Chicken Piccata with Lemon Sauce

Chicken Piccata on decorative serving plate garnished with lemons and capers.

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5 from 4 votes

Chicken Piccata with Lemon Sauce

Thinly sliced chicken breasts, lightly floured and sauteed served with a light lemon caper sauce

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Total Time25

Course: Entree

Cuisine: American, International, Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 1811kcal

Author: Anecia Hero

Ingredients

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast cut in half lengthwise
2 tablespoons oil not olive oil; canola, vegetable, peanut or grapeseed (see notes)
1 stick butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt divided (1 tsp. for breasts; 1 tsp. for flour)
1 teaspoon black pepper divided (½tsp. for breasts; ½ tsp. for flour)

Chicken Piccata Lemon Sauce Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons reserved oil from cooked chicken
¼-½ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons or 4-6 small lemons)
2 sticks butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
2 tablespoons capers drained
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup cold or tap water

Instructions

Prep

Pat chicken breasts dry with paper towel and trim away any fat;slice breasts in half lengthwise
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
Place breasts on wax paper or a clean cutting board and pound breasts to 1/4 inch thick with a flat meat mallet; lightly season with salt and pepper; set aside
2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper
Place flour and remaining salt and pepper in a shallow bowl; combine well
1 cup all-purpose flour
Using tongs, dredge each breast through the flour, coating thoroughly

Cook

Preheat oven to 250ºF (do this if you are cooking the chicken in batches; keeps them warm while you're making the sauce) (see notes)
In a heavy bottom skillet on medium to medium-high heat, add oil and butter
2 tablespoons oil, 1 stick butter
Place flour coated breast in hot skillet; allow to cook for 3-4 minutes per side (lift the edge of the breast after about 3 minutes to see if the chicken is lightly browning (see notes). Once lightly browned, transfer to a plate and cover with foil.

Make the Sauce

In the same saucepan you cooked the chicken, reserve 1-2 tablespoons of the oil; turn the stove down to medium low heat and add butter; once the butter is melted, whisk in add lemon juice, garlic, white wine (optional) and capers; add salt to taste.
¼-½ cup fresh lemon juice, 2 sticks butter, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 3/4 cup dry white wine, 2 tablespoons capers, 1-2 tablespoons reserved oil from cooked chicken
Transfer cooked chicken back to the skillet, coat with sauce and heat on medium low for 2 minutes.
If you want a thicker sauce, make a cornstarch slurry: In a 1 cup measuring cup, add ½ cup of cold or tap water; whisk in cornstarch and mix until there are no lumps; pour this into the lemon sauce and combine well; turn the heat up a little for the cornstarch slurry to thicken
2 tablespoons cornstarch, ½ cup cold or tap water
Plate chicken breasts and drizzle piccata sauce over the top

Notes

If you're making more than two servings, you may need to add additional oil and butter in between each batch; if so, allow it to reach a high temperature before placing the next coated breast in the skillet.
Everytime you add more butter/oil, the breast coating turns out darker than the first. If this makes you crazy, replace all the oil/butter between each batch.
If you find your first breast is browning too fast, but it's not reaching an internal temperature of 165ºF, turn the heat down a little.

Oil temperature

The oil temperature should be around 310-316ºF. If you're chicken breast is really thin, it will cook to an internal temperature of 165ºF at about 3 minutes on each side. Thicker cutlets might take 5 minutes on each side.
Use tongs and lift the edge to see if it's browning, but don't move it for at least 3 minutes, otherwise, you run the risk of losing the flour coating.

Substitute for wine

If you're not using wine in the lemon sauce, just add a little more lemon juice, chicken broth or water to taste.

Garlic

If you don't have fresh garlic or minced garlic, you can add about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon to the lemon sauce; if you don't have any garlic at all, don't worry about it

A note about the nutritional values:

The software program I use to calculate nutritional information does not have a way to separate the sauce nutritional values from the chicken. So, at first glance, this dish looks very high in calores, but the recipe card is calculating the total amount of sauce divided by two.

It is highly unlikely you'll consume that much sauce, so keep this in mind.

Nutrition