The ultimate easy meal that will impress family or guests is this Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata! The chicken is lightly breaded and pan-fried resulting in tender, juicy chicken with a crisp coating and served with a creamy lemon caper sauce.
For busy families, 30-minute meals are lifesavers, but it’s an even bigger bonus when they seem fancy or impressive, like this Chinese Chow Mein, Mongolian Beef, and Hibachi Chicken.
We’re going for amazing homemade Italian here, and I can tell you right now that Chicken Piccata (pick-ah-tah) wil be a winner every time! If you’ve ever had it at a restaurant you may have had chicken or veal and it’s typically breaded, fried and served with a creamy sauce. It’s a popular recipe found at many Italian restaurants (sometimes called Chicken Limone) but it’s SO easy and yummy made at home. Serve it over mashed potatoes or angel hair pasta with roasted veggies on the side.
What I LOVE about this reciep:
- 30 minute meal
- Kid friendly. My kids LOVED this meal (capers and all!). They were literally licking their plates clean. And I’d dare to say it is just as delicious as the version at Brio, and very easy to make.
- Fancy but not fancy. This easy meal looks like you spent days in the kitchen but it comes together so fast!
How to Make Lemon Chicken Piccata:
1. Slice chicken Breasts. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally (“butterfly” cutting them) so that you’re left with 4 thin chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Dredge Chicken. In three separate bowls, prepare a beaten egg, flour, and breadcrumbs for dredging. Coat the chicken on both sides in the flour, then egg wash, and then breadcrumbs.
3. Pan fry. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Set aside onto a plate.
4. Make sauce. To the same pan, add chicken broth, cream, juice from both lemons, and capers. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Allow the sauce to cook and bubble for about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to pan and coat with sauce.
5. Serve the chicken and sauce over mashed potatoes or hot cooked pasta.
Serve with:
- Roasted Vegetables
- French Green Beans
- Side salad
- Shredded Brussels Sprouts
- Homemade Rolls
- Homemade Olive Garden Breadsticks
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Recipe
Chicken Piccata
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 lemons
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup capers
- hot cooked pasta or mashed potatoes for serving
Instructions
- Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally (“butterfly” cutting them) so that you’re left with 4 thin chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper.
- Beat the egg in a shallow bowl with 1 tablespoon of water. Add the flour to another shallow bowl, and the breadcrumbs to a third shallow bowl.
- Coat the chicken on both sides in the flour, then egg wash, and then breadcrumbs.
- Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Set aside onto a plate.
- Reduce heat to medium low. Add chicken broth, cream, juice from both lemons, and capers. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Allow the sauce to cook and bubble for about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to pan.
- Serve the chicken and sauce over mashed potatoes or hot cooked pasta.
- Serve with a side of Roasted Vegetables, steamed broccoli or green beans.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman.
I originally shared this recipe December 2015. Updated February 2020 with process photos and instructions and a new video.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
This recipe is delicious but the cream always curdles when I add the lemon juice. So I’ve either done just a squirt or none at all. I’m not a good enough cook to fix that.
I doubled this recipe and the juice of 4 lemons was so overwhelming that unfortunately it was inedible. The chicken turned out perfectly though. I’d suggest cutting down the lemon juice significantly. For anyone who is trying this recipe, I’d suggest adding maybe a 1/2 cup of juice at a time. I will definitely re-try making this dish with a lot less lemon next time!
Love the recipe, one of our favorites. Curious on how you got your nutrition facts. If there is 1 pound of chicken and it makes 4 servings that would be 4 Oz of chicken which is 23g of protein not 5g.
Thanks Evan! Nutrition is automatically populated using the Api values. Something went wrong here obviously! I’ve fixed the values. Thanks for commenting and so glad you love the recipe!
Very good!! I pounded the chicken thin, used half with panko and half with regular bread crumbs, like them both! I also used regular whipping cream (as that is what I had), about 1/8 cup capers and juice of 1 lemon. I also added a little corn starch with water as mentioned earlier (1 tsp cornstarch with 1 tsp water). Delicious!
This turned out so good!! Thank you very much for this recipe – super easy to follow and tasted as good as at an Italian restaurant.
I just made this. The juice of two lemons was way too much. I ended up remaking the sauce and added 1/2 cup of original lemon sauce. Otherwise it was wonderful. I would make again.
This recipe was delicious. Followed the recipe, did not have to change a thing. I have made this more than once and my family loves this.
saw this posted yesterday morning…made it for dinner same day! YUMMY! definitely it will be in rotation in my house! THANKS!!!
Yes even we are not able to mark them as TBR too
My 11-yr old grandson has learned to cook this recipe. I showed him how cut the chicken. He has fried this up several times now. His little brother liked cracking the egg and mixing it with the water. Then dipping and patting the chicken in flour, egg, crumbs. Chicken tenders would probably make it even easier. They love it!