Easy Must Have Chicken Piccata


Why chicken piccata should be your next go-to chicken dish.

This Italian classic chicken dish is pan-fried chicken breasts in lemon capers butter sauce, making it a perfect combination of tangy and savory. What makes this chicken dinner one of a kind is the simplicity of the dish that has restaurant-quality flavor.

Chicken piccata is my husband's absolute favorite chicken dish. This one pan dinner will make you feel like your cooking for a special occasion.

I first had chicken piccata at the Cheesecake factory years ago and now I've got my husband and my best friend hooked on it. It's typically served at a restaurant with angel hair pasta, but I'm 99.9% sure Italians don't eat it that way. No matter how you eat it, it's a delicious dish! The combination of fresh lemon, butter, wine, and capers creates a a burst of tanginess and richness that perfectly complements the pan fried chicken breasts.

You can easily double the recipe for a bigger crowd, but you'll have to pan fry batches of chicken at a time. Having a large frying pan would come in handy and make this process less cumbersome. I made chicken piccata for my father-in-law's birthday dinner for a big crowd, and they came out amazing. Most of the people had not had chicken piccata before and they all loved it! I hope you add this to your list of dinner ideas. You won't regret it!

gather your ingredients

  • Chicken breasts
  • Bread crumbs
  • Flour
  • Italian seasoning
  • Chicken broth
  • Lemon
  • Capers
  • Butter
  • Milk, cream, or half and half
  • Fresh garlic
  • Parsley (optional)

Easy Must Have Chicken Piccata

This Italian classic chicken dish is pan-fried chicken breasts in lemon caper butter sauce, making it the perfect combination of tangy and savory. 
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4

Ingredients  

  • 1 lb chicken breasts
  • ½ cup bread crumbs
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ lemon, squeeze or 2 TBSP lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • salt and pepper more or less to taste
  • parsley, chopped optional

Instructions 

Chicken

  • Butterfly chicken breasts in half and pound with a meat tenderizer into ¼ inch thick. Season both sides of the breasts with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
  • For dredging, assemble 2 shallow dish for milk, and flour. Combine flour and bread crumbs in 1 dish and milk in the other. Dip the chicken breasts in milk first, then in the flour-breadcrumb mixture. Make sure the breasts are well covered by pressing the flour down with your hands.
  • In a large frying pan on a medium heat, pour in about ⅓ cup olive oil. Once the oil is hot, pan fry each sides for 3 minutes. The frying time may be longer if the breasts are thicker than ¼ inch. Put the chicken breasts aside on a plate once done.

Lemon butter sauce

  • In the same frying pan, throw in the minced garlic and saute on medium heat for 2 minutes. Throw in capers, lemon juice, and broth. Bring the sauce to a quick simmer. Salt the sauce to your liking.
  • Turn the heat off and throw in butter. Wait until the butter is melted then add the chicken back to the pan.
  • Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Enjoy!
Keyword capers, Chicken, lemon butter sauce

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