Chicken piccata is a thin chicken cutlet dredged in flour, pan fried and finished in a lemon butter caper sauce. It takes about 20 minutes in one skillet and needs chicken breasts, flour, olive oil, butter, garlic, capers, lemon juice, white wine and chicken stock. A splash of cream at the end makes it creamy chicken piccata.
Chicken piccata sits between the two kitchens I grew up in. My mother cooked country food the way you learn it in southeast Texas, and I followed her around asking so many questions it’s a wonder she let me stay. Chicken hit a hot skillet, and the gravy got built in that same pan after, because you don’t throw out the good part. About once a month my dad took over with a stack of Bon Appétit and Epicurious, made something spectacular I’d never heard of and I was his five-year-old sous chef. Piccata is her method with his ingredients.
Later I cooked in high-end restaurants, and most of the dishes you get dressed up to order are this plain underneath. It’s one of those easy chicken dinner recipes that looks like it cost 30 dollars, and asks one thing back: six minutes of your attention once the wine hits the pan. Wander off to check your phone and it will tell on you.
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Recipe Video Tutorial
What You Need
- 2 chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2/3 cup flour
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp capers
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp parsley
- Angel hair pasta, for serving
How to Make Chicken Piccata
Butterfly the breasts, cover with plastic wrap and pound them to one even thickness. A mallet is nice, a rolling pin works and so does the bottom of a heavy skillet on a day that has earned it. Season with salt and pepper, then cut each piece in half.
Dredge the pieces in flour and pan fry them in the olive oil. When they’re cooked through, take them out and leave that pan as messy as it looks. What’s stuck to the bottom is the sauce, as anybody raised on pan gravy knows.
Pour in the white wine, then the butter. When it melts, add the garlic, then the capers, lemon juice and chicken stock. Simmer until it thickens, slide the chicken back in with the parsley and serve over angel hair.
Creamy Chicken Piccata
For creamy chicken piccata, stir 1/3 cup of heavy cream in at the very end, after it thickens, then back to a bare simmer. The lemon goes softer, the sauce goes pale gold. I pick between the two by weather and mood, which is not a system, I know.
The Part Most Chicken Piccata Recipes Skip
Chicken dinner recipes say to pound the chicken and move on. Pound it evenly. Not mostly even. Even. In a restaurant every cutlet leaves the pan at the same second. At home it’s plainer: a thick end and a thin end give you a dry half and a raw half, and no sauce covers for that.
And stay put once the wine goes in. I’ve taken this sauce too far, and I’ve also stood there whispering encouragement while it flatly refused to thicken. Neither one ruins dinner. Too far goes glossy and sticky, and a splash of stock brings it back. Too thin wants another minute, or a pinch of the leftover dredging flour whisked in.
Easy Chicken Piccata Recipe
Serves 4 | About 20 minutes | One skillet
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2/3 cup flour
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp capers
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/3 cup heavy cream, for the creamy version
- 2 tbsp parsley
- Angel hair pasta, for serving
Instructions
- Butterfly the chicken breasts, cover with plastic wrap and pound to an even thickness. Season with salt and pepper, then cut each piece in half.
- Dredge the cutlets in flour and pan fry in the olive oil until cooked through. Remove and set aside.
- Pour the white wine into the hot pan, add the butter and let it melt.
- Add the garlic, then the capers, lemon juice and chicken stock. Simmer until slightly thickened.
- For creamy chicken piccata, stir in the heavy cream and bring back to a bare simmer.
- Return the chicken with the parsley and serve over angel hair with the sauce spooned over.
What to Serve With Chicken Piccata
Angel hair is the classic for a dull good reason: skinny strands hold a thin sauce and sturdier ones don’t.
- Angel hair or linguine, tossed with a spoonful of the pan sauce
- Garlic bread, officially for the table, actually for the sauce left on your plate
- Roasted asparagus or green beans, since the lemon carries right over
- Mashed potatoes, for when you want Tuesday to feel like Sunday
Storing and Making It Ahead
Leftovers keep three days. Reheat gently in a covered pan with a spoonful of stock. A microwave tightens the sauce and toughens the chicken, and then you’ll blame the recipe and I’ll know. You can pound the cutlets ahead, but flour them at the last second or the coating goes pasty.
Chicken Piccata FAQ
Can I make chicken piccata without wine, or use chicken thighs?
Yes to both. Swap the wine for the same amount of chicken stock plus a splash more lemon juice. Thighs won’t crisp the same and take longer, so pounded breasts keep this a 20 minute dinner.
What are capers, and can I skip them?
They’re the pickled flower buds of a Mediterranean shrub, and the briny pop that makes this piccata instead of lemon chicken. They did not exist in the country kitchen I grew up in, which is probably half of why I love them. Skip them and it’s a different dinner.
Is this like the Cheesecake Factory chicken piccata recipe?
Same family, and the creamy version above lands closest. If a copycat is what you came for, start there.
How do I keep the sauce from breaking?
Keep it at a simmer, never a hard boil, then add the cream off the heat if you’re nervous. Butter and cream split when rushed.
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