Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata
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This easy lemon chicken piccata is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or entertaining company! With juicy chicken and the best pan sauce.
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This recipe is awesome! Just made last night, and will be making again. So easy, and not spending forever in the kitchen. I did double the sauce recipe after reading other reviews. I made with angel hair pasta and, of course, a glass of wine! Enjoy
why you’ll love this lemon chicken piccata
- Restaurant-quality yet so easy. With simple pantry ingredients, this dish comes together so quickly and easily, perfect for a romantic date night, company dinner, or even a super busy weeknight.
- The chicken is so juicy. Say goodbye to dry chicken! Coating the chicken in flour will help create that light golden crust, thicken the pan sauce, and help the sauce cling to the juicy, tender meat.
- Luscious, velvety pan sauce. The bright, zesty cream sauce is pure gold, best served over a bed of pasta to sop up all the rich, lemon, buttery goodness.
what is chicken piccata?
Chicken piccata is an Italian-American dish typically made with pan-fried chicken breast cutlets, capers, and a lemon butter sauce served with pasta, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, or crusty bread.
How to make easy lemon chicken piccata
- Prep the chicken. Cut the chicken breast in half horizontally to create two even cutlets. Pound out the chicken using a meat mallet, heavy metal pan (ex. cast iron skillet), or rolling pin to reach an even thickness, if needed.
- Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta (angel hair or spaghetti) in boiling salted water until al dente, draining well.
- Season and coat. Season the chicken cutlets with salt and pepper, then dredge lightly in flour, shaking off any excess flour.
- Cook the chicken. Cook the chicken, in batches, in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat until golden brown and cooked through (165°F), about 4-5 minutes per side. Set the chicken aside and keep warm.
- Make the pan sauce. In the same pan, melt the butter, then sauté the aromatics until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Finally, stir in the chicken broth and lemon juice, simmering until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Make it creamy. Lower the heat and slowly stir in the heavy cream until thickened, about 3-4 minutes, then stir in the drained capers.
- Serve. Return the chicken to the skillet until warmed through, then serve over pasta and garnish with parsley.
what to serve with lemon chicken piccata
Tools For This Recipe
Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use chicken cutlets?
Absolutely! A chicken cutlet is actually a chicken breast already cut in half horizontally.
Can I make this without the wine?
Yes! Additional chicken broth can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
What is heavy cream?
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
What is a good substitute for the capers?
Chopped green olives will provide a similar salty and briny punch.
Which pasta is best for chicken piccata?
Long, thin pasta such as angel hair or spaghetti are both excellent options.
How can I store leftovers?
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, gently reheating on the stovetop until warmed through.
Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata
This easy lemon chicken piccata is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or entertaining company! With juicy chicken and the best pan sauce.
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup diced shallots
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup capers, drained
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Working one at a time, dredge chicken in flour.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes on each side. Set aside and keep warm.
- Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in the skillet. Add garlic and shallots, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.
- Stir in chicken broth and lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low; gradually stir in heavy cream until slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in capers; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Return chicken to the skillet.
- Serve immediately with pasta, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Cut the chicken lengthwise. Rather than pounding out the chicken, cut the chicken breasts lengthwise, slicing horizontally across the thickest part of the breasts – this will create uniform cutlets and allow fast cooking so the meat stays tender without drying out.
- Avoid an overcrowded pan. Cook the chicken cutlets in batches to ensure proper browning for a golden brown crust. An overcrowded pan will steam the chicken instead!
- Deglaze the pan. This will help build the pan sauce by adding all the deep, concentrated flavors from the caramelized browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Add the cream slowly. Always add the heavy cream at the very end, pouring very slowly to prevent curdling.
- Serve over a bed of pasta. The pasta will soak up all the extra sauce, transforming a simple chicken dish into a hearty dinner without requiring heavy sides.
- Mix it up. Swap out the chicken for veal or shrimp.
Did you make this recipe?
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I rate my recipes 1-5 stars: 5 Outstanding, 4 Excellent, 3 Very Good, 2 Average, 1 Bad. I only save 5 and 4-star recipes. I rate this one as Outstanding. I made some changes as I had a container of Baby Bella Mushrooms that were looking very sad. So I sliced them and fried them up with the Shallots and Garlic. I didn’t have heavy cream. I had Half & Half but realized I accidentally bought non-fat. Who knew there was non-fat H&H!!! So I substituted 1/2 block cream cheese and loosened it up with about 3/4 C of my H&H. Wow, great move. I’ll add this recipe to my regular lineup.
Can you make chicken piccata and serve it the next day?
Made this recipe and my husband and I both said it was delicious! I did serve it with pasta…next time I am doubling the sauce because it is that good that you need extra. The heavy cream really takes the sauce to another level. Now I have to go check out some of your other recipes.
Comes together so easily and tastes delicious! It also reheats extremely well which is a big bonus. I make this once a month or so and always hits the spot.
This meal is great! I added sliced mushrooms, very delicious! My husband LOVED this meal. He asked me to put this on our regular menu. Thank you.
Best recipe for easy lemon chicken piccata! Even my husband likes this! I double the sauce for the angel hair pasta, and cut my chicken in strips! I love it!
This recipe is awesome ! Just made last night, and will be making again. So easy, and not spending forever in the kitchen. I did double the sauce recipe after reading other reviews. I made with angel hair pasta and , of course, a glass of wine ! Enjoy
Another GREAT chicken recipe! I’ve made this several times and it’s always DELISH!
This is incredibly delicious! My entire family devoured a double batch, including the kids. Will be adding to our rotation. Thank you for sharing this gem of a recipe!
Hi! Do you think I could substitute coconut milk for heavy cream to make it dairy free? Or any other suggestions? Thanks.
My two year old thought this was the best thing he ever ate in his life.
Added lemon zest, used a viognier wine, extra capers, about 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water too. Stirred the sauce with all the pasta and it was amazing. Tons of fresh parsley on top.
Saving for the regular rotation!
This recipe seems to be very easy and instant. All the above mentioned ingredients are available in my area except white wine. So, can i just do it with chicken broth without adding white wine?
I used apple cider vinegar as a substitute for the white wine and we all loved it!!
Love this dish! Has become a regular favourite in our house
Excellent and damn delicious! Best recipe for this type of dish I’ve ever tried.
This dish was so easy and so very good! I will definitely make it again
Delicious and easy! My sauce didn’t thicken like many other reviewers, but that was probably because I used half and half. I just thickened with a bit of flour and water, and it turned out perfect. Served with spaghettini and asparagus.
This is another fantastic recipe and easily one of my favourites off this site but like a lot of online recipes it has to be translated before making.
Vague weight values such as ‘cup’ are nigh on useless once you start changing the size of portions. And a cup of flour varies depending on the density.
Using real weights such as grams/ml or even the old imperial lb and oz would be better although the latter also starts to break down when you are creating fractions of the the original recipe.
Can you make with out cappers
Mate, just dredge the chicken in some flour and relax. Unless you’d like to direct us to your recipe website so that we can make this dish properly…? Chungah’s recipes are bang on for the home cook. I ate it, and I’d do it again, and I dare an imperal measurement to spot of a difference.
Wonderful recipe! I doubled the sauce and added cornstarch to get it thicken. Perfect with rice pilaf.
I made this for dinner last night, it was awesome. I doubled the sauce but it didn’t thicken. I used a cast iron skillet and remembered the advice from someone below about the pan retaining heat more than regular pans, so I lowered the heat and nothing burned. Thanks for the recipe!
Excellent! I seasoned the chicken breasts and let them sit a bit as I prepared other ingredients and then dredged them and proceeded with the remaining instructions. The chicken was outstanding. In fact, everything was outstanding. It was a great meal overall! My husband loved it! Simple, easy recipe with a great outcome every time.