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.
This 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.
What Is Chicken Piccata
Piccata is a method of preparing food where meat is sliced, coated, sautéed and served in a sauce. The dish is Italian as the name would imply, but it is originally made with veal. Here I chose to make mine with chicken breasts, thinly sliced, or butterflied.
Ingredients
You really only need a few ingredients for this wonderful dish.
- Chicken Breasts – you want them boneless and skinless. You can also do this with boneless skinless chicken thighs, for the dark meat lover.
- Flour – all purpose flour for dredging our chicken through.
- Seasoning – salt and pepper to taste.
- Butter – I always use unsalted, this way I can control how much salt is in my food.
- Olive oil – pretty much my oil of choice all the time, especially for dishes such as this.
- Lemon juice – this is the star of this recipe, so you want to make sure is freshly squeezed for best flavor.
- White wine – a dry white wine will work great such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio.
- Capers – this is another key ingredient in this recipe, they’ll give the dish more lemony, oily and salt flavor.
- Parsley – as always, a little bit for garnish because we eat with our eyes first.
How to Make Chicken Piccata
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 then 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.
I had Lemon caper chicken piccata at a restaurant recently and so enjoyed it. Found your recipe and it is every bit as good and exactly what I was looking for… AND I had everything needed on hand (even better)! Thank you!!!
How To Serve
This chicken piccata is perfect over buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes.
You can also serve this over rice and a side of roasted broccoli or green beans.
Looking for More Chicken Recipes? Try These:
- Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata Fettuccine
- Chicken Marsala
- Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma
- Bourbon Chicken
- Chicken Lo Mein
- Chicken Piccata Pasta
- Lemon Pepper Chicken
Check out the video for the Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata Fettuccine!
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Chicken Piccata
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts skinless and boneless, cut in half lengthwise
- ¼ tsp salt or to taste
- ½ tsp pepper or to taste
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour for dredging
- 4 tbsp butter unsalted
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ⅓ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- ½ cup white wine dry
- ¼ cup capers brined
- ⅓ cup parsley fresh, chopped
Instructions
- Prep Chicken: Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off any excess.
- Cook Chicken: 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 minutes per side until browned. When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the skillet.
- Add Ingredients: 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.
- Finish and Serve: Return the chicken to the skillet and garnish with parsley. Alternatively, you can pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley.
Recipe Notes
- Make sure to scrape 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 really well.
- Substitute chicken broth for the wine if you’re looking for an alcohol free version.
- You can store this chicken piccata easily in the fridge. In an airtight container, it will keep for 3 – 5 days, just be sure it’s properly cooled before storing.
- If you’d like to make and freeze this chicken piccata ahead of time just place it in the fridge until it’s completely cooled. Store in an airtight container, then transfer to the freezer. It should last for 3 months.
- When ready to serve, allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge before popping it back in the oven at 350 F degree for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you could heat it up in a skillet.
