Lemon chicken piccata is a fresh, light, and flavorful chicken dinner that couldn’t be more delicious. Seared chicken breasts are smothered in a lemon, white wine, butter, and caper sauce.
This twist on a classic chicken piccata recipe adds some amazing flavor with the additions of parmesan cheese and garlic. Serve chicken piccata over pasta, rice, or roasted potatoes for the perfect Italian dinner!
What Is Chicken Piccata?
Piccata is a common dish in Italian cuisine. It refers to the process of cooking, not the dish itself. Piccata is meat sliced into thin medallions, dredged in flour, then seared and served in a sauce containing butter, lemon, capers, and often white wine.
The most common meats used for piccata are:
- Veal (one of my favorites, veal is most common in Italy)
- Chicken (most popular in the United States)
- Pork
- White fish
- Cauliflower (a common vegetarian option)
How To Make Chicken Piccata
Lemon chicken piccata is an easy, one pan meal and takes just 30 minutes from start to finish.
Begin with the chicken:
- Butterfly the chicken by slicing the chicken lengthwise to create 2 thin medallions. If chicken is still uneven, use a meat mallet to pound them to between 1/4″ and 1/2″ thickness.
- Add flour, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to a shallow dish. Dredge each chicken piece in flour, shaking off excess.
- Heat a saucepan over medium high heat with olive oil and butter (if you haven’t seared in butter before, you’re in for a treat).
- Sear each chicken piece for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden and fully cooked. Remove to keep warm while the sauce is made.
Now for the chicken piccata sauce:
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add butter and garlic, then cook for about a minute or until the garlic really starts to smell great.
- Add the flour to make a roux. Make sure you cook the roux for about a minute – this gets rid of the floury, starchy taste and replaces it with a nutty flavor.
- Slowly whisk in chicken broth, ensuring no lumps form in the sauce. Then add lemon juice, capers, and white wine.
- Cook for about 5-10 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Add fresh chopped parsley for some color, and return chicken to the pan to coat it.
The Best Wine For Chicken Piccata
When cooking, always air on the dry side of wine selection. I usually go for a pinot grigio (which is also my white wine of choice), and look for something in the $10 range.
Sauvignon blanc and chardonnay do work for cooking, but I have always preferred pinot grigio.
For lemon chicken piccata, look for a dry white wine with hints of citrus – specifically lemon!
My Favorite Chicken Piccata Sides
You definitely need a side dish with lemon chicken piccata to soak up all of the delicious chicken piccata sauce.
We love serving chicken piccata over pasta such as linguine, spaghetti, and penne. Rice is also a delicious option!
Chicken piccata is such a buttery, rich dish, so don’t go too crazy with the sides. A simple classic caesar salad, mashed potatoes, or oven roasted potatoes will work perfectly!
Some quick dinner rolls are a great option to sop up whatever is left on your plate!
Reheating Chicken Piccata
Leftovers? Chicken piccata is a fresh, light dish that tastes the best right away, but the leftovers are still absolutely mouth watering.
Make sure you wrap the leftovers up and store them in the fridge within 2 hours of cooking. Chicken piccata will last about 3 days in the fridge once cooked.
When reheating, whisk a little chicken broth into the sauce to thin it out a bit. The sauce thickens when cooled, but a slash is all you need!
More Easy Chicken Dinners
- Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- Korean Fried Chicken
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Peruvian Chicken (Pollo A La Brasa)
- Creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta
Lemon Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
Piccata Sauce
- ¼ cup butter
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice fresh
- 3 tablespoons capers rinsed
- 3 tablespoons parsley chopped
Instructions
- Combine flour, lemon zest, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Butterfly chicken breasts by slicing them in half to create two thin chicken pieces. If chicken breasts are still uneven, pound with a meat mallet. Dredge chicken in flour mixture, shaking off excess.
- Heat oil and butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once hot, sear chicken for 4 minutes on each side or until golden and fully cooked. Remove from pan.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add butter and garlic, then cook until garlic is fragrant. Add flour and stir to create a roux, then cook for 1 minute.
- Slowly whisk in chicken broth, then white wine, lemon juice, and capers. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until thickened.
- Stir in parsley, then add chicken back to the pan to reheat and be coated. Serve immediately.
Notes
Don’t forget to pin it for later!
5 thoughts on “Lemon Chicken Piccata”
I made the Lemon Chicken piccata last night for dinner. We have 5 lemon trees on our property so every year I have a glute of lemons. I’ve made so much Limoncello that I am afraid the ATF is going to come arrest me. So looking for other things to do with my lemons, I ran across a recipe for Chicken Tagine that called for preserved lemons. So after learning how to salt preserve them I was able to use every lemon on the tree. (I hate waste). So now I add a minced peel to many dishes. Last night I added it to the piccata. Over the top delicioso! The combo of the sweet/salty lemon and capers is superb. Thanks for the recipe! (and try some preserved lemon next time)
Sincerely,
Ellen
We love making homemade Limoncello, and we are definitely jealous of the lemon trees. So glad this was a hit, we will definitely try out preserved lemon next time!
Use gravy flour for roux.
Also add 3 t. chicken stock concentrate to the 1c wine.
Use egg and milk wash prior to flour dredge.
Sounds delicious Charles, so glad you enjoyed it!
Love chicken this sounds good.