Chicken Piccata is one of the best easy one-pan meals that are on the dinner table in 30 minutes! A quick dinner that involves golden pan-seared chicken breast topped with a rich and bright lemon butter sauce and finished with tangy capers and fresh cilantro! It doesn’t get any better than this incredibly easy and delicious chicken piccata for dinner!
Chicken Piccata Recipe
Chicken piccata is one of the popular American chicken dinner recipes! My favorite part is the fact that it is a one-pot meal and ready on the dinner table in under 30 minutes. I mean who doesn’t love soft, golden, juicy chicken in a rich lemony sauce?
Say hellooo to this amazingly simple and deliciousss Chicken Piccata..
The simple step of dredging the chicken in the flour makes the chicken piece a bit more juicy, forming a golden crust and sealing in the natural juice and flavor of it. It is the same method that we’ve used in our baked chicken recipe.
This chicken recipe is perfect to serve over some pasta or mashed potato. It had such a delicious flavor and will be one that we love to make again and again! The best part about this chicken recipe is it’s a one-pan recipe and takes only 30 minutes, which means you can have a delicious meal on the table in quite less time.
This lemon chicken recipe is an incredibly delicious dish, yet it is so simple to make. It’s amazing how you can turn some basic ingredients into an extraordinary and totally appetizing dish.
Why you’ll Love Chicken Piccata
- Easy to make // Ready in under 30 minutes
- Best one-pot meal with a simple and short ingredients list
- Store well as a leftover, making it a great make-ahead or meal prep
- A hearty meal that’s perfect for a cozy weeknight dinner
- Perfect for potluck, birthday, holidays and celebration
What Is Chicken Piccata?
Piccata is an Italian word that means “larded”, and in cooking terms – sliced and served over sauce featuring lemon, caper, butter, and spices.
Well, the name may sound quite fancy, but the recipe is very easy to follow, and you’ll feel like you are having some fancy dinner in an Italian restaurant. The recipe is quite similar to my creamy lemon shrimp paste, this lemon chicken is often served over pasta or paired with mashed potatoes. It also goes well with roasted veggies, roasted potatoes, or a side of baked or steamed broccoli.
Ingridents for Chicken Piccata
This easy classic italian dish requires surprisingly a few ingredients – most of them are pantry staples. Serve this with a bowl of green salad and some dinner rolls and you have your dinner sorted for the night.
- Chicken Breast: We want them boneless and skinless. If you are a dark meat lover, you can also use chicken thigh fillets (boneless skinless) or tenderloins. If you are using larger chicken breasts then make sure to cut them in half lengthwise.
- Flour and parmesan: Use all-purpose flour for dredging the chicken breast, do not skip this ingredient. It helps the chicken to hold on to the sauce. Without it, the sauce just slips off the pan-seared chicken.
Optional: The addition of parmesan here is a trick that makes the chicken piccata more delicious. - Butter – For cooking the chicken breast and also for the sauce.
- Olive oil: Also used to cook and add flavor. Possible sub – sunflower, vegetable, or avocado oil.
- Lemon Juice: The start of this recipe, you need a fresh lemon here. It kind of defeats the purpose if you use the bottled lemon juice.
- Capers: The key ingredient in this recipe, use capers in brine, drained. They’ll provide the sauce a more lemony, oily, and a bit salty flavor to the dish.
- White wine: A dry white wine will work great, we do not want not too woody, too sweet, or fruity. DO not use expensive wine – the aroma that you may pay for is largely lost during the cooking process.
Sub: you can use low sodium chicken stock or broth.
Can I Substitute the Capers?
Do not get scared of capers! Capers and fresh parsley are the key ingredients to chicken piccata and are the best way to add so much great flavor to the dish! They really elevate the flavor of the dish to another level, and if you have never tried them before, this is the perfect dish to try them with.
How to Make Chicken Piccata
- Prep Chicken: Pound the chicken breast so they can cook evenly. Slightly season the chicken with salt and black pepper.
Dredge the chicken breast in the flour and shake off the excess flour. - Pan Fry: Take a large skillet, melt 2 tbsp of butter with olive oil, heat it over medium heat. Place the chicken piece on the skillet and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until the skin turns slightly golden brown.
- Clean the skillet: Remove the skillet from the heat and clean the skillet. No need to be meticulous here; Add lemon juice, chicken stock, or white wine, capers and scrape off the pan nicely for extra flavor to the dish. Put the skillet to the heat and bring to a boil, taste the sauce, and season with salt or pepper if required.
- Add the chicken piece to the skillet add simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Turn the heat to low and add the remaining butter to the skillet and swirl it to make it melt. This makes the butter emulsify with stock and lemon juice to clear, and slightly thicken the sauce.
PS: The sauce would not thicken as well and it would split if you do not whisk it and you let the butter bubble and melt it over high heat. - Finish and serve: Place the chicken on a plate and pour the sauce and garnish with freshly chopped parsley and lemon wedges.
How to Store Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata
You can keep the chicken pieces in an airtight container for up to 3 to 4 days. Warm the leftover chicken in the microwave. Make sure to store the chicken and pasta separately.
More Chicken Recipes :
- Orange chicken
- Sticky sesame chicken
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Classic chow mein
- Quick Classic Fried Rice (10 minutes!)
- Schezwan Fried Rice (15 minutes!)
- Chicken Lo Mein
- Air Fryer chicken