How to Make a Simple and Easy Italian Chicken Piccata

This is such a great Italian classic recipe!  Chicken piccata… just the name of it sounds so elegant.

Case in point, my brother was in town and was going to stay with us so I decided to make a nice dish for him.  I texted him while he was on his way over and asked if he liked chicken piccata.  He replies, “Yeah I think so.  It sounds good to me.”

This beautiful chicken dish provides an elegant and fulfilling meal. And guess what?  It’s simple to make because it uses a single pan just like my chicken peas recipe.

You don’t have to go to a restaurant or to your Italian relative, you can do it yourself!   

It takes no time to make and can be done all in one frying pan or dutch oven. The lemon used adds a nice lightness to the dish and it’s important not to overpower the dish.  I’m personally not huge on a strong lemon flavor.  

Check out my video below and use my recipe that I use too!   

If you’re wondering what to have as a side dish here are some suggestions of recipes I have:

Pasta
Salad
authentic Italian bread – this recipe isn’t a quick recipe so make it beforehand, or go buy some from the bakery  😉 
stuffed mushrooms (yumm!).  
Italian green beans or peas 

I’ve prepared a short video that shows how you can make this recipe.

Chicken Piccata Recipe

Recipe for Making Chicken Piccata

3.50 from 2 votes

Print Rate

Course: Main Dish

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 6 thawed chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 3 TBLE olive oil
• pinch salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 TBLE lemon juice fresh or bottle is fine
• 1 TBLE capers
• 2 garlic cloves diced

Instructions

• Make sure the chicken breasts are sliced to about a 1/4″ thick. You really want these to be like cutlets so thinner is better – not paper thin though! You can use a meat tenderizer to pound the meat slightly
• Season the chicken with a little salt and pepper (or mix it into the flour which personally I think is better)
• Dredge or roll the chicken in the flour so it is lightly covered and shake off excess
• Heal olive oil in frying pan over medium heat
• Add the cutlets and cook until done and lightly brown for about 1 minute.
• Flip and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes.
• Remove cutlets from pan and set aside on a plate for use later.
• Pour water, lemon juice, capers and garlic into frying pan and stir. This will also deglase the chicken from the bottom of the pan.
• Bring the sauce to a boil over medium high heat for about 10 minutes.
• When the sauce is thickened reduce heat to low. Take a quick taste test and if the lemon juice is too strong dilute it with about 1/4 cup water and cook a bit longer.
• When the sauce is thickened, add the cutlets back in. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes over simmer.
• Serve the cutlets on dinner plates and use the remaining sauce in the pan to pour over the chicken.

Notes

A few tips:

TIP #1: You can use regular olive oil for frying, rather than extra virgin if you have it.

TIP #2: Add more or less lemon juice to taste. If using store bought lemon juice, it may be more concentrated and thereby stronger than fresh squeezed lemons. So taste testing is important.

TIP #3: Some recipes call for adding some white wine to the sauce. Feel free to do so, however my recipe doesn’t call for it.

TIP #4: You can turn the stove off, remove from heat and let the cutlets remain in the pan with the lid on while you prepare your other dishes. The meat should not dry out because it is in the sauce which helps it retain its moisture.

TIP #5: It is easiest to cut the chicken into cutlets before it is fully thawed.  If it already is fully thawed, put in the freezer in a bag for about 5 or 10 minutes.  This is actually same process used for using home meat grinders – so a good tip to remember!