Chicken Piccata Recipe

Alright, let me be honest: when I first heard of “chicken piccata Recipe ” I thought it was a dish you only found in a restaurant that used cloth napkins. It seems the recipe is simply chicken together with lemon, butter, and capers all cooked in a single pan. That’s all there is to it — no secret methods, no special equipment — just a few ingredients that manage to taste as if a lot more work has been put into them than is actually necessary. I prepare this on occasions when I would like dinner to have a touch of specialness but don’t actually have the energy to do anything complicated; it takes thirty minutes and only one skillet and you end up with something that tastes as if you’ve hired a caterer.

Why This One’s Worth Making

This is what you need to know about chicken piccata — it’s quite forgiving. If the chicken has been cooked a bit too much, the sauce can remedy that. Even if you accidentally squeeze in an extra half lemon, it still tastes good. It’s not a dish where making one mistake will ruin it, which is actually the reason why I keep making it.

The sauce is in fact the main thing.

Once the chicken has been removed from the pan, there will be all those small golden, crispy bits stuck to the bottom, and rather than wiping them off as you usually do, you make the sauce over them. It’s on these bits that the flavour is concealed. If you omit that step, you’re essentially preparing a completely different and more miserable dish.

Chicken Piccata Recipe

The recipe I make when I want to impress without trying too hard.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

What You’ll Need

For the Chicken

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (5–6 oz each)
• Salt and black pepper
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter divided

For the Sauce

• 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
• ¼ cup capers rinsed
• ½ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 4 tablespoons cold butter cubed
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Pinch of red pepper flakes if you’re into that

To Serve

• Lemon wedges
• Parmesan if you’re feeling it
• Extra parsley
• Pasta rice, or whatever you’ve got

Method

 

Let’s Make It

1 Make the chicken quite thin.

1. Take your chicken breasts, place them between two pieces of plastic
2. wrap and then use a mallet, a rolling pin, or — since I usually don’t have the mallet on hand — the
3. bottom of a heavy pot. Aim for about ¼-inch thick all over the piece. It’s not just a matter of
4. appearance; having an even thickness ensures that the chicken cooks uniformly throughout, so you
5. won’t end up with a dry exterior and a raw centre. Once you’ve finished, season both sides.

2 Cover it with some flour.

1. It’s that simple — just dust each piece lightly with flour and shake off any
2. that doesn’t adhere. There’s no need for an egg wash or breadcrumbs. The thin layer of flour is
3. precisely what you want because it crisps up quickly and provides the sauce with something to stick to
4. later.

3 Make sure you have a good sear.

1. Place the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter in a large skillet
2. and heat them over medium-high heat. The oil should be hot (I’m talking about actually hot, not just
3. warm), after which put the chicken into the pan without overcrowding it — if necessary, do this in two
4. batches. Overcrowding is the problem in this case; putting in too much chicken all at once will lower
5. the temperature of the pan and cause the chicken to steam rather than brown, since nobody wants
6. pale chicken. Cook it for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until it is deeply golden and fully cooked, then
7. remove it and place it on a plate, covering it loosely with foil.

4 Make the sauce in the same pan.

1. By all means, don’t wash it, since the bits that have browned at
2. the bottom are valuable for flavour. Reduce the heat to medium, then melt the final tablespoon of
3. butter and add the garlic and capers. Stir it for about a minute, just until it has an amazing smell.
4. Nevertheless, keep a close eye on it because burnt garlic becomes bitter very quickly and once that
5. has happened there’s no going back.

5 Cook the mixture using lemon and broth.

1. Pour in the lemon juice along with the chicken broth, and
2. then use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the bits that are stuck to the pan. Let it boil for 4 to 5
3. minutes until it thickens a little and begins to smell wonderful.

6 End with the cold butter.

1. Take the pan off the heat and then add the cold butter cubes a few at a
2. time, allowing each one to melt before going on to the next. It is because of this that the sauce ends
3. up being silky rather than watery or greasy — a technique taken from French cooking, even if you
4. don’t need to know that to carry it out. Taste it and make any necessary adjustments to the salt, and
5. add the red pepper flakes if you would like some heat.

7 Put it together.

1. Spread the shiny sauce over the chicken, scatter some parsley on top, and serve it
2. with lemon wedges so that people can put more on if they desire.

A Few Things I’ve Learned the Hard Way

1. Wash the capers. If you skip that step the sauce will become far too salty — I’ve found out the hard
2. way.
3. We want only fresh lemon juice. Bottled juice just isn’t as bright. I really mean it, it’s that different.
4. Don’t pile too much into the pan. It may seem quicker to add everything in at once, but it isn’t; you’ll
5. simply end up with sad, steamed chicken.
6. Make sure the butter remains cold. If it’s at room temperature it won’t emulsify the same way and
7. the sauce will end up looking a bit broken rather than smooth.

Switch It Up

1. •
2. If you’d like to vary the ingredients, why not add some baby spinach or some chopped artichokes right
3. after you’ve poured in the broth – they lose their firmness quickly and provide a pleasant earthy
4. flavour.
5. Adding sautéed mushrooms before reaching the sauce stage also gives the dish a rich, savoury taste.
6. For a richer result, mix in a little heavy cream along with the butter and this will finish the dish off
7. wonderfully.
8. And if you’re cutting down on carbohydrates, use almond flour rather than the regular flour, serving it
9. with zucchini noodles.

Leftovers

1. It will remain in the fridge for approximately two days when stored in a sealed container. The sauce
2. usually thickens as it stands, so when you’re reheating it add a bit of broth or water — reheat it slowly in
3. a skillet so that the chicken doesn’t become rubbery. The sauce by itself freezes very well and can be
4. kept in the freezer for up to three months if you’d like to make a larger quantity