Easy Healthy Chicken Piccata Recipe
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Sep. 7, 2023
This healthy and easy Chicken Piccata recipe is intensely flavorful, with sautéd lemons and garlic. It’s a fail-proof Italian chicken recipe that’s an absolute keeper.
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Easy, Healthy Chicken Piccata
If your regular chicken dinner routine craves some jazzing up, you’ve. come to the right place. We’ve got non-boring chicken on the menu for your busy weeknight dinner. As is our motto, we’re making food that tastes extraordinary using ordinary ingredients. Simple yet scrumptious. We’re talking scrumptious meals in 30 minutes, with 10 ingredients or less in one single pan. No compromise on flavor.
Buying Capers
This Chicken Piccata recipe is made up of a handful of ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Unless you serendipitously have a jar of capers sitting in your pantry, it might be the only ingredient you’ll need to buy for your chicken piccata dish. Luckily, it’s usually easy to find a little jar of briny capers on your grocery store shelves.
Capers are reminiscent of pickles, in miniature morsel form. In fact, you’ll usually find little jars of capers next to jars of pickles and olives at the grocery store. Because jars of capers are typically brined in salt, water, and vinegar, they keep really well in your fridge after opening (unopened jars can keep for a long time in your pantry.) These tiny capers provide the salty/tangy flavor that’s classic in chicken piccata.
Just a light sprinkling of capers adds huge flavor, so you’ll have plenty left over in your little jar to keep for all your future chicken piccata nights.
Key Steps
Step 1: Always pat dry chicken with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Pound chicken down to an even thickness throughout.
Step 2: Season chicken on both sides.
Step 3: After cooking the chicken, make the sauce in the same skillet, using up the browned bits, which add a ton of flavor.
Step 4: Generously pour sauce over chicken while hot and serve immediately.
What to Serve with Chicken Piccata
Besides the briny kick of capers, this chicken piccata is intensely flavored with plenty of garlic, onion, and fresh lemon slices that are sautéd until gloriously browned. It’s a winning combination that results in tender, luscious chicken in one single pan.
There’s plenty of intensely flavorful sauce for dipping this rustic rosemary bread into, or you can serve all the goodness over this super easy spaghetti aglio e olio. Some other favorites include:
- French Bread Recipe
- Easiest Summer Italian Pasta Salad
- Garlic Herb Roasted Potatoes
- Best Easy Roasted Vegetables Recipe
- Perfect Pasta Primavera
Whether it’s a casual, quick weeknight dinner or you’re hosting a weekend meal for friends, this chicken piccata is destined to be an instant hit.
Commonly Asked Questions
Chicken piccata is an Italian dish made with chicken breasts that are pounded thin, then dredged in flour and cooked in a lemon and caper sauce.
Chicken piccata pairs well with various side dishes such as pasta, rice, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, or a fresh salad. Some people also enjoy serving it with crusty bread to soak up the flavorful sauce.
Yes, you can use other cuts of chicken such as chicken cutlets or chicken thighs if you prefer. The cooking time may vary depending on the thickness of the chicken, so adjust accordingly. We recommend staying with skinless/boneless cuts, for best flavor and ease of preparation.
While chicken piccata is best enjoyed fresh, you can make certain preparations ahead of time. For example, you can pound the chicken breasts and refrigerate them until ready to cook. You can also prepare the sauce in advance and store it separately, though you won’t get the flavor benefit of incorporating the browned bits from cooked chicken. If you do cook this dish in advance, we suggest assembling the dish just before serving to maintain the best texture and flavor.
More to Cook and Eat
- Saucy Baked Chicken Legs (Drumsticks) – this healthy, savory chicken dinner is perfect for meal prep.
- The Best Grilled Chicken Legs – fire up the grill and enjoy these marinated chicken legs at your next gathering.
- Marinated Chicken Kabobs – these party-friendly chicken skewers are perfect for grilling and sharing.
- Honey Soy Chicken – these were my dad’s specialty, and still a family favorite today.
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Easy Healthy Chicken Piccata Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- ½ cup flour
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup onion, chopped
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, about 1 large lemon
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
- ½ cup regular chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Optional garnish: freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts on cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Pound to even thickness. Use paper towels to dab off excess moisture from chicken.
- Sprinkle each piece of chicken with a thin layer of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides. Place flour in a shallow dish. Coat each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off excess.
- In an extra large skillet, heat 2 TB olive oil over medium high heat until oil is hot. Add chicken to skillet (cook in batches if needed, to avoid overcrowding.) Cook for 2-3 minutes of each side or until no longer pink in center; don’t overcook. Use tongs to transfer chicken to a separate plate; keep warm.
- Without cleaning the skillet out, add 1 TB olive oil to same skillet over medium high heat. When oil is hot, add onion and garlic, stirring 1-2 min until fragrant. Add lemon juice and lemon slices, scraping pan if needed to loosen any browned bits. Cook until lemon slices are nicely browned. Add broth, capers and butter, stirring just until butter melts. Pour lemon mixture over chicken and serve. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley, if desired.
Notes
- Though piccata and capers go hand in hand, feel free to go light on the capers if your eaters (or you!) don’t like them. You can even omit them and still have a delicious dish.
- This dish is fantastic served with this 15 Min Spaghetti Aglio e Olio or Garlic Rosemary Bread
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