The Best Recipe for Chicken Piccata (2024)

Made with a flavorful lemon caper sauce and tender chicken breasts, Chicken Picatta is a classic Italian dish that delivers impressive flavor, yet is incredibly simple to make.

Chicken Piccata is a perfect meal to make at home when you want a meal that is worthy of an Italian restaurant, yet you don't want to spend hours in the kitchen.

Just like my recipes for Creamy Chicken Marsala and Shrimp Scampi, this recipe for Chicken Piccata delivers restaurant-quality results in under 30 minutes.

What is Chicken Piccata?

Chicken Piccata is a classic Italian dish that is made with chicken dredged in flour and then pan-seared in butter with a rich lemon caper sauce.

According to Wikipedia, Piccata is an Italian term that simply means to pound flat. But when referring to meat, it means sliced, sautéed, and served in a sauce containing lemon, butter, and spices. This technique can be used on any type of meat or fish and is an exceptionally delicious way to prepare chicken breasts.

Chicken Picatta delivers an incredibly intense flavor, thanks to the salty brine of the capers and the bright acidic notes of the lemon, yet comes together with minimal effort and minimal ingredients.

Notes on Ingredients

• Chicken: For this recipe, boneless, skinless chicken breasts are the classic choice. You can purchase thinly sliced chicken breast cutlets, or you can cut regular chicken breasts lengthwise to form chicken cutlets.
• Wine: Dry white wine adds flavor and acidic notes to the simple sauce. You want to select a dry white wine like Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio.
• Capers: You can find jarred Capers by pickles in any grocery store.
• Lemon: Only FRESH lemon juice--this is not the time to use jarred lemon juice, as the flavor will not be the same.
• Butter and Oil: For searing the chicken, it is best to use a combination of butter and oil. The butter gives the dish richness, while the oil helps the butter from burning while searing the chicken.

How to Make Chicken Piccata

• If using full-sized chicken breasts, cut each breast in half lengthwise so you end up with thin, evenly-sized chicken cutlets that are no thicker than ½ inch. If your chicken cutlets are still thicker than ½ inch thick, place them between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until they are no thicker than ½ inch thick.
• Sprinkle both sides of the chicken evenly with salt and pepper.

• In a shallow dish, mix together the flour with salt and pepper.
• Dredge the chicken cutlets in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess flour, and place the chicken onto a plate until ready to pan-fry.

• In a large skillet, melt a couple of tablespoons of butter with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.
• Once the butter is melted and the oil is sizzling, add half of the chicken cutlets to the pan, being careful to not overcrowd the skillet.

• Saute the chicken until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
• Remove the seared chicken and set the chicken on a CLEAN plate. Repeat the process with the remaining chicken cutlets.
• Add the wine into the skillet, and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan--this will add great flavor to the sauce.
• Add in the lemon juice, capers, and a dash of salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.

• Once simmering, add the chicken back to the skillet and simmer for 3 minutes, or to warm through and coat with the sauce.

• Remove the chicken to a serving platter.
• Add a bit of butter to the pan and allow it to melt into the sauce.
• Serve the piccata sauce over the chicken and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

Leftover Chicken Piccata

If you happen to have leftovers, allow the chicken and sauce to cool completely. It is best to store the chicken and the sauce separately in airtight containers for up to 3 days. This will prevent the chicken from getting soggy in the leftover sauce.

To reheat the leftover chicken piccata, heat a nonstick skillet to medium-high heat. Add the chicken and allow to heat for 1 minute per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet, add the sauce to the pan, and heat until simmering. Serve the sauce over the chicken.

Recipe FAQs

What to Serve with Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata is traditionally served with angel hair pasta to soak up the additional sauce. I love to complete the meal with one of the following recipes:

• Homemade Italian Bread
• Oven Roasted Asparagus
• Oven Roasted Broccoli
• Tossed Greek Salad Recipe
• Italian Bread Dipping Oil

If you tried this recipe for Chicken Piccata, I would love for you to leave a comment and rating below.