Chicken piccata is one of my all-time favorite dishes, and it’s SO easy to make!
Chicken breasts are lightly browned and simmered in a bright lemon caper white wine sauce. Serve over pasta or with crusty bread.
This recipe comes together quickly for a delicious weeknight favorite.
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You’ll Love This Chicken Piccata Because…
- This is a restaurant-quality dish that comes together quickly.
- It uses simple ingredients that I always have on hand.
- It seems fancy, but it’s actually quite easy to make!
- The sauce is bright and flavorful with lemon, capers, and wine (or broth).
What Is Chicken Piccata?
Piccata is a dish with meat in a buttery lemon caper sauce. Piccata is usually served over pasta.
This is a chicken piccata recipe; however, it can also be made with veal or shrimp—you’ll find a 20-minute shrimp piccata in my cookbook. The sauce is vibrant but delicate, so I prefer to serve it with thinner pasta such as angel hair or light linguine.
Unlock the Magic of Chicken Piccata
- Chicken: Choose small, skinless, boneless chicken breasts for this recipe. You can also use chicken cutlets or boneless skinless chicken thighs in this recipe.
- Broth: Chicken broth is the base of this piccata sauce, adding flavor while balancing the lemon so it’s not overpowering. A simple butter and flour roux thickens it up.
- Lemon: Fresh lemon adds the best flavor, I also add zest to the flour mix.
- Capers: Capers have a tangy, briny, salty flavor and are delicious. You can replace capers with chopped green olives, chopped artichoke hearts, or even a very small amount finely chopped anchovy.
- Wine: Choose a dry white wine like pinot grigio or replace the wine with additional broth.
How to Make Chicken Piccata
- The Chicken: Pound the chicken and dredge it in the flour mixture. Brown brown it on each side in a large skillet or braiser.
- The Sauce: Add the flour and butter to the pan. Slowly add the broth. Then add the lemon juice, capers, and wine. Simmer until thickened.
- The Final Touch: Add the chicken to the sauce until heated through.
Holly’s Helpful Tips
If the chicken breasts are around 6oz each, gently pound to ½-inch thick. If they’re larger, you can cut them in half crosswise before pounding. This will help them to cook quickly and evenly.
To pound chicken, place the chicken on a cutting board and cover it with plastic wrap (to avoid splatter). Use the flat side of a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin to gently pound the chicken.
Pan-frying in batches helps the chicken to brown better.
What to Serve With Chicken Piccata
Pasta: Chicken piccata has a delicious buttery lemon sauce, and it’s great over a long, thin pasta like angel hair or spaghettini.
Other starches: It can also be served with mashed potatoes, rice, noodles or a big chunk of crusty bread for dipping (if you haven’t tried my easy artisan bread, it’s a favorite).
Veggies: I love to pair this easy chicken piccata recipe with a fresh green veggie like broccoli, asparagus, green beans, or Brussels sprouts.
Pucker Up With These Fresh Lemon Favorites
Storing Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Did you enjoy this Chicken Piccata Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 6 ounces each, about 1 ½ lbs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons olive oil more as needed
- salt and black pepper to taste
Sauce
- ¼ cup salted butter
- 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken broth or chicken stock
- ½ lemon juiced, about 1 ½ tablespoons
- ½ cup dry white wine or chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons capers drained
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley additional for garnish
- shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Using a meat mallet, gently pound each chicken breast to ½-inch thick. See notes for larger chicken breasts.
- Combine the all-purpose flour, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl. Dip each chicken breast in the flour mixture, shaking off any excess.
- In a 10-inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in two batches for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until lightly browned and cooked through (165°F). Remove from the skillet and set aside to keep warm.
- Reduce the heat to medium and melt the butter in the same skillet. Whisk in the flour, scraping up any brown bits, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Gradually add the chicken broth, whisking until smooth after each addition.
- Add lemon juice, white wine, and capers. Simmer for 3 minutes, whisking occasionally.
- Add the chicken back into the skillet, and simmer in the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir in the chopped parsley and serve.
Video
Notes
- Chicken: If the chicken breasts are very large (over 7oz), cut them in half crosswise and pound to ½-inch thick if needed. It can be replaced with chicken thighs or veal—adjust cooking time as needed.
- Sauce: Use fresh lemon juice for the best flavor. Capers can be replaced with finely chopped green olive if desired.
- Serving: I love chicken piccata with a thin pasta like linguini or angel hair pasta. It can also be served with mashed potatoes or rice. Serve with roasted asparagus, steamed broccoli, or roasted cauliflower pair well.
- Fresh minced garlic can be added to the butter in the skillet if desired.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian, Mediterranean© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
I made this tonight quick, tasty and crowd pleaser.
Oh my word! This was so delicious! No changes made except I doubled the sauce and added some lemon zest to the sauce.
Easy and super flavorful- what else could you want?!
Adding mushrooms and b
Onions to the lemon sauce okay?
Sounds delicious Mario!
“So Good !” I’ve never had chicken piccata before or capers Lol ! After reading the reviews. I decided to double the sauce but not the capers as there seemed to be plenty. I decided to serve this over angel hair pasta and top with grated parmesan cheese. One thing I did do was wipe my pan after sauteing the chicken as I wanted my sauce to be light and creamy looking. Thank You so much for this recipe.
Looks fabulous!
I chose this recipe for tonight’s dinner because, well, we have lots of chicken in the freezer! I’ve made chicken piccata several times before but the simplicity of this one appealed to me. But this is what I did to meet my dietary (and taste) needs:
Used mix of GF rice flour and GF cornstarch in place of the regular flour
Used Perdue chicken tenders. I despise that white tendon that runs through it, so after gently pounding them, I have a method that easily “slides” it out. I then had nice size pieces for the recipe.
Added a bit of broth into the pan (after cooking the chicken) and stirred to clear the pan. Used same pan for continuing with the recipe.
Used only 2 TBS butter in sauce preparation, adding it to pan on very low heat to melt while I thinly sliced a medium clove of garlic (I love garlic) and added to melted butter. Let it cook just until starting to get a little color, then added the flour mix from plate used to coat the chicken. Added about 1/2 TBS each of GF rice flour and GF cornstarch to the pan, stirring as directed. Added the wine and more broth, plus the lemon juice. Stirred as directed. Added about 3 good pinches of crushed dry thyme, stirred in. Added the parsley, then returned chicken to the pan. Sprinkled more ground black pepper. Let it simmer on low (lidded) while I prepared the polenta. Served the chicken piccata over a serving of polenta. OMG, dinner was really yummy! My husband loved it as well.
Thank you for sharing all of your tips Iris, so glad you loved this recipe.
Please tell me your method for “sliding” out the gross white tendon. I’ve always cut it out, but then a lot of chicken gets wasted. Thank you in advance
It was delicious. I added a little garlic powder to the sauce, but as written it was a wonderful recipe. Served over buttery parsley’d Noodles with steamed broccoli. Yum!
So good!!
So excited to make this
This was restaurant quality! Never used capers before, but loved the flavor profile of the lemon, white wine and capers. Next time, I will slice the chicken breasts in half; but this was delicious! Thanks!
Easy to make and delicious sauce!
This was FANTASTIC!!! We added sautéed mushrooms and spinach to the sauce for some extra veggies and served over angel hair pasta. It was wonderful and a perfect recipe as written. Can’t wait to make it again for friends! Thank you!
Easy and delicious! We love capers, so we kicked that up a bit. I also made it with and with out the wine, and both ways were to rave reviews “please make this again”. Thank you!
HOLLY, YOU MAKE IT SO EASY TO PRINT RECIPES. THANK YOU
Best chicken piccata on
Loved the chicken piccata recipe. I wanted a recipe that had enough sauce to use over the chicken and noodles. This recipe was a big hit with my husband and friends. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
My entire family loves this recipe. It’s great over any type of pasta but very pretty over bow ties. We love capers so there can never be enough.
My girlfriend and I now exchange premade meals as gifts and this is what I am making her for her Christmas treat, along with some sugar snap peas and shortbread cookies.
Make sure you really reduce after adding the wine,capers and lemon. It ruined my first attempt. Tonight I used the wine to deglaze the pan and made my roux with the wine so the alcohol cooked off more. Second attempt was successful. I also went lighter on the capers and ditched the lemon zest. The trick is to balance and not overpower the dish. Too much of one thing can really ruin things. I’m also buying a better wine next time. Maybe one that isn’t as dry. It’s still a good base recipe.
What wine would you recommend using
Any recipe that calls for wine…I think it should be the wine you like to drink! You reduce the alcohol, but the taste will be there. So, make it a wine you like. It needs some time to reduce for sure. For this recipe, a white for sure. Chardonnay worked nicely.
I like to use Barefoot Pinot Grigio. And serve with Cupcake or Eco Domini PG
Loved this recipe!!!!
delicious easy and straightforward recipe.