Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata
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You won’t believe how quick/easy this is with ingredients you already have on hand! Serve over pasta – SO GOOD!
Featured Comment
This recipe is pretty much dedicated to Chandler and Janice because that’s the only thing that comes to mind when I think of chicken piccata.
why i love this recipe
- Restaurant-quality yet so easy. With simple pantry ingredients, this dish comes together so quickly and easily, perfect for a romantic date night, Sunday Supper or even a super busy weeknight.
- Luscious, velvety lemon cream sauce. You could even double the sauce, skip the chicken and put it on a bed of pasta. The chicken would honestly just get in the way anyway.
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.
tips and tricks for success
- Cut the chicken crosswise. Rather than pounding out the chicken, cut the chicken breasts crosswise, slicing horizontally across the thickest part of the breasts – this will help cut down on prep time even more.
- 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 with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
- Mix it up. Swap out the chicken for veal or shrimp.
what to serve with lemon chicken piccata
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, a chicken cutlet is a chicken breast already cut in half horizontally!
Additional chicken broth can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
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.
Long, thin pasta such as angel hair or spaghetti are both great options.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, reheating over low heat until warmed through.
Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut crosswise in half
- 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
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup dry white wine*
- 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 chicken broth, wine and lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Gradually whisk in heavy cream until slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in capers.
- Serve immediately with pasta and chicken, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Video
Notes
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Flavor was delicious. Too much pasta for the amount of sauce in the recipe. I cooked a lb of pasta and used half. Still was too dry. Ingredients were tasty but ratios were wrong. Next time I’ll flatten the chicken, triple the sauce, and prep in the morning.
Try this variation, it is amazing!
Cook more chicken piccata than you need and refrigerate the leftovers. It gives the remaining leftovers time to absorb the lemon/wine/butter sauce.
Take the leftovers out of the refrigerator after hours of refrigeration or overnight. For example, put a single serving of pasta in a small saucepan. Turn the heat on medium high, but keep an eye on it. Mince 2 cloves of garlic and sautee it in 2 tablespoons of butter for 2 minutes. Add the leftovers to the pan. Add some white wine (1/2 cup) to loosen up the leftovers, 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, a tablespoon of italian bread crumbs, a teaspoon of dried oregano, a teaspoon of dried basil, and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper. And the juice of a whole lemon; yes a whole lemon! I even slice up slivers of the rind and sautee them as well. Keep stirring it until it is ready. Add a teaspoon of capers at the last minute, stir, and let cool enough to serve.
The pasta/lemon sauce will jump off your plate with a WOW! If you don’t get rave reviews for having ‘invented’ this, I’ll be amazed!
The best chicken piccata recipe I’ve ever made, hands down. And I’ve made a lot through the years. Such a quick, easy and delicious meal that feels like restaurant quality. Thanks so much for your recipe!!
This was absolutley delicious- better than any restaurant Lemon Chicken Piccata. I tripled the sauce recipe so there would be a lot of sauce and it all went for 7 of us for dinner. I used 2 bulbs of garlic minced through my little food processor- its never too much garlic! I didn’t have shallots but I used 1 large vidalia onion instead. Sauvignon Blanc( 1cup+) and 3 lemons, 2 quarts of Chicken Broth. Need to rinse the capers super well, double/triple rinsed, as these can make the sauce bitter. If you want to make your sauce thicker/creamier just mix the whipping cream mixed with a tablespoon or 2 or flour before you add it to the pot. If your sauce is too lemony, add more chicken broth or whipping cream – can’t go wrong with this and you will have more sauce too. This was the best Lemon Chicken Piccata by far! Thank you for a great recipe- a keeper! I’m looking forward to making more of your recipes.
Definitely double the sauce! Awesome recipe!
This recipe deserves a chef’s kiss! ! This is the first recipe I’ve tried of yours and I’m making it again this week (just made it last week).
Good recipe. Definitely double the sauce for 1 lb of pasta. Very dry otherwise.
Quick and easy yet delicious. I will make it again. I didn’t serve with pasta as we had just had pasta the night before. Served with rice and broccoli.
Made this for dinner tonight and paired with feta and spinach chicken sausage instead of chicken. A garden salad for a side and my husband said it was “Off the charts delicious!” We will surely be making this again and again!
This recipe is simply delicious.
So easy and so delicious. I made it according to the recipe, except I added a few more capers…don’t be stingy with the capers!!
I printed this recipe along with a few other recipes from your site and love them all! I just happen to have a day off and have time to send a review. We absolutely love this recipe! Some people commented that they added somethings to thicken the sauce but I think it was perfect. I also love the fact that you added just a 1/2 cup of heavy cream. It is the perfect amount to make it rich but not “guilty” rich. To readers just make sure you reduce the wine, chicken stock liquid for 5 minutes. Yummy!!!
I made this for my daughter’s bday and everyone loved it. I doubled it, thickened a bit, and sprinkled some grated parm in while cooking to give it even more flavor.
I love this recipe!! Fast, easy and delicious. I added baby artichokes to the sauce, made the sauce seem a little thicker.
This recipe was freaking amazing. I send it to all my friends to try. Definitely restaurant quality (as good as dishes I’ve had all over Italy). I’m making it for the 2nd time today, but I am going to attempt to make it more of a veggie recipe (rather than the chicken) by cooking some frozen veggies separately and adding them into the sauce (the chicken was GREAT, but I’m just not eating enough veggies, lately, and this sauce is SO GOOD, it will definitely support “hiding” some veggies in it). Also the capers were a bit concentrated for my taste, but that’s just personal preference, so will likely cut those in half this time around. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
I have made this multiple times and have also wanted to add some vegetables to the dish. Two ways that have been successful is to add some mushrooms and saute with the onion and garlic, t hff en proceed with the recipe. Another option is to add and wlit fresh spinach in the step where you are reducing the sauce just before adding the cream and the capers. Both delicious says to up the veggie content. And yes, true confession, I also add freshly grated pecorino romano.
The chicken was delicious, but I had some trouble with the sauce. I doubled the sauce, so I used two lemons. I don’t know if I juiced them too efficiently, or if it’s just my personal preference, but it was too lemony for my family. I wish there was a definite amount (like 2 tablespoons?) listed since the amount of juice obtained from a lemon varies. When I tasted before serving and discovered this, I tried to rescue the sauce by adding cheese at first. Then I looked up how to counteract lemon flavor and found that baking soda works, so I added a small amount, and this actually seemed to thicken the sauce a little, which was nice, and it did neutralize the sour taste some. I liked it after this, but my family still wasn’t crazy about the sauce. Oh well. By the way, since I was doubling, I used one can of chicken broth and no wine (don’t keep wine in the house). Other than that, followed the recipe.
I have made Chicken Piccata many times and this one is my new favorite recipe. I did add chopped artichoke hearts to it. Delicious
This was a quick and delicious meal! I used chicken tenderloins so I didn’t have to pound any chicken thin. I used sweet onions. Presentation is beautiful even without the parsley.
I rarely cook, so when I say this was easy to make, it’s EASY to make. This recipe was a hit with my kids and husband. Thank you. We loved it!
SO DELICIOUS!! I could of drank the sauce with a straw!!