Slick dish chicken piccata is penny-thin chicken cutlets in an unctuous butter sauce enlivened with sharp lemon slices and briny caper bullets. Put together with common kitchen ingredients, this occasion-worthy dish is on the table quicker than you can say “Wedding anniversary?”
Fish-favourers, sea bass in brown butter caper sauce is essentially the same lip-smacking recipe coming to your rescue should you find yourself in the same predicament.
What is chicken piccata?
Although Italian by name, the piccata recipe came to American tables from France by way of Italy. Eaten, but not half as popular as in the US, Italians favour veal, veal scallopini, or fish such as swordfish, for this buttery and briny sauce.
All piccata recipes call for meat to be sliced into slender escalopes and tenderised for the ultimate melt-in-the-mouth texture. Next, they are lightly dusted in flour and fried to golden in an unctuous oil and butter blend before being bathed in the knockout classic sauce.
The sauce for this easy chicken piccata recipe is a perfect balance of bold flavours; creamy and nutty butter, tart lemon juice, and sea-salty capers all bound together with bone-dry white wine and garlic. It truly is flavour heaven.
My restaurant-style reinvention of the traditional veal piccata, made with chicken breast, is a more affordable, more accessible special occasion dish. So, ideal if you’ve forgotten one!
I had thought about giving you a direct translation of the Italian word piccata*, but it could ruin your anniversary and I can’t have that on my conscience (but see below).
*larded
Recipe tips and notes
- I love an excuse to use my meat mallet! If you don’t own one, a rolling pin works just as well. It’s not just stress relief, btw, pounding the chicken breasts will flatten them to an equal thickness so they cook quickly and evenly and tenderise the meat to absolute perfection.
- The flour dusting should be light. You don’t want a claggy cutlet. What’s more, too much flour will burn during frying contributing to a bitter flavour.
- This piccata recipe uses chicken breast, it’s affordable and accessible. If you are pushing the boat out, I recommend trying veal piccata or for fishy sidestep, salmon piccata.
- These slimmed down chicken cutlets take minutes to cook, so stay focussed!
- In this easy piccata recipe, I’ve used dry white wine. The acidity lifts the dish to another level of zing. If you have an open dry sherry to use, that is also a great substitute and will ground the flavours by playing more to the butter.
- This sauce is a delicate one in terms of consistency, the chicken should bathe in a lemon butter puddle rather than a gushy gravy. It might appear thin but will pack a powerful punch!
- A sprinkling of parsley is the final flourish. Lemon and parsley are perfect partners, and the flash of green gives plate appeal.
Serving suggestions
Assuming you’re planning this special occasion meal in advance, make it all the more memorable with a three-course Italian-inspired feast.
Starters like grilled asparagus with Romesco sauce and burrata or mushroom crostini are light enough to balance out the buttery main.
Sides of warm zucchini salad with Italian vinaigrette or lemon butter green beans (if one lemon and butter dish isn’t enough!) bring the vegetables. And garlic bread, focaccia or homemade pasta for sopping up sauce.
Finish with a cool creamy dessert like Eton mess semi freddo or a showstopping blueberry and limoncello trifle to go easy on the digestion.
However, if you really are here working last minute to stay out of the doghouse, bust out these super speedy air fryer fries and a garden salad. You’re still saved!
Storage and leftovers
Chicken cutlets in piccata sauce will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can expect sharper flavours for its second appearance.
To reheat, transfer the chicken breasts and sauce to an oven-safe dish with a splash of water or chicken stock to cover the bottom. Cover the dish with foil to ensure the chicken stays moist and reheat at 350F/175C for 10-15 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to check the centre of the cutlet has reached a food safe temperature of 165F/ 75C.
More chicken recipes to try
Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 2-3 chicken breasts cut in half lengthwise
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 shallot chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lemon juiced
- ½ lemon sliced
- 125ml / ½ cup dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
- 4 tbsp capers
- fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts on a cutting board and with a sharp knife slice them in half horizontally. Then cover them with a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper and pound with a meat mallet or a rolling pin until they are no more than ½ inch thick throughout. Then remove the plastic wrap and season them with salt and pepper on both sides and dredge in flour.
- Preheat the oven to the lowest temperature.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan, brown the chicken pieces in the hot oil until golden for 5 minutes on each side. A couple of minutes into the cooking add the butter to the pan. This will add more flavour and colour to the chicken. You might want to do the frying in batches to avoid overcrowding.
- Then remove the chicken cutlets from the pan and keep them warm in an oven preheated to the lowest temperature while you are making the sauce.
- To the same pan add the chopped shallot and sauté over low heat for 2 minutes, add the minced garlic and let it cook over low heat for 30 seconds, then add the white wine and let it bubble for a 2-3 minutes. Add the lemon juice, lemon slices, capers and parsley, turn up the heat and bring to a boil, as soon as it boils, lower the heat and simmer the sauce until it’s reduced in volume for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Return the chicken back to the pan and spoon the sauce all over.
