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!
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?
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Best recipe for easy lemon chicken piccata! Even my husband likes this! I double the sauce for the angel hair pasta, and cut my chicken in strips! I love it!
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
Another GREAT chicken recipe! I’ve made this several times and it’s always DELISH!
This is incredibly delicious! My entire family devoured a double batch, including the kids. Will be adding to our rotation. Thank you for sharing this gem of a recipe!
Hi! Do you think I could substitute coconut milk for heavy cream to make it dairy free? Or any other suggestions? Thanks.
My two year old thought this was the best thing he ever ate in his life.
Added lemon zest, used a viognier wine, extra capers, about 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water too. Stirred the sauce with all the pasta and it was amazing. Tons of fresh parsley on top.
Saving for the regular rotation!
This recipe seems to be very easy and instant. All the above mentioned ingredients are available in my area except white wine. So, can i just do it with chicken broth without adding white wine?
I used apple cider vinegar as a substitute for the white wine and we all loved it!!
Love this dish! Has become a regular favourite in our house
Excellent and damn delicious! Best recipe for this type of dish I’ve ever tried.
This dish was so easy and so very good! I will definitely make it again
Delicious and easy! My sauce didn’t thicken like many other reviewers, but that was probably because I used half and half. I just thickened with a bit of flour and water, and it turned out perfect. Served with spaghettini and asparagus.
This is another fantastic recipe and easily one of my favourites off this site but like a lot of online recipes it has to be translated before making.
Vague weight values such as ‘cup’ are nigh on useless once you start changing the size of portions. And a cup of flour varies depending on the density.
Using real weights such as grams/ml or even the old imperial lb and oz would be better although the latter also starts to break down when you are creating fractions of the the original recipe.
Can you make with out cappers
Wonderful recipe! I doubled the sauce and added cornstarch to get it thicken. Perfect with rice pilaf.
I made this for dinner last night, it was awesome. I doubled the sauce but it didn’t thicken. I used a cast iron skillet and remembered the advice from someone below about the pan retaining heat more than regular pans, so I lowered the heat and nothing burned. Thanks for the recipe!
Excellent! I seasoned the chicken breasts and let them sit a bit as I prepared other ingredients and then dredged them and proceeded with the remaining instructions. The chicken was outstanding. In fact, everything was outstanding. It was a great meal overall! My husband loved it! Simple, easy recipe with a great outcome every time.
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.