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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Very tasty.
I made it with normal sea salt, not kosher. Is it much better with kosher?
Fam jam loved this but I needed to quadruple the sauce recipe to have enough for the pasta! Added mrs dash to the chicken before I dredged in the flour. Turned out super!
WOW WOW WOW this recipe turned out phenomenal! I’ve tried several other and something always goes wrong when adding the heavy cream. This taste just like the restaurant minus having to go out! I mean this was so good I’m making more sauce in the morning. THANK YOU SO MUCH !
Delicious! My family loved it. Especially my two year old daughter who is ultra picky. Thank you so much for sharing. I did add one extra garlic clove because we love garlic. And, fresh grated Parmesan to the pasta. Ultra good.
What can I use instead of capers? Not a big fan.
We made it exactly as written. AMAZING!!!!
Substituted zoodles for the noodles for an low carb version
While I’m obsessed with your lemon garlic chicken thigh recipe, this one might be my favorite of all. I make it at least once a week over a green salad, so usually omit the cream. My husband (steak guy, not a fan of chicken) loves it too. Thanks for this awesome recipe that has become one of our weeknight staples!
There is 5 of us. Think I could throw in an extra piece of chicken without changing the rest of the recipe??
Have made this recipe of chicken piccata so many times and it comes out delicious every time. Love these recipes!!!
This recipe is amazing. I make it as much as I can. So delicious!
I love this recipe and have shared it with everyone. Chicken is my favorite, but I have also made it with thin pork chops and shrimp. Not a big lemon fan, so I usually only use juice from a lemon half. Just yummy!
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it out on the family.
I just made this as a buffet item for 50 guests for a cocktail buffet. I cut the chicken pieces small and did not use the wine, per the client’s request. Used 11 pounds of chicken and served it over penne. She told me this morning that it was the best she has ever had. It was a real hit with the guests. Thank you for this great recipe!
Very good. I used boneless skinless chicken thighs that I didn’t pound down, so they took a while longer to cook. The sauce was delicious, well flavored. A lb of pasta was too much for us, so next time I will cook half pound. We paired with grilled zucchini. Delicious flavor in this chicken piccata, will make again.
Great recipe albeit I used a bit of sugar to balance what I thought was a bit too much the bitterness in the sauce
Made it just the way it was instructed. *chef’s kiss*
Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Sauce was to thin so had to add flour to thicken. And the lemon was a bit strong for me. But other than that it was delicious. Thank you!!
Wendy: If you s & p and flour the chicken before sauteeing, then when you make the sauce, it’s thicker. We love the sauce so I double it. I make fettuccini noodles and add garlic-olive oil, steamed asparagus (cut in 2 inch sections), and halved grape tomatoes, and serve the pasta with the chicken and sauce. Yummy! Cheers!
Can you share your proportions for the pasta? It sounds great!
I made this today followed it step by step well I added a little extra seasoning to the flour and chicken but overall this was so good 10 out of 10 just like my favorite restaurant
Oh my gosh it’s so good. My fam is so picky it’s rare we all like the same recipe but you just added another awesome recipe to the precious few we all enjoy together. Thank you so much!
question, has anyone tried this shrimp instead of chicken?