A classic Italian-American dish that’s super underrated. Lemony, caper-topped, and just buttery goodness, my chicken piccata recipe makes for an easy weeknight supper that’s fast and easy to love. A few simple ingredients, 25 minutes, and dinner is ready! Serve with some pasta, rice, or steamed or sauteed veggies.
For an awesome piccata sauce, you want the bright lemon flavor. Never use the squeeze bottle of lemon juice for this recipe. Everything is in the sauce. You can make this two ways actually! You can make a creamy sauce or a light sauce. All that’s needed is heavy cream for the creamy sauce. The lighter sauce consists of the usual ingredients and some flour to thicken it up. I added a few tablespoons of wine for the extra flavor, which isn’t in the typical recipe, but I like to have fun with my recipes!
How to make Chicken Piccata
Heavy cream is totally optional when making this dish. I made a lighter version, but for a creamy version, keep reading the recipe!
- Chicken Breasts
- Salt and Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- 2 Large Lemons
- All-Purpose Flour: For dredging the chicken, plus some to thicken the sauce.
- Vegetable Oil
- Shallot
- Garlic
- Chicken Broth
- Dry White Wine
- Unsalted Butter: It’s better to use unsalted because you can control the salt content when seasoning and tasting.
- Capers
- Fresh Parsley
- Heavy Cream: Completely optional. Read the recipe for the creamy version!
Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally, creating 2 cutlets from each breast. Pound out the chicken breasts to a 1/2 inch thickness. Halve one lemon lengthwise. Trim the ends from one half, halve lengthwise again, then cut into 1/4-inch strips. Juice the remaining half and the whole lemon and set aside. You can skip this step, but having the fresh lemon slices brings out the flavor a bit more since the rind will be simmering in the sauce. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then dredge the chicken cutlets into flour. Shake off the excess. Heat a large skillet on medium heat with the vegetable oil. Cook the chicken until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Add some more oil and cook the shallot for a minute, then add the garlic for a few seconds until aromatic. Add the broth, wine, lemon juice, and lemon slices to the pan, scraping any bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the cutlets back to the sauce and simmer for a few minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through simmering. Transfer the chicken back to a plate. Add the flour and whisk to incorporate. Off heat, add the butter, one piece at a time, and whisk to incorporate. Add in the capers and parsley and stir. Season with extra salt and pepper to taste. Return the chicken, spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve.
Tips & FAQs
- Can I use chicken thighs instead of breasts? You can, but the only downside is that it may take a little longer to cook.
- Storage: This chicken dish will last 3-4 days in the fridge. To Reheat: Put into a saucepan over low heat and reheat it. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe, especially if you’re making the creamy version.
- What can be served with this? You can boil some penne or spaghetti, which is my #1 recommendation. You can also serve it with plain rice or rice pilaf (my specialty!) or some steamed veggies like broccoli. Saute some spinach or broccoli and serve that, or make mashed potatoes.
- Use low-sodium chicken broth. Regular chicken broth has a lot of sodium, which makes it very difficult to control the salt if you add any more.
- Use capers in liquid, not dried. Capers that are dried tend to have a ton of salt, which will make your dish salty. The capers in a jar with liquid are a better choice.
- Dairy-free/Gluten-free option: You can use your favorite gluten-free flour for this recipe. To make it dairy-free, use plant-based butter like I do! I actually prefer it over regular butter. It’s creamier than normal butter. I actually got so used to the plant butter, that I can’t stand the taste of regular butter now.
Want the recipe? Click print below! Let me know how it came out for you by tagging me on Instagram (@missravenskitchen) and using #missravenskitchen! Follow my Facebook page for updates as well! Let me know if I need to tweak anything.
Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise and pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 large lemons
- 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 tbsp, separated
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tbsp dry white wine
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
- 2 tbsp capers, drained
- Heavy cream, optional (see notes for the creamy version)
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Halve 1 lemon lengthwise. Trim the ends from one half, halve lengthwise again, then cut into 1/4-inch thick strips. Juice the remaining half and whole lemon, then set aside.
- Spread the flour in a dish. Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess back into the dish.
- Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil until just smoking. Cook half of the cutlets until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a dish, then heat the remaining oil and repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Turn the heat to medium, then add a drizzle of more oil if desired and cook the shallots until softened, about 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more until fragrant. Add the chicken broth, wine, reserved lemon juice, and lemon slices. Allow it to simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add the cutlets to the sauce and simmer for 4 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking. Make sure the chicken is 165F before removing it from the sauce. Add 1 tbsp of flour and whisk to thicken the sauce.
- Remove the pan from the heat, then add butter one piece at a time, whisking to incorporate. Stir in the capers and parsley. Add the chicken back in and coat with sauce. Serve.
Notes
Make it creamy: Follow up to step 6, then add in 1/2 cup heavy cream. Stir to incorporate. Allow it to come to a simmer then turn off the heat. Continue to step 7.
Variation: Add 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese to the flour before dredging the chicken cutlets.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
488.68Fat (grams)
26.21Sat. Fat (grams)
8.42Carbs (grams)
33.13Fiber (grams)
2.63Net carbs
30.47Sugar (grams)
2.14Protein (grams)
30.11Sodium (milligrams)
307.88Cholesterol (grams)
95.22This excludes heavy cream. Nutrition will vary if you add it.
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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