Instant Pot Chicken Piccata
A classic Italian dish, loaded with flavor. This Instant Pot Chicken Piccata is dredged in flavored flour, seared, then cooked and smothered in a lemon caper sauce with butter!
Tender thin pieces of chicken, seared, and slathered in a buttery lemon caper sauce are absolutely fantastic. It is the perfect quick meal, tons of flavor, and takes just over 30 minutes start to finish.
Serve with pasta, Garlic Bread, and an Italian Garden Salad for a complete meal.
If you are new to instant pot cooking, be sure to read this Guide to Instant Pot Cooking.
What Do You Need For Chicken Piccata?
The ingredients needed for this recipe are standard ingredients for this dish, minus the white wine. You can use white wine if you want, and it can add a nice depth of flavor, but the nice thing about this recipe is it doesn’t need it. It uses pantry staples, and is loaded with crazy flavor, and is super easy. This is the kind of meal that turns out tasting gourmet, but is so quick and easy to make, you will want to make it over and over.
Here is what you need:
- Chicken Breasts, skinless and boneless
- Salt and Pepper
Dredge Mixture
- All-Purpose Flour
- Finely Grated Parmesan
- Dried Oregano
- Dried Basil
The Rest
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Unsalted Butter
- Chicken Stock
- Capers
- Fresh Lemon Juice
- Corn Starch Slurry
- Fresh Parsley
What is Piccata Sauce?
Piccata sauce is usually a lemon butter sauce that is flavored with capers. And holy moly, it is super simple, but packs a flavor punch.
The sauce is where a lot of flavor resides. While we season the chicken, and the dredging mixture, the real flavor is found in the pan sauce.
It starts with the browned bits that are created when you sear the chicken. This adds tons of flavor. But to get them you have to deglaze the pan. Then you add the butter, the lemon, the capers etc. that all add extra flavor. AMAZING!
What does it mean to deglaze the pot?
This is where you use liquid, in a hot pan, and a wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits off the bottom. This is REALLY important in the instant pot because if you do not scrape the bottom, you will get a burn notice on the pot, and this will stop the cooking.
How to Make Pressure Cooker Chicken Piccata
There are basically 5 steps to making this delicious chicken recipe.
- Prep: Cut, pound, and season the chicken.
- Dredge: Mix up a flavorful flour mixture to coat the chicken in.
- Sear: Get a nice sear on the outside of the chicken for added flavor.
- Pressure Cook: Now you cook the chicken quickly.
- Thicken Sauce: Once the chicken is done cooking, remove from the pot and thicken the sauce.
- Garnish and Enjoy! This is where you add some fresh parsley, and serve it with your favorite sides like roasted carrots.
How To Slice Chicken:
One of the things you need to do to get this recipe right is cut the chicken into thin pieces, and this is best done by butterflying the chicken, and halving each piece, then pounding it to achieve an even thickness throughout. To do this:
- Place one hand flat on top of a chicken breast.
- Hold your knife parallel to the cutting surface.
- Slice it horizontally all the way through the chicken breast.
- Once sliced, use a meat mallet or rolling pin to flatten the chicken so it is even throughout.
How to Dredge Chicken
Once you have cut your chicken into thin slices, you will want to season your chicken with salt and pepper.
Then you dredge it:
- Mix the all-purpose flour, seasonings, and parmesan cheese together.
- Place mixture in a shallow dish.
- Place chicken into mixture, and press down, then flip over and press again.
- If any spots are missing the flour mixture, add to it.
Searing Chicken Piccata
Searing the chicken is a KEY step in making this amazing recipe.
The awesome thing is, like many instant pot recipes, you don’t need to dirty a bunch of dishes to make your meal. You can sear your chicken in the same pot you pressure cook in, and make your amazing sauce.
To sear, turn pot to “saute” function, and wait to add chicken until pot reads “hot,” then make sure you sear until you get that nice golden brown crust.
Pressure Cooking Chicken
Cooking your chicken in the pressure cooker only takes a few minutes of time. For this recipe I estimate it only takes 4 minutes, but if your chicken is extra small, or thin, you will want to adjust that to 3 minutes.
Just remember, when pressure cooking:
- It takes about 10 minutes for the pot to come to pressure.
- Then you have the allotted cook time.
- Then you have the natural pressure release time.
This means your chicken has 10 +4+5, so about 19 minutes of heat, which is plenty of time to cook through.
How To Thicken Piccata Sauce
You are going to use a cornstarch slurry to thicken this amazing lemon butter caper sauce. Here is how you do it:
- Take chicken out of the pot. This is important as you do NOT want to overcook your chicken.
- Make your slurry: Mix corn starch with COLD water in a separate bowl.
- Pour the corn starch slurry into the hot sauce. Whisk it in.
- Let it cook for a few minutes s before turning off the pot, it will thicken in just a few minutes.
- Once thickened, add your chicken back into the sauce. Or serve sauce poured over chicken.
Storing or Freezing Chicken Piccata
The chances of you having leftovers are slim, but if you do, you have options for storing the chicken piccata!
You can store in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
To freeze chicken piccata:
- Remove the chicken from the sauce and place it in a freezer bag.
- Put sauce in a separate bag, and freeze separately.
- Can be in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Reheating Instant Pot Chicken Piccata
If you frozen your chicken, and you are ready to reheat it here is what you need to do:
- Remove the chicken from the bag and place it in the instant pot frozen.
- Put the sauce from the bag into the instant pot
- Add about 1/3 cup of chicken stock or water to the pot
- Lock the lid into place, and pressure cook on manual for 1 minute.
Other Favorite Instant Pot Recipes:
- Instant Pot Pork Chops
- Instant Pot Pot Roast
- Instant Pot Chili Mac
- Instant Pot Salisbury Steaks with Mushroom Gravy
- Instant Pot Chicken Taco Soup
Serve with:
Need more ideas: Easy Dinner Ideas
Instant Pot Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds Chicken Breasts skinless and boneless
- 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Dredging Mixture
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- Black Pepper to taste
- ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ cup Finely Grated Parmesan
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
Sauce
- 3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 1.25 cups Chicken Stock
- ¼ cup Capers
- ¼ cup Lemon juice fresh
- 2 tablespoons Corn Starch
- ¼ cup cold water
Garnish
- 2 tablespoons Fresh Parsley
Instructions
Prepare and Dredge Chicken
- Butterfly the chicken breasts, and then cut them through, so they are cut in half and far thinner.
- Pound them with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin to make them even in thickness.
- Season them on both sides with salt and pepper.
- In a wide plate/bowl combine the flour, oregano, basil, and Parmesan.
- Dredge each chicken piece in the flour mixture, being sure to cover both sides. And set aside.
Cook
- Turn your Instant Pot on the SAUTE function, and add the oil.
- When it reads “hot”, place the chicken breasts in and brown on each side. Cooking for 3-4 minutes a side.
- Remove from pot, and add in chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spoon to scrape off any of the brown bites.
- Add butter, the chicken breasts, lemon juice, and capers to the pot.
- Place lid on the pot and lock into place. Set valve to “sealing”
- Set pot to manual high pressure and cook for 4 minutes.
- Let pressure naturally release for 5 minutes, then turn valve to “venting” and remove lid.
- Take the chicken pieces out of the pot, and turn it onto the SAUTE function. Combine the corn starch with the cold water, and use a fork to whisk it together, then add it to the sauce in the pot.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes until thickened, then spoon over the chicken.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve immediately
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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