Lemon Chicken Piccata with Capers
This easy chicken piccata is the perfect addition to your weekend roundup! Expect an amazing briny, lemony chicken breast loaded with bright and satisfying flavors.
Why You Need to Make This Recipe
Whether you’re having guests, treating yourself this evening, or looking for a healthy meal for the family, this Lemon Chicken Piccata recipe’s got you covered.
- Impressive: It’s an instant crowd pleaser that tastes more sophisticated than it is to prepare, making your job easy.
- Adaptable: If you don’t like capers (affiliate link), swap them out for your favorite green olives or leave them out all together. You can even make it gluten-free by dredging your chicken in gluten-free flour (affiliate link)instead!
- Fresh: This chicken picatta is light and full of bold flavor–it’s practically summer on a plate!
Foodology Geek Recipe Notes
Chicken Piccata is a classic Italian chicken dish. It’s lightly breaded and served in a rich lemon-y wine sauce. Capers add a layer of umami that is a signature part of this dish.
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken breast: Chicken piccata is traditionally made with chicken breast that has been butterflied.
- Chicken stock and dry white wine: Chicken stock and wine are used to deglaze the pan. Deglazing is basically adding liquid to a hot pan, creating steam that dissolves all the crunchy bits that were created during browning.
- Lemon juice: Use the juice of fresh lemon for this recipe. You should have about two tablespoons.
- Capers: Capers are a magical brine-y little green ball of flavor. If you’ve never eaten them before here’s your chance.
Step by Step Instructions
- Prepare the chicken: Butterfly your chicken breasts and season them with salt and pepper. Once they’re ready to go, dredge them in flour and cook them in a large skillet over medium heat until golden brown.
- Make the sauce: Remove your chicken from the pan and set aside for later. Use your stock to deglaze the hot pan, incorporating all of the brown bits that your chicken left behind. Add your lemon juice and capers.
- Put it all together: Put your chicken back into the pan and let it simmer with the sauce for a few minutes. Easy and delicious!
Step 1: Prepare the chicken. Butterfly the chicken by slicing it in half lengthwise—you want to end up with two pieces that are thinner than what you started out with.
Step 2: Dredge the chicken in flour. Give the chicken breast a quick toss in a little flour. This helps to brown the meat as well as give the sauce something to cling onto. I used gluten-free flour this time around.
Step 3: Brown the chicken in butter and olive oil. Work in batches so that you allow enough room in the pan for proper browning. The gluten-free flour doesn’t brown quite as well as traditional flour.
Step 4: Remove the chicken and place on a platter. Let the browned chicken rest as you prepare the sauce in your pan.
Step 5: Create a slurry. There should be lots of foam and bubbles on your pan at this step. Though it may look a little worrisome, this is exactly what you want your pan to look like. Don’t worry—we are going to turn this into a gorgeous and delicious sauce!
Step 6: Finish the sauce. Deglazing is the process of adding liquid to a hot pan to redissolve the brown solids that are created during the browning process. Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth and a little wine. This is where all the yum is!
Finally: Serve your Lemon Chicken Piccata with rice, pasta, or my personal favorite, mashed potatoes.
FAQS and Helpful Tips
This chicken piccata is great with rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes! I love to serve it with asparagus or a mix of fresh summer vegetables.
Pair with your favorite dry white wine.
It can be! Use gluten-free flour and serve with potatoes or gluten-free pasta to align with your dietary needs.
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Lemon Chicken Piccata Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large double boneless, skinless chicken breast, butterflied
- salt and pepper
- 1 lemon, juiced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup chicken stock
- flour, for dredging
- ¼ cup capers
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
Instructions
- Butterfly each chicken breast (you should end up with 4 fillets), and pound thin (approximately 1 cm). Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Dredge in flour (we used gluten free).
- In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. When the oil starts to sizzle, place two pieces of the chicken into the skillet, and cook for 3 to 4 mins per side. You want the chicken to be a nice golden brown color.
- Remove the browned chicken to a platter and set aside.
- Repeat adding another 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp of olive oil to skillet, and brown your other pieces of chicken. Remove the browned chicken to a platter and set aside.
- Add the wine and the stock to deglaze the pan, bring the sauce to a boil, and then scrape off the browned bits to incorporate them into the sauce.
- Add the lemon juice and capers. Bring the sauce to a boil and let it reduce to about half.
- Return all your browned chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to a serving plate.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan sauce and whisk vigorously until butter is melted.
- Spoon the pan sauce over the chicken before serving. Garnish with a little fresh parsley.
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