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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Simple, yet delicious dish. I was unable to get my sauce to thicken much, but I can easily solve that on my next attempt. Great recipe.
Would love to make this for a dinner party I’m hosting. Can I make chicken about one hour in advance and cover in warm oven until served?
Curious also if this can be made ahead for guests and kept warm in oven . Love all your recipes.
This was absolutely delicious!! The whole family loved it. Thank you for sharing!!!!
That was damn delicious! Will definitely make again
We love this meal. We double the sauce. I was hoping to have chicken leftover to take in my lunch, but my family ate it all. Guess I’ll have to make more of it too.
Curious also if this can be made ahead for guests and kept warm in oven . Love all your recipes.
Delicious! I browned our chicken breast in Olive Oil, but used the butter to make the sauce. I made Mashed potatoes instead of the pasta. Placed the chicken & yummy sauce on top of the potatoes. We liked the idea you could taste the lemon in the sauce too. Steams Gr. Beans on the side. W/make it again!
Thanks for relating your story about Chandler and Janice, it sort of makes the recipe come alive, not that it needs help. I am not a big chicken fan, but hey you are supposed to eat healthy so I try and avoid too much red meat. I couldn’t believe how easy this recipe was and the taste is scrumptious, even with gluten free pasts.
This was super tasty! I have always made Chicken Piccata almost the exact same way. I never added cream and always served it over rice.
Made this for a last minute dinner last night….had everything on hand except for cream. It was delicious and will be a go to meal for this family weekly. thanks so much for sharing 🙂
It’s so nice to be able to go to a blog and confidently know that the recipe you choose is going to be delish! Thanks for always sharing great recipes. I will make this again and again.
WOW, this is something you would expect to eat at a restaurant. Thank you! This recipe will become a family favourite for sure. Exquisite! (I doubled the sauce )
Very good & easy to make!
So good! Loved the sauce so much! Instead of cream I used a can of coconut cream (just the top cream part) and used more broth instead of wine. Turned out amazing. Also subbed GF flour for the chicken coating. Everyone loved it and I could seriously drink the sauce. Thank you!!!
Very good!
This was very tasty but had some issues. I cooked on a cast iron which did get very hot after cooking the chicken medium-high for 10 minutes or whatever it was. The butter immediately browned and the garlic and shallots completely burned within seconds of adding it to the pan. Had to start from scratch on that with a nonstick skillet. Luckily I had enough garlic and shallots leftover. I’m surprised that these instructions would work for others.
I don’t think the recipe is the problem. Cast iron holds heat longer. It definitely changes the way you need to cook. Try a different type pan or take your cast iron off the heat for a bit to let it cool down before sautéing the shallots and garlic. It’s worth another attempt. IMO
This recipe was simple and DELICIOUS. Will absolutely be making again.
I ended up doubling the sauce ingredients as well and it worked perfectly. Served it over some thick spaghetti with a squeeze of extra lemon and some parmesan. The whole family loved it!
SO GOOD even with substitutions for what I had on hand. Swapped chick broth for veggie, heavy cream for sour cream mixed with water (1:1), and shallot for white onion. No capers or wine, sadly. Threw in a little salted pasta water. I am cooking for one so I halved the sauce and just made one breast. Tossed the pasta and breast with the sauce – Would make even more sauce ration for company (or maybe I let it thicken too much).
I did have to restart the sauce because it burned and tasted terrible. Determined it was a combo of: too high of heat with chicken (the butter turned brown) and most importantly, too small of chop on onion and garlic – they burned up fast but I kept on cooking for the full two minutes. In my second attempt I turned the heat down slightly and kept the chop to a dice (I had mindlessly done a fine mince). Even with all the caveats that remove delicious benefits like chicken juice, wine, etc., I was still very happy eating the results – def satisfies my restaurant cravings and I will make again!
First: I LOVE this recipe. Second: I find that, no matter what any recipe says, adding garlic at the same time as onion (shallots, etc.) is never a good idea. Garlic burns quickly and creates a bitter flavor. I cook the onion (shallots, etc.) until I’m pretty pleased, THEN add the garlic and only cook for a minute or so. Just my two cents…
This is so good. There’s something about lemon and chicken together. I made this for a potluck and it was a hit, of course, even among the tougher food critics at the party. I added garlic and onion powder, as well as Italian seasoning. Saving this recipe for sure. Thank you!
I was excited to try this but was afraid it wouldn’t be saucy enough for me but OMG this was so delicious. I will definitely make this again. My only thing is I wanted more seasoning on the chicken but still good as is too.
I don’t even want to order this when I go out for a fine Italian Dinner anymore… it’s just not as good as this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing this.