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.
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.
Chicken Piccata Recipe
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 fresh lemon juice 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.
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.
This was amazing!!! Will definitely make it on repeat! The chicken and sauce was so much better than any I’ve had at a restaurant!
This is a great recipe. I use it constantly. It’s easy, not a lot of ingredients, and fairly quick to make. I only add to things: 1. I add Cavander’s Greek Seasoning to the flour and 2. I pound the chicken to 1-1/2 inches thick. Otherwise the recipe is perfect. I always get lots of compliments when I make this from family, friends, and whomever I give it to.
recipe is calling for 2 separate flour ingredients? WHY?
One is for coating the chicken, the other is for making the sauce.
Very tasty and I should have used flour not panko. And I added too much flour to the gravy and little green things were a bit old. Not your fault! I will do it right next time. Fresh capers!
This recipe is phenomenal! My husband who is very aware of the Italian cuisine noted that this was the best chicken piccata he has ever had. Light with a very balance flavor …. definitely a keeper and a 5 star rating! Thank You
What type of white wine do you recommend to use? Going to make this for the first time.
Thank you!
For the wine, choose a dry white variety that you’d enjoy drinking; cooking wines aren’t recommended.
This was super easy and really delicious! I had a lot of sauce so I added pasta to it and served it with steamed broccoli. Thank you!
wow! best chicken piccata I have ever made, hands down. rivals any restaurant I’ve had it at. definitely going to be on our regular rotation. Thank you!
This was so wonderful. My wife loves Piccata so I promised I’d make some for her. I made it for my daughter her fiancé and my wife and they absolutely adored me for it! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Made this tonight for the second time. I used chicken breasts that I had brined in buttermilk and salt and frozen. Defrosted then made this with them. Followed the recipe exactly. My partner said it was the best chicken he’s ever eaten. Definitely a hit!!
This recipe is a staple in my home. It is delicious each and every time. While it’s the main recipe I use, it’s not the only one. Whenever I want to make something I check ‘Spend with Pennies’ first.
it would be nice to know the measurements of the ingredients for this recipe
Hi Pam, all measurements can be found in the recipe towards the bottom of the page. Or you can access the recipe by using the jump to recipe button at the top. Hope that helps!
This is one of my go to recipes and what a crowd pleaser!! I am catering it for a party and was wondering how you recommend to do that? (Make it night before or reheating options?)
You could prepare up to step 5 and then add the chicken to the sauce to reheat before serving.
Always a hit at all my parties!
I made this easy, quick recipe tonight. I
served the chicken and sauce over ribbon pasta with sautéed spinach. My husband loved it and I did, too. Great recipe!
Enjoyed this recipe very much. I didn’t have whole chicken breast on hand, rather I had a package of chicken tenders in the refrigerator.
I guessed that I had something equivalent to “4 chicken breasts”, and it seemed that I did!
To eliminate guess work, would you give us about the weight of meat you built this recipe on? Thank you so much. Ruth
I use approximately 1.5 pounds of chicken breasts.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Ruth!
This is an amazing recipe! After browning chicken in the pan, I transferred chicken to the oven to finish cooking for 20 min while I made the sauce. I added lemon zest to the sauce as well for extra lemony flavor. Served in a bowl of uncooked baby spinach on the bottom, topped with angel hair. Placed the crispy cooked chicken on top of it all and poured the sauce over all of it! So delish-restaurant quality!! ♥️
made this for dinner tonight with lemon fettuccine and roasted asparagus, it was delicious! this will definitely be part of our rotation of recipes!
Holly,
Every dish (recipe) I make of yours is outstanding. I love to cook and have many of my own recipes, but, I just love all of yours that I have tried. Believe me, there have been plenty. About 14
recipes have caught my eye. Kudos Holly, great job on all. Continue to shine.
Thank you so much for the kind words Patricia, you just made my day! I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes.
Had ours over egg noodles, very good.. loved the lemon flavor and capers! when I make again, 1.5-2 lb chicken would be enough for us.. make sure to slice or pound thin! (Maybe 1/2″)