Get dinner on the table in 30 minutes with this lemon chicken piccata! Juicy pan-fried chicken with a tart, buttery sauce that will make your mouth water!
Lemon Chicken Piccata
This lemon chicken piccata harks back to the type of dinners mom cooked for us growing up. It’s super easy – on the table in less than 30 minutes – and big on flavor.
It can be served with another starch, such as rice or mashed potatoes, but since she always served it with eggs noodles, that’s how I do it as well. Plus, I think the buttery lemon sauce glazes the noodles perfectly.
All you need is a bright green veggie to round out this complete meal! Try serving with Lemon Blueberry Trifle or Chocolate Cheesecake Pudding Dessert for an effortless but elegant meal!
While I love the tender, juicy chicken, the sauce is what really makes this dish. It’s a light sauce, not heavy with cream, so it’s bright and fresh for summer. I mentioned the noodles before, but I could really eat a whole bowl of them dripping with this tangy, buttery sauce!
To make this lemon chicken piccata, start by pounding the chicken breasts to an even thickness. This is the secret to cooking them faster and evenly! Next, dip the chicken in flour. This gives the chicken a thin, crispy coating, and the flour will help to thicken the final sauce.
The chicken is cooked in a mix of butter and olive oil. The butter gives the sauce a velvety rich flavor and the olive oil keeps the butter from burning at such a high temperature. After the chicken has cooked, lemon juice is mixed into the pan drippings. As a final touch, capers are added to the sauce.
When I was little, I hated the caper berries and left them on my plate. I thought they looked like peas (which I also disliked) and tasted like vinegar. Now, I absolutely love the salty, briny pop of flavor they add! All that to say, if you’re not a fan of capers, feel free to leave them out.
Tips for Pounding Chicken Thin
- Put the chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap or inside a zip-top bag so nothing splatters.
- Pound from the center out toward the edges with a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy pan, until it is about 1/2 inch thick all over.
- Short on time? Slice each breast in half the long way to make thin cutlets instead.
- An even thickness means the chicken cooks quickly and stays juicy, with no dry edges or pink middle.
Chicken Piccata Without Wine
A lot of piccata recipes use white wine, but this one doesn’t. The sauce is just lemon juice, water, butter and capers, so it’s family friendly and you don’t need to open a bottle. For a richer sauce, use chicken broth in place of the water. If you do like wine in your piccata, swap some of the water for a dry white wine.
What to Serve with Lemon Chicken Piccata
Serve it over egg noodles or your favorite pasta so every bite gets some of that buttery lemon sauce, or with Easy Rice Pilaf. Add a bright green veggie like Garlic Green Beans or Air Fryer Asparagus and dinner is done.
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Lemon Chicken Piccata
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken breasts about 1.5lbs total
- 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Black pepper
- 4 tablespoons Salted butter divided
- 3 tablespoons Olive oil
- 1/2 cup Water
- 3 tablespoons Lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Capers
- Cooked egg noodles for serving
- Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- With a meat mallet or the back of a frying pan, pound the chicken to an even thickness.
- Combine the flour, salt, garlic powder and pepper in a shallow dish. Dip the chicken into the flour mixture coating both sides.
- In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter along with the oil over medium heat. Brown the chicken, about 3 minutes per side.
- Add the water and lemon juice. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken from the pan. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the capers to the sauce and continue to simmer until butter is melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve chicken and sauce over egg noodles. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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What to serve with chicken piccata
- Italian Garden Salad
A fresh salad - Roasted Carrots
A sweet roasted veggie - Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade
A bubbly drink - Chocolate Pie
A classic dessert
If you’re looking for another quick stovetop meal, check out this easy bacon fried rice. It has bacon so that already puts it in the amazing recipe category! It’s a little sweet, salty and smoky. Great way to use up leftover rice!
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