Name: Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 2 large boneless (skinless chicken breasts); Salt and freshly cracked pepper (to taste); All-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1/4 cup dry white wine (can substitute apple juice); 1 teaspoon minced garlic; 1/2 cup chicken broth; 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 1 tablespoon drained capers; 2 tablespoon unsalted butter; Fresh lemon slices; Fresh parsley (chopped)

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Using thin chicken cutlets is the secret to this Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata recipe. Dredging the chicken in flour and quickly pan-frying it creates a crispy crust on the chicken which is briefly sauteed in a flavorful lemon caper sauce.

Chicken-Piccata-With-Pasta on a white platter

This restaurant-quality chicken piccata was featured on the cover of Cuisine At Home magazine. Chicken Piccata is one of my favorite dishes to eat at restaurants, so it’s great to have a quick and easy recipe chicken piccata recipe I can make at home.

I’ve updated the post with a video so you can see just how easy it is to make.

Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata with lemons and capers

Coincidentally, Pam, For the Love of Cooking, and Jamie, Mom’s Cooking Club, also posted this recipe and their families loved it too. It really is a must-try recipe. In fact, my son like it so much he asked me to make it for him for his birthday dinner.

How to Cut Chicken Cutlets for Chicken Piccata:

For this recipe, you need to cut chicken breasts in half horizontally so you create 4 thin chicken cutlets from two large chicken breasts. Serious Eats has a good post with a video showing how easy it to create chicken cutlets.

Don’t worry they don’t have to be perfect. You just want them fairly uniform so they cook evenly. You can use a heavy skillet or meat pounder to pound out spots that are a little too thick. If your chicken breasts are very small, you can just pound them until they’re ¼-inch thick.

collage of flouring chicken cutlets for chicken piccata

I fried my cutlets in a Mealthy Stainless Steel 10-inch Frying Pan which was sent to me by Mealthy to review. It did a great job of maintaining an even temperature for frying with no apparent hot spots.

I loved that the handle never got hot, so I didn’t need to use a hot pad to hold onto the handle. This pan is going to get a lot of use in my kitchen.

All Clad makes a great 10-inch frying pan with a lid that I really love.

collage of frying chicken cutlets for Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata

Little single-serving mini bottles of wine are nice to keep on hand to use in recipes when you don’t want to open a large bottle of wine, or like me, you’re not a wine drinker. I used Woodbridge Chardonnay in this recipe.

You’ll use the wine to deglaze the pan and get the flavorful bits off the bottom. If you prefer not to use wine, someone tweeted that apple juice or white grape juice is a good substitute for white wine in recipes. I’ve used apple juice in this recipe, and it does work well.

What are Capers:

Capers are little flower buds that are picked before the flowers open. Capers are bitter when eaten right off the bush, so they pickle them, and when added to recipes, like this easy Chicken Piccata, they add a bright, fresh flavor to the dish.

Jars of capers are sold in most grocery stores generally alongside pickles and olives. Wide Open Eats has a great post about capers, including a picture of the beautiful flowers the capers will turn into.

Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata with angel hair pasta

How to Serve Chicken Piccata:

I like to serve chicken piccata on a bed of angel hair pasta, but often I’ll also serve it with Pressure Cooker Rice Pilaf with Carrots, Peas and Parsley from my other recipe blog, Pressure Cooking Today. It’s also great with roasted potatoes or mashed potatoes. (If you’re not pressure cooking yet, you’re missing out!)

It’s a great recipe for a weeknight or for company. This recipe has become a family favorite. I hope you’ll give it a try!

More chicken recipes you might like:

Kung Pao Chicken, Barbara Bakes
Barbecued Chicken Kebabs, Barbara Bakes
Pressure Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken, Pressure Cooking Today
Pressure Cooker Chicken Lazone, Pressure Cooking Today

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4.43 from 7 votes

Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata

Cook Time10 mins

Total Time10 mins

Course: Chicken

Servings: servings

Calories: 343kcal

Author: Barbara Schieving

Equipment

Ingredients

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
All-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ cup dry white wine can substitute apple juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
½ cup chicken broth
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon drained capers
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Fresh lemon slices
Fresh parsley chopped

Instructions

Split each chicken breast in to two pieces horizontally and place between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a mallet gently pound chicken into ¼ inch thick cutlets.
Season cutlets with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Saute cutlets 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through.
Transfer cutlets to a warmed platter. Deglaze pan with wine. Add minced garlic and cook until garlic is slightly brown and liquid is nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add broth, lemon juice, and capers.
Return cutlets to pan and cook on each side for 1 minute. Transfer cutlets to warm plates.
Finish sauce with butter and lemons. Once butter melts, pour sauce over cutlets. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.

Video

Notes

Recipe slightly adapted from Cuisine at Home

Nutrition

Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata