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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The photographs look as delicious as this dish tastes. It is one of the best Chicken Piccata recipes I have made. It is a breeze to make with little prep. It most definitely a great summer evening diner dish everyone will love even the little ones. I did omit the the dredging of the chicken. I also used coconut cream instead of heavy cream and 1/2 the amount of butter recipe called for. Everyone loved it!!!
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 🙂