter unsalted
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1/2 cup white wine dry
- 1/4 cup capers brined
- 1/3 cup parsley fresh, chopped
- Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.
- In a large skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter with the olive oil, over medium to high heat.
- Add chicken pieces to the skillet and cook for about 3 to 4 min per side until browned. When chicken is cooked, remove chicken from skillet.
- Remove skillet from heat. Add lemon juice, chicken stock or wine, capers and scrape up the brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Return skillet to heat and bring to a boil. Taste the sauce and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Add chicken back to skillet and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove chicken to a platter and add remaining butter and whisk for about a minute. Sauce will thicken a bit.
- You can return chicken to skillet and garnish with parsley. Alternatively you can pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley.
Chicken stock would be a good substitute for the white wine.
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
This is an easy and delicious recipe. I like a lot of sauce so I used both white wine and chicken broth, 1/2 c. Each along with a bit more fresh lemon juice. Then again I had 3 breasts to cook and a lot more angel hair. Highly recommend this recipe.
Would a chardonnay work in this recipe????
I’m a big chardonnay fan, so I’ll never say no to that question. I think it should work just great. 🙂
Awesome & extremely easy!
My dinner was almost identical to the pictures shown. When I finished browning the chicken I plated it & put it in a 300 degree oven while I completed the recipe & rice to enjoy with the meal.
Will make again!!
I have made this a few times and it is by far my favorite!
Excellent
I made it and added a small diced onion which I fried after I took the chicken out. I then deglazed the pan with the wine, added some chicken stock, the grated rind of 2 lemons and the other ingredients. I used chicken thighs and put the back info cook. I cut the amount of lemon juice to 1/4 cup, but even then still a bit strong
Hi Jo:
I just joined your blog group tonight & was just checking out some of your chicken recipes because we eat a lot of chicken & I’m always on the lookout for new recipes. I have gout & I’m not allowed any red meat.(just one of many health issues) Anyway I was wondering if a person could make the Lemon Chicken Piccata without the capers as they are something I don’t care for. Thanks so much for accepting me in the group. Huggz Bren
Hi Bren! Yes you could, just omit them, if you wanted you could add a bit more lemon or wine but otherwise it should still be good. 🙂
This IS my Favorite recipe ever!!! It’s my go to recipe. It love it, it easy and it’s delishious. You won’t be disappointed.
Huge plea…I want to make this with veggies and pasta, but no meat…..can you recommend a few veggies that would work well with this piccata sauce as a main dish?? (Yes, keep all the lemon and caper deliciousness)
Made this recipe with dairy free butter and it was absolutely amazing! Making it again this week! Thank you!
Thank you for your comment because I was wondering if I could use Earth Balance!
I’m a little confused about the recipe versus the video.
In the video garlic, cream and thyme are part of the recipe = but there’s nothing saying that in the body of the written recipe……………….so I guess I will “wing” it and hope my portions are ok.
Sorry bout the confusion, the video is for another recipe, similar but it’s for creamy lemon chicken piccata fettuccine. Follow the recipe instructions for this recipe.
Delicious recipe! Glad I found it. I used Wine and Chicken Stock. I doubled the sauce recipe. So fresh, complex, and light tasting. I served it alone with Carrots and Cauliflower. I will definitely be using this recipe again. I am going to use your Marsala Recipe next week.
Oh, I also used sauted mushrooms as well.
Hope you like it!
Added lemon zest a lemon and 2 cloves of garlic , half stock half white wine. Very good
Excellent! So easy! Used brown rice flour and didn’t have white wine. Used chicken broth…also didn’t have parsely! It was truly the best. Will make this regularly!!
This recipe is the bomb! I cook a lot of chicken dishes, and I have to say this is my favorite. Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I’ll be making this a lot.
I made this last night with gluten-free flour and dairy-free butter (due to food allergies) and it was fantastic! Thanks for this recipe – my husband and I loved it!
Omg! We loved this dish! I did sauté fresh mushrooms and onions after taking up the cooked chicken and it was declicious! Then added in cooked pasta to soak up all the yummy sauce! My husband really liked this….he is a man of few words, so when he compliments, that’s saying something! Thanks for your recipe!
The above comment is in regards to the Lemon Chicken Piccata recipe
Fantastic dish! So easy and really tasty. This will be added to my dinner rotation. Thanks so much!