Chicken Piccata is an Italian dish made with thin slices of veal or chicken (or even fish — here’s our salmon piccata!) that are sautéed in a lemon butter sauce. The dish is often served with capers and parsley, and is typically accompanied by rice or pasta.
Chicken piccata is a popular dish in both Italy and the United States. It’s relatively simple to prepare — the prep time is just 15 minutes! — and is elegant and impressive enough for dinner parties, but quick enough to make on busy weeknights.
You’ll love the bright, tangy sauce made with fresh lemon juice, white wine, chicken broth, shallots, garlic, and capers, which is poured lovingly over pan seared chicken cutlets. It’s mouthwateringly good! This will be a regular in your dinner rotation in no time!
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken breast or cutlets: If you buy breasts, make sure they’re boneless and skinless!
- All-purpose flour: Seasoned with Kosher salt and black pepper, then used for coating the chicken cutlets. This helps them crisp up and brown in the pan.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Used with butter to brown the chicken.
- Unsalted butter: Used with oil to cook and brown the chicken.
- Shallot: Sautéed until sweet and softened.
- Lemons: Fresh lemon juice is added to the piccata sauce, but there’s also sautéed lemon rounds to add even more citrus flavor.
- Garlic: A few cloves of smashed garlic goes a long way!
- Dry white wine: Such as Sauvignon Blanc or Sancerre
- Low-sodium chicken stock: To help build the body of the sauce.
- Capers: These add a bright, briny, salty flavor that complements the acidity of the piccata sauce.
- Fresh parsley: To garnish the dish. You can substitute with other fresh herbs if you like!
- Flaky sea salt: For serving.
Equipment needed: Be sure to grab a shallow bowl for dredging the chicken, as well as a large skillet, tongs, a spatula, and a whisk!
How To Dredge Chicken Cutlets
- Place all-purpose flour in a shallow bowl, then season with Kosher salt and black pepper. Mix well.
- Add chicken cutlets one at a time, then dredge on both sides to fully coat with the flour mixture. Shake off any excess. Repeat with remaining chicken cutlets.
That’s it! Dredging chicken cutlets is easy and takes just a few minutes!
If you like veal, that’s another great protein for using in the same manner to make our piccata sauce. For the seafood lovers, you can make this with fish fillets as well. Consider trying our Salmon Piccata next!
How To Make Piccata Sauce
First, you’ll need to cook chicken cutlets in a skillet. Once they’re browned and fully cooked (about 3-4 minutes per side), transfer to a plate. Next, make the piccata sauce.
Sauté shallots and fresh lemon slices in the pan, season lightly with Kosher salt, then cook for a few minutes. Add smashed garlic cloves, then deglaze the pan with white wine. Be sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula!
Next, add chicken stock, lemon juice, and capers. Cook for a few more minutes, then remove from the heat and swirl in a few pats of butter. Taste, adjust seasoning, then serve over the pan fried chicken cutlets.
Garnish with lots of fresh chopped parsley and a generous pinch of flaky sea salt.
Creamy Piccata Sauce Without Heavy Cream
The trick to making the sauce smooth, creamy, and luscious is to swirl in a couple tablespoons of cold butter off the heat once the sauce is reduced!
Expert Tips
- White wine: use something you’d like to drink! When you cook with wine, the flavor concentrates and intensifies. Make sure you cook with something good enough to drink.
- Use a heavy bottom skillet! We recommend either stainless steel or cast iron. Both conduct heat more evenly than nonstick and will help you achieve a golden brown crust on the chicken.
- The sauce will thicken as it cools. We recommend serving the homemade piccata sauce right away for best texture!
FAQs
Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are cut in half horizontally. You can also buy chicken cutlets.
Once you’ve cooked your protein of choice (eg, chicken, fish, veal), the sauce is made in the same pan with shallots, lemon, garlic, white wine, chicken stock, capers, and a little butter. Finish with parsley and flaky sea salt!
The internal temperature should register 165F. It should be white all the way through with no pink at the center.
Go for a dry white wine with a good amount of acidity to match the lemon juice in the sauce. Sauvignon Blanc or Sancerre are great options, and Chardonnay is great if you want a smooth, buttery pairing.
Scallopini refers to the method of preparing chicken cutlets for sauce, while piccata is a type of sauce made with shallots, butter, lemon juice, and chicken stock.
How To Serve Chicken Piccata
Pan seared chicken cutlets and piccata sauce are best enjoyed with pasta, over rice or mashed potatoes, or with vegetables. We like to serve this with roasted asparagus, our house favorite arugula salad, blistered green beans, or simple oven roasted broccoli — keep the sides simple! Garlic bread would be delicious too!
Leftovers, Storage, and Reheating
- Leftovers should be kept in an airtight container in a refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
- Freezing: Allow the chicken and piccata sauce to cool completely, then place in freezer-safe containers. Freeze for 3 months. Defrost the chicken and sauce overnight in a fridge before reheating.
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Pan Seared Chicken Piccata
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 large chicken breasts boneless, skinless, halved horizontally (or 6 chicken cutlets), about 1-1½ lbs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp Kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil divided
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter divided
- 1 medium shallot finely chopped
- 2 medium lemons 1 cut into rounds and seeds removed, the other lemon completely juice, about 3-4 Tbsp
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
- ¼ cup white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc or Sancerre
- ¾ cup low-sodium chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp drained capers
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley roughly chopped, optional
- Flaky sea salt for serving
Instructions
- Dredge the chicken cutlets. Combine ½ cup of flour, 2 tsp Kosher salt, and ½ tsp black pepper in a shallow bowl, then mix well. Dredge each chicken cutlet in the seasoned flour, making sure to coat evenly on all sides. Shake off excess flour, then transfer to a plate.
- Pan sear the cutlets. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cutlets (working in batches, as needed), then cook undisturbed until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Add an additional 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp butter, if needed, when cooking the second batch. Transfer cooked chicken to a plate. Note: the internal temperature of chicken should register 165F to be fully cooked. You can finish the chicken in the sauce later, if needed.
- Make the piccata sauce. To the pan, add 1 chopped shallot and 1 lemon cut into rounds. Season lightly with Kosher salt, then cook until fragrant and softened, about 1-2 minutes. Add the smashed garlic cloves, then cook 1 minute more. Pour in ¼ cup white wine, then use a spatula to scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until the wine has reduced by about a third. Add ¾ cup of chicken stock, the juice of 1 lemon (about 3-4 Tbsp), and 2 Tbsp capers, then simmer over medium heat for 4 minutes.
- Finish the sauce. Remove the pan from the heat, then swirl or whisk in the remaining 2 Tbsp butter until melted. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve the chicken with the sauce poured on top, then garnish with 2 Tbsp chopped parsley and a pinch of flaky sea salt.
- Note: if chicken needs additional time to cook, you can add the cutlets back into the sauce then simmer over medium heat until an internal temperature of 165F is reached. Cook time depends on the thickness of the chicken cutlets.
Video
Notes
- Slicing chicken: You can place the chicken breasts in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to make it easier to slice horizontally.
- Optional: pound out the chicken cutlets for more even cook time. This is completely optional, but some chicken breasts are larger and thicker than others. To pound out chicken, place each halved breast between two sheets of plastic wrap. Use the flat side of a meat mallet to pound into a thickness of ¼ – ½-inch.
- Tip! Remove seeds from lemon rounds before adding to the pan sauce.
- Leftovers should be kept in an airtight container in a refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
- Freezing: Allow the chicken and piccata sauce to cool completely, then place in freezer-safe containers. Freeze for 3 months. Defrost the chicken and sauce overnight in a fridge before reheating.
Nutrition
Photography by: Megan McKeehan
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