Lemon Chicken Piccata Recipe

piece lemon chicken piccata on plate with rice and lemons to side

5 from 1 vote

Zesty, Flavorful, Lemony and EASY! Have you been looking for a Lemon Chicken Piccata Recipe that is ready fast and uses few ingredients? I thought so! I’ll show you how to whip some up in less than 30 minutes and have your family BEGGING you to put this in the dinner rotation!

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

rest5

Total Time35

Course: main

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken piccata, lemon chicken, lemon chicken piccata

Servings: servings

Calories: 831kcal

Author: Wendi Spraker

Cost: $8

Equipment

skillet
whisk
Tongs or Spatula
Zester (Microplane)
Fine mesh sieve or kitchen strainer
measuring cups and spoons
Large table spoon
sharp knife
Cutting board for chicken (possible, depending on your cut of chicken).
paper towels
Platter
Aluminum Fo

Ingredients

2 lemons zest
1 sprig oregano can use parsley if unable to find oregano
1 tsp Salt plus more for seasoning chicken plus and final dish
1 tsp Pepper (plus more for seasoning chicken and final dish
½ Cup flour any kind
2 lb boneless skinless chicken you can use tenderloins or boneless skinless thighs if you can't find the breast meat.
1 tsp Vegetable Oil
2 Tbsp Butter
2 tbsp flour any kind
2 Cloves Minced Garlic if using fresh, go ahead and mince it up.
1 Cup Chicken Broth use more if you are cooking more than two breasts.
¼ Cup lemon juice or juice of two lemons
2 Tbs Capers drained and rinsed with water

Instructions

Zest the two lemons and set aside in a small bowl. Remove the leaves from the stem of oregano (or parsley) and chop fine and set aside.
In a plate or dish, pour out ½ cup of flour (all purpose or self rising flour will work) and mix in 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper.
Examine your chicken pieces, cut them or pound them down to about ½ inch thick. The very large breast pieces, it will be easier to just cut those in half (like a book) to make them thinner. Pat them dry with paper towels.
In a separate plate or in the tray that the chicken came in, generously salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.
Pour mixture of vegetable oil and butter together into a large skillet on the stove top and set heat to medium and allow to melt. When oil begins to sputter and bubble it is ready. You should be able to hear the chicken sizzle when you put the chicken in the skillet (see next step first though).
Coat each piece of chicken with a light coat of flour on each side and place into the frying pan. You may need to increase the pan heat to a little more than medium to keep the pan hot enough. Do not put more than 2 pieces into the pan at one time. Cook on each side for 2-3 minutes (until color develops) and then remove to a clean plate to rest. (If you are doing more than just 2 pieces of chicken for this recipe, then cook them two at a time until you have browned each on each side and set aside on the plate.).
Once each piece is removed, add 2 Tbs of fresh flour (do not use the flour you dredged the chicken in) to the pan and use a wooden spoon to stir it around and let it cook for a minute or so. (It will clump up in bits with any grease that is in your pan). Add the minced garlic to the pan as well and allow it to cook for a minute or so.
Add the broth all at once and whisk to incorporate it with the flour and garlic in the skillet. Once incorporated, whisk in the lemon juice that you can squeeze from the lemons that you zested in step 1 (use bottled lemon juice if you aren’t using fresh lemons). Be sure to scrape up any little bits of chicken that may be stuck to the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon.
Once your sauce starts to bubble slightly and has cooked down to about ½ its original volume (this takes a few minutes), add the capers and the chicken pieces plus any juice that has collected in the plate as they rest. Spoon the sauce over the top of the chicken as the sauce starts to thicken and bubble. When your chicken reaches an internal temp of 160, Remove from the heat, tent over with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for about 3-5 minutes and serve hot and garnish with the lemon zest and oregano prepared in step one.

Video

Notes

Use 1 Tbsp dried parsley or oregano if unable to locate fresh
If you don’t have fresh lemons, its fine to use bottled lemon juice and skip the zest for garnish. The zest does add a ton of lemon flavor.
This is a LEMON forward dish, if you aren’t crazy about lemon, back off on the zest first.
If preparing this for more than 4 people, instead of returning the chicken to the frying pan, place the chicken in a 9x13 baking dish and pour the sauce over the top.
Bake at 350 until the chicken is cooked through and at a temp of 160 internally.
Choose whatever cut of chicken you prefer, however make sure that the piece is boneless and skinless and that the cut is the same thickness throughout. I used breasts, but tenderloins or thighs would work just as well.
Adjust the level of lemoniness using the lemon zest. More zest will be more lemony, less will be less.
If you REALLY love the sauce, you can make more by adding more chicken broth to start, you’ll need to add more lemon juice as well in order to have more lemony flavor.
When you are first cooking the chicken, it just adds some color to the chicken as well as texture. You aren’t seeking to cook the chicken all the way through.
Removing the chicken from the pan and allowing it to rest while you are making the sauce will allow the chicken to continue to cook a little on its own.
When you add the broth, be sure to scrape up the flavorful bits from the bottom of the pan.
Be CAREFUL adding salt. The capers are quite salty (that’s why we rinse them). We don’t really add any more salt until we are ready to serve, taste it first.
When you add the chicken back to the sauce, add the juices that have collected in the plate as well. These juices add flavor and there’s no need to worry about uncooked chicken juices in your food because they WILL cook in the sauce when you add them back.
There are a number of substitutions you can make, so please check out the notes section of the recipe to review those.

PRO TIP: If you have leftovers, this chicken makes an excellent chicken salad! Add ¼ cup mayo, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, dash of curry powder, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tsp white vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbs hot sauce and about 15 purple grapes cut in half. A handful of chopped toasted pecan pieces is a tasty addition as well.

Nutrition