Easy Chicken Piccata
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Need a new chicken recipe that is SURE to impress?? Make this simple chicken piccata and listen to the rave reviews that come from family and friends. It feels upscale like you’re eating from a fancy restaurant yet you’re making dinner at home in about 35 minutes!
This chicken piccata recipe features crispy fried chicken served with luxurious lemon caper sauce! You KNOW I love fried chicken, like this air fryer fried chicken or this buttermilk fried chicken. I’m so happy to make fried chicken ANOTHER WAY!
Serve this piccata with angel hair pasta and a salad and this quick dinner is sure to please. BUT you can also serve this with any pasta! Or over rice. Or try it over whipped potatoes.
Chicken or Veal piccata is a classic Italian dish made by pounding the meat thin with a meat mallet. In this version, we’re subbing in chicken breast cut into cutlets to save time. You can pound the chicken into thinner pieces if you want it thinner.
We’re also omitting white wine to make it more kid and weeknight-friendly. If you’re missing the wine in the sauce serve this with a nice white wine on the side or substitute wine for half of the chicken broth.
What you need to make this recipe
- boneless skinless chicken breasts OR chicken cutlets, make your own cutlets at home using my handy guide!
- salt
- pepper
- all-purpose flour
- light olive oil or vegetable oil
- shallot
- garlic
- chicken broth or chicken stock
- lemon juice use bottled or juice from fresh lemons
- sun-dried tomatoes
- capers (if you have a choice pick small capers)
- light cream or half and half
- butter
- fresh parsley(garnish)
- lemon slices(garnish)
- Tools needed
- cutting board
- chefs knife
- large skillet
- tongs
- paper towels
Substituting Chicken Pieces
This recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken breasts but you can use chicken breast cutlets instead if you find them. The difference between breasts you’ve thinly sliced and store-made breast cutlets is that the ones from the store are probably mechanically pounded thin.
Essentially you’re making a chicken cutlet when you slice boneless chicken breasts so if you prefer to have someone do that work for you buy cutlets.
Chicken tenders or tenderloins will work as well for this recipe.
Our Favorite Easy Weeknight Dinners
Got leftovers?
You can keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat in the oven or over medium heat in a skillet.
Olive Garden Copycat Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts 1 ½-2 lbs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 shallot
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic 2-3 medium cloves
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes chopped
- ¼ cup capers drained
- ¼ cup cream
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon parsley garnish
- 4 lemon slices
Instructions
- Slice chicken breasts in half lengthwise (to make them thinner)
- Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl, and dredge chicken in mixture
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat until it sizzles, and add chicken breasts, reserve the remaining flour for use in making the sauce
- Cook 4-5 minutes on each side until chicken is just cooked through
- lay a paper towel on a plate and set aside
- Remove chicken from skillet and set aside
- Add second tablespoon of oil to skillet, and add shallots
- Saute about a minute, then add garlic, and saute another minute
- add the reserved flour and cook for a minute
- add 1/2 the chicken broth to deglaze the pan and scrape up the browned bits
- then add remaining broth, and lemon juice, and cooking until thickened
- Add sun-dried tomatoes, capers, cream, and butter, and stir together until butter is melted, and fully combined
- Add chicken back to skillet, spooning some of the lemon mixture on top of chicken, and heat through
- Garnish with parsley and lemon slices and serve
This recipe is insanely good! Only changes I made were to not use the sun dried tomatoes (husband does not like) and I added a good sized sprig of rosemary to the sauce. SOOOO good! Thank you!