Easy Chicken Piccata
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 308kcal
This 30-Minute Easy Chicken Piccata makes a quick and easy weeknight dinner, but it’s also elegant enough for a dinner party at home. The lemon, garlic, butter sauce will have you licking your plate!
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Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts boneless and skinless, cut half horizontally and pounded to 1/4 inch thick
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup dry vermouth or white wine
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 2 Tablespoons capers drained
- 2 Tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Season the 2 chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the 1/2 cup all-purpose flour in a shallow bowl and dredge the chicken in it. Shake off the excess.
- In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm 2 TBSP of the olive oil. Place 2 pieces of chicken in the pan and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter and keep warm under a tent of foil. Warm the remaining 1 TBSP oil in the pan and repeat to brown the remaining chicken. Place that chicken under your foil tent as well.
- Reduce the heat to medium and melt 1 TBSP of the butter in the pan. Add the 2 cloves garlic and cook until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Add the 1/4 cup dry vermouth, 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice and 1/4 cup chicken broth, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the liquid is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the remaining 2 TBSP butter, the 2 Tablespoons capers and 2 Tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
- Drizzle the sauce over chicken and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Storing
- Store leftover chicken piccata in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I like to store the chicken with any leftover sauce together to keep the meat moist and flavorful.
- Reheat in a pan over moderate heat or in the microwave. You can also add a splash of broth or water to loosen the sauce and keep the chicken from drying out.
- Don’t crowd the frying pan. Arrange the chicken in a single layer with space between each piece so that they brown without steaming. You’ll need to cook them in batches.
- To keep the cooked chicken warm, transfer them to a platter and tent them loosely with foil until ready to serve them with the sauce drizzled over.
- Serve this chicken piccata immediately. The juicy and browned chicken is best enjoyed as soon as that sauce is ready to be drizzled over.
- Chicken is perfectly cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. Keep in mind that these chicken pieces have been pounded by a meat mallet and cook quite quickly. Be careful that you don’t overcook them and end up with dry pieces of chicken!
- A light dusting of flour is all you need for the chicken - just enough to create a brown crust on each side. Shake off any excess before cooking.
- You make those thin cutlets by cutting a chicken breast in half, horizontally, and then pounding each half thin using a meat mallet. Don’t be intimidated here. Just place your chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap and flatten the breasts out to about 1/4 inch-thickness.
- Be sure not to overcook your garlic or it can become bitter and affect the taste of the sauce.
- Let your skillet cool down a bit after frying up the chicken. You don’t want the skillet scorching hot when it comes to making the sauce. Instead, it should only be heated to medium.
- Dairy-free chicken piccata - Use extra olive oil or dairy-free butter instead of butter. Your sauce will lose some richness, but the final dish will still be delicious.
- Gluten-free chicken piccata - Coat the chicken cutlets in rice flour, almond flour, or a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. Skip anything too dense (like coconut flour).
- Adjust the amount of capers used - This sauce is on the heavy-side when it comes to the capers. If you’re not into them, feel free to cut back on them a bit, or, go ahead and just dump that whole jar in there!
- Alcohol-free cooking: Ditch the dry vermouth or white wine and replace it with more chicken broth and an extra splash of lemon juice.
Nutrition
Calories: 308kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 233mg | Potassium: 260mg | Vitamin A: 450IU | Vitamin C: 9.2mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1.2mg