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This easy chicken piccata recipe features tender chicken pieces cooked in a tangy lemon butter sauce. Ready in 15 minutes, it makes a perfect weeknight dinner!
Ready for more chicken recipes? Try my Peruvian chicken, stuffed chicken breast, and Huli Huli chicken next.
You can never have too many chicken dinners, especially when it’s such a versatile, affordable protein. Of course, some dishes are better than others, and my chicken piccata recipe is the best of all.
What is piccata chicken?
The word piccata refers to meat dredged in flour, sautéed, and then cooked in a flavorful piccata sauce, typically made of freshly squeezed lemon juice, capers, and butter. It can be made with veal, fish, or, in this case, chicken breast.
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- Easy and elegant. Pounded chicken cutlets served in a buttery sauce with lemons and capers look quite presentable. And yet, they’re so easy to make.
- Rich flavor. White wine, garlic, lemon, and butter are simple ingredients that work to create the most flavorful, tangy, buttery sauce.
- Ready in 15 minutes. This is a quick dinner option. While the sauce cooks, you can even make a fancy side dish to serve with it.
- Versatile. It’s fast enough to enjoy for a random weeknight dinner yet sophisticated enough for date night!
★★★★★ REVIEW
“Made this this this evening for a family dinner. Served it with a Street Corn Salad and rice. This meal was so good! So amazingly flavourful! Everyone was impressed.” – Bunny
Ingredients needed
- Chicken breasts. Use boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced in half so they can be pounded thin.
- Flour. Regular all-purpose flour to dredge the chicken before browning them.
- Butter. To brown the chicken and add it to the sauce to make it rich and glossy.
- Olive oil. To sauté the vegetables.
- Dry white wine. A key ingredient of the piccata sauce. The white wine cooks off, leaving behind a complex flavor. If you’d rather not cook with wine, use chicken broth instead.
- Garlic. Freshly minced garlic.
- Lemon. You will need both the fresh lemon juice and the zest.
- Capers. They add a tangy, briny flavor to the sauce.
- Salt and black pepper. To taste.
- Fresh parsley. For garnish.
How to make chicken piccata
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Prepare the chicken. Slice chicken breasts in half to make four cutlets. Pound them lightly until even in thickness.
Step 2- Season chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Place flour into a shallow bowl and coat the chicken in it. Shake off the excess.
Step 3- Pan-fry. Heat oil and two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, cook the chicken until brown on both sides.
Step 4- Make the sauce. Add garlic to the pan and sauté for 10 seconds, then add white wine and simmer until it reduces by half. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and let simmer for several minutes.
Step 5- Assemble. Return the chicken to the sauce and simmer for two minutes. Remove from the heat and serve with parsley.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Cook the chicken in batches. So each piece browns evenly.
- Choose your wine wisely. You don’t want to use a sweet wine; look for a dry wine with a citrusy finish (like a Sauvignon blanc or Pinot Grigio).
- Deglaze the pan. When you add the wine, you’ll hear a sizzle. That’s when you start scraping up the brown bits stuck to the pan. I do this with Tuscan chicken, too.
Variations
- Add shallots. Starting the sauce with shallots and garlic is a great way to create a rich flavor base. Due to their mild flavor, shallots do not overpower the light lemony sauce.
- Simmer with lemon slices. Adding lemon slices to the piccata sauce enhances its lemony flavor. Remove the lemon slices from the sauce halfway through the cooking time and reserve them for plating.
- Make a creamy sauce. Add a splash of heavy cream for a richer, more decadent piccata sauce.
- Garnish with parmesan cheese for added savoriness.
Storage instructions
To store. Transfer leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate them for up 4 days.
To freeze. Chicken piccata also freezes well. Divide the leftovers into portions and freeze them in airtight containers for up to 3 months.
Frequently asked questions
If you add lemon piths, the piccata sauce may turn bitter. Additionally, if you add lemon zest, make sure you get only the thin yellow layer and not the white part.
More Italian chicken dinners
- Ground chicken meatballs
- Chicken Florentine
- Parmesan crusted chicken
- Chicken Marsala
- Chicken Milanese
Chicken Piccata
Video
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2/3 cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
Instructions
- Slice chicken breasts in half to leave you with four cutlets. Pound them lightly to get them even thickness.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Place flour on a plate and dredge the chicken in it, shaking off any excess.
- Heat oil and 2 tbsp of butter in a pan over medium-high heat until the butter melts. Working in batches, cook the chicken until deeply browned on both sides. Once the chicken is cooked, set it aside.
- Add garlic to the pan and sauté for 10 seconds, then add white wine and simmer until it reduces by half. Add capers, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper, and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the rest of the butter and swirl well, until the butter melts, return the chicken inside and simmer together for two minutes. Remove from the heat and serve with some fresh parsley.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published January 2023, updated and republished June 2024
Made this this this evening for a family dinner. Served it with a Street Corn Salad and rice. This meal was so good! So amazingly flavourful! Everyone was impressed. I did add the small Shallot with the garlic.
Thanks, Bunny!
I always use Pinot Grigio as the dry white wine. It has citrus undernotes and makes the sauce SO flavorful! The chicken breasts in the grocery stores are huge nowadays so I use chicken tenders pounded with a meat tenderizing kitchen mallet. Anything piccata is my favorite!!
This was delicious! My family loved it! Just want to make sure I did the right thing by pouring off the oil, after browning the chicken, and before adding the garlic?
Lovely zingy lemony chicken. Had mine with mashrd potatoes and purple sprouting brocolli, lovely
I really love your recipes. .superb it really looks delicious even without tasting it .that’s why I can’t wait to try to make or cook your recipes ..
Love this recipe!
Delicious and so quick and easy. I used 4 x chicken thighs instead of chicken breast. I find chicken breast to dry for me generally, but I havent made this recipe with breasts, so it may be okay.
What do you serve this with?
What side dishes?
LOVE rice or noodles, or even baked potato.
What veg would go with this instead of rice plz
Root vegetables!
What can I use instead of capers
Just leave them out 🙂
This is very good. I’ve made it several times.
Hi! This looks delicious! I do have a question- what size chicken breast did you use? It just says “large”. So I want to make sure I don’t get something too small or two big.
Thanks
Hi Brooke! Around 8-10 ounces each.
Is there a substitute for all-purpose flour? Maybe coconut flour??
You could try almond flour.
What’s the red thing?
It looks red from the sauce.