Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
You won’t believe how quick/easy this is with ingredients you already have on hand! Serve over pasta – SO GOOD!
For today’s recipe, we need to do a quick FRIENDS recap – it’s the one with the metaphorical tunnel.
Chandler: Okay, last night at dinner, when the meals came, she put half her chicken piccata on my plate and took my tomatoes.
Ross: And that’s bad because…, you hate chicken piccata?
Chandler: Noo.
Ross: You didn’t want to share your tomatoes, tomatoes are very important to you.
Chandler: No, it’s like all of the sudden, we were this couple. And this alarm started going off in my head: ‘Run for your life! Get out of the building!’
Rachel: Men are unbelievable.
So yes, 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.
Except it’s really just a super fancy-looking chicken dish that’s unbelievably easy to whip up with ingredients you already have on hand, making it perfect for date night, Sunday Supper, or even a busy weeknight.
But more importantly, can we talk about the lemon cream sauce? I mean, you could even double the sauce, skip the chicken and just put it on a bed of pasta.
I mean, the chicken would honestly just get in the way anyway.
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata: Frequently Asked Questions
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.
You can serve with these easy skillet dinner rolls, buttery mashed potatoes, sauteed garlic butter mushrooms and cauliflower, or a light salad.
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.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Quick and delicious! You can substitute light coconut milk for the heavy cream for a lighter but just as tasty version. I cube the chicken and dredge in flour with lemon pepper seasoning. Use some onion powder if you don’t have a shallot on hand. Get outside the pasta box! Serve over Israeli pearl couscous. Thanks for sharing!
My family loves this dish and it’s so easy to make!!!
Excellent, easy, great raves from the family!!!
Family approved! Made pretty much verbatim. Only added some roasted crispy artichokes when serving. I did dredge the chicken in potato starch instead of regular flour. ( Stays crispy even when covered with the delicious sauce. ) I used chardonnay wine and it worked well. Note, I didnt pound my chicken out like some mention, i just sliced the breast into thin layers horizontally. Its easier to do when chicken is slightly frozen. Then dredge and pan fry in butter mixed with olive oil, one to one ratio. Whenever i cook in just butter, I tend to burn it too fast, so adding the oil helps me avoid that. Will definitely make again and again. My family was stunned when i matter-of-factly served chicken piccata without any warning. I cook a lot but never made this before. Thanks for posting.
Oh goodness, that sauce… I could eat bowls of that stuff. I did have giant chicken breasts, so I pounded them out before dredging, and everything turned out perfect! BTW best tip from you was not to touch the chicken while they were frying- they turned out with a great crunchy crust. Thanks!
I made this for my girl for date night and I’ve never cooked for her yet and it turned out absolutely fabulous. She was actually really impressed and I was surprised I didn’t mess it up. She’s having it again for lunch today! Thank you for the awesome recipe!!
Okay, no, 15 minutes prep time??? Maybe if you’re Martha Stewart or Giada. But for the average man, forgettaboudit. Also, who happens to have ‘shallots’ “already on hand”? I didn’t even know what a shallot was! BUT, AFTER I got all of the ingredients and put ’em together, the meal came out tasting pretty nice! Just like the real thing at Cheesecake Factory. Amazing! It actually works! It wasn’t EASY but it worked. I’ll give ’em credit for that.
Aw, you make me miss a hearty plate of chicken piccata pasta so muchhhh I love when you included the white wine into the ingredients! A great step to make the chicken much more divine~ Yummy!
– Natalie Ellis
OMG I feel like a chef! I don’t cook much lol this was DELISH!! Thank you 🙂
Amazing!
Thank you thank you thank you. D-lish!
This has become my all time favorite recipe!!! I honestly just want to be eating this all the time. It’s perfect and so delicious. Sometimes I serve it with the chicken breast whole over the pasta and other times I’ll slice the chicken up after it has cooked and rested a bit and will stick it back in the pan to get all coated in the sauce. I’ve also made this with shrimp and I think it would also be delicious with pork chops …honestly, this sauce on just about anything could be my favorite food. Thank you for this recipe!! It’s my go-to meal for guests too because it’s simple to throw together after work and people are ALWAYS impressed!
That’s so great to hear! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi, this dish was a hit! One thing though, regarding the lemon I chose. The lemon juice’s tartness ultimately was very pronounced in the sauce. When I make this again i will reduce the wine and chicken broth and as it thickens i will add the cream. One secret I learned long ago is after cream has bubbled and simmered in the pan for a few minutes it is unaffected by the addition of lemon juice. The cream will not curdle. It is then that i would add the lemon juice to tame the sweetness of the sauce. Too, a bit of preserved lemon would be a nice addition to the sauce. Tx
This sauce is amazing with pan seared snapper or grouper fillets.
I was really excited about making this for family & guests and it turned out pretty boring and took so much time. The sauce was very watering and bland. 🙁
I really want to make this, but need a suggesting for dairy free substitute. I plan to sub olive oil for butter, but what should I use for heavy cream? My 5yo is allergic to dairy… thanks in advance!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I have tried at least 10 different recipes for chicken piccata and have had it at atleast 5 different resteraunts and this by far is the best recipe I have found to date. The only slight alteration I added was before adding the capers I added flour to thicken up the sauce more. I also ad extra capers because I love them and I triple the recipe because this left over is amazing, and I usually hate left overs. If you are going to reheat it don’t use the microwave. Put the sauce in a pan and cut the chicken up and then when the sauce is hot add the noodles and continue to warm to your desired temperature.
So sorry, JULJANKA, I posted in the wrong place.
A number of your chicken recipes say that the boneless skinless breasts should be cut “crosswise”. Do you mean horizontally to make them each into thinner cuts? Or do you mean vertically to make them one half of a whole breast, but each the same thickness? I’m a bit confused, but love reading your recipes and my husband and I are very into Asian cooking right now. Thank you for you blog.
Yes, you want to cut them horizontally to make them into thinner cuts.
This is the best recipe EVER! So lovingly delicious I would have never believed I could cook something so mouthwatering- but it’s all thanks to you 🙂 I will check out the rest of your recipes as I guess there are more hidden gemstones like this one. Thank you ever so much for the culinary pleasure – I will make sure to experience it again soon!
This is my favorite Chicken Piccata recipe ever, it’s so easy and flavorful! I like to serve it on top of spaghetti squash, unless I have guests, then I treat them to the real deal 🙂
Delicious! Just finished dinner and this chicken dinner was a winner. I will make it again. Easy and full of flavor. I have only had Piccata in a restaurant so I am glad to be able to make my own. Thank you.