fbpx
December 26, 2022

Chicken Piccata

How To Cook Chicken Breast Without Drying it Out 

Piccata 1
Chicken Piccata 16
Print

Chicken Piccata

Piccata 1

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

Chicken Piccata, made with fresh lemon juice and capers, makes skinless, boneless chicken breasts better than ever. It is a foolproof way to make moist chicken with only a few ingredients. With this simple recipe and a little effort, you will make a restaurant-quality dish sure to please the whole family. The tangy taste of lemon tickles the taste buds, and those who don’t care for the capers can push them aside—for now. 

This is a perfect dish to prepare on the weekends and have the kids lend a hand. Be sure to make extra, you’ll be glad you did. Serve a second time with different courses, freeze to use another time, or pack in a thermos for school lunch. 

Ingredients

Scale

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Olive oil

Flour

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 - 2 tbsp of capers

2 - 4 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tbsp butter

Sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Cut the chicken breasts in half in any direction. The point is to have smaller pieces to work with. 
  2. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board. I always use a plastic cutting board versus wood when I work with raw meat, even when I put a piece of plastic wrap on top. If you don’t have one, it’s a practical addition to your kitchen. 
  3. Place the chicken breast on the plastic wrap one or two pieces at a time and fold the plastic wrap over to cover the chicken. 
  4. Pound the chicken breast with a kitchen mallet until they are thin, between  ¼ inch and ½ inch thick.                                                                                                            IMG 2733                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
  5. Place flour in a low bowl or dish and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Start with about ½ cup of flour and add more if you run out. 
  6. Place one piece of chicken at a time in the flour and coat both sides of the chicken with the seasoned flour. 
  7. Warm the olive oil over medium heat in a frying pan. I set my stove to 4 on an electric stove. The level of heat depends on the type of pan you are using, so play with it. You want the pan hot enough to sear and brown the chicken but not burn it.
  8. It should take about 3 - 4 minutes on each side. Don’t worry if the chicken isn’t cooked through. You will get a moister result if the chicken finishes cooking in the sauce.                                                                                                                                                    
  9. You will likely have to cook the chicken in batches, so as it is done, set it aside in a dish.                                                                                                                                    IMG 1662 1
  10. Once all the chicken is cooked, remove the pan from the stove and add the butter to the pan. 
  11. Once the butter is melted, add the wine. Cook the wine and butter over medium heat for about 3 - 5 minutes to let the alcohol cook off. 
  12. Add the fresh lemon juice, capers, and chicken back to the pan. Cook over low heat for about ten minutes to warm the chicken and finish cooking it through. This time also allows the flour from the chicken to blend with the liquid, creating a thick and delicious sauce. 

Serve and enjoy. 

Notes

Pounding the chicken breasts is a labor of love, but it’s worth it. This is an excellent job for the kids or partner to help make it easier for you. 

You can store leftover freshly squeezed lemon juice in a jar for a few days and use it to make a Caesar salad or add it to a fruit salad for dessert. Both, by the way, go very well with Chicken Piccata. If you have a little leftover Chicken Piccata, you can pack it in a shallow thermos for school lunch. You can find the thermos here.

Or serve the leftovers for a tapas-style dinner. In Spain, a tapas-style dinner is when several small servings of various dishes are served.  For example, you can serve a salad, then soup, then a small plate of pasta, then a small serving of leftover piccata, and finally fruit for dessert. You will create a well-rounded and satisfying meal when you use your leftovers to create a tapas-style meal. Even the smallest leftovers are gold for repurposing into a simple dinner. 

Caesar Salad with shavings of fresh parmesean in a vintage wooden salad bowl

Caesar Salad Recipe 

A bowl of fruit salad with fresh basil and lemon zest

French Style Fruit Salad Recipe 

Share This

Facebook    Pinterest 

I often cook "au pif," as we say in France, which means cooking without an exact recipe and by "feel" using your intuition.  You’ll often find guidelines in many recipes versus exact quantities.  Write to me here if you have any questions about the recipes.

Copyright 2019-2023, Return to the Table by Caterina De Falco, All Rights Reserved

Some of the links allow me to earn a referral commission at no additional cost to you.

I provide links to products and services I genuinely love and want to share with you. Some of these links may earn me a referral commission at no additional cost to you. This referral fee helps support this site. Thank you for your support!
Caterina DeFalco image for contact page
Ciao for now!
caterina's signature

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

Member Success Stories

  • Now I Have Great Kitchen Intuition!

    "Finding you [has] truly inspired me to cook more and focus on quality ingredients. Strengthening my kitchen intuition has been key, it's how I know to roll leftovers into something new or I can see what I bought and come up with creative solutions.

    As a family, we always valued sitting down together for dinner but now it's done with so much less stress. I can be done with work and still make easy meals . . . amazing quality meals that are thrown together in a short time and we get to enjoy each other!"

    1 2 3 5
  • My Family is Closer Than Ever

    “Your suggestions are so priceless! Thank you for such valuable content. My family is closer than ever, thanks to you!”

  • BRAVO! I'm in!

    “[Caterina is], in 5 steps, hitting all the major points of what works in generational connection across all cultures. Families don’t just happen, they are grown and this is the sweet and lasting way to do that. Bravo and I’m IN!”

  • A Real Game Changer

    "We have made a lot of progress over here under your care. We are now all eating from the same “pot” which I was surprised how much my kids loved. They were so excited when I put the food in the middle of the table. They asked for it the next day, Can we do that special fancy dinner thing where we have a feast? It really is such a better ritual—passing the food around and all sharing from the same platter, a real game changer."

  • Accidental Weight Loss!

    “I don't know if I told you, but I accidentally lost about 8 lbs after cutting out most semi-processed foods!"

Studio One44
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram