Chicken Piccata Recipe (30 Minute Skilllet Dinner) (2024)

Tender, juicy chicken cutlets swimming in a lightly thickened lemony sauce with garlic and capers almost sounds too fancy for a weeknight, but trust me, it’s not. It’s perfect for weeknights and everyone loves it.

What makes it a winner is that it requires minimal prep time and it’s ready in just 30 minutes. It’s anexcellent source of protein and you can make it ahead of time to reheat and enjoy throughout the week.

To round out this dish, I like to serve it over mashed potatoes with a side of grilled asparagus, sauteed asparagus, or green beans. It’s also utterly divine served with fettuccine or your favorite pasta. In the spring, I love pairing it withour Asparagus Risotto.

Making your own chicken cutlets at home is easy to do if you’ve got a meat tenderizer or rolling pin, a cutting board, and some plastic wrap. You can find instructions for doing so below or you can purchase cutlets from the meat counter to save some time.

One of the beauties of this recipe is that you can mix, match, and add different ingredients to suit your flavor preferences and dietary needs.

• Add sautéed shallots, mushrooms, or onions
• Substitute half of the chicken stock with dry white wine
• Add Romano, Asiago, or Parmesan cheese

This dish is so good you’ll probably want to share it with others. It’s an easy yet elegant dish for a dinner with friends. Just double the recipe and use two large skillets for best results rather than trying to make two batches one after another.

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Servings: Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 4 chicken cutlets (~1 to 1 ¼ lbs)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (use gluten-free, if needed)*
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon fine salt
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth, homemade or store-bought
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon butter** (see Notes for dairy-free option)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (juice of ½ lemon)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• Mashed potatoes and lemon wedges or slices, optional for serving

Instructions

1. To make the chicken cutlets, slice the chicken breasts in half crosswise to create 4 cutlets. Lightly pound each cutlet between sheets of plastic wrap until they’re about ½” thick.
2. In a shallow bowl, place the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper; stir to combine.
3. Working one at a time, place the cutlets in the bowl and toss until coated in flour on all sides. Transfer the floured cutlets to a plate or cutting board. Discard any unused flour mixture.
4. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the cutlets to the pan.
5. Cook the cutlets, without moving them, until golden brown underneath, about 2 minutes. Then, turn each cutlet over and cook on the other side, without moving, just until the chicken is nearly cooked through (about 1-2 minutes). Transfer the chicken to a clean plate.
6. Reduce the heat to low. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and the garlic to the skillet. Stir continuously to keep the garlic from scorching, about 30 seconds.
7. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the broth, capers, and mustard to the skillet. Cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet, until the liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
8. Add the butter. Stir vigorously until melted (about 1 minute) and the sauce starts to look glossy.
9. Return the chicken to the skillet. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and continue to simmer vigorously until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce lightly coats the spoon, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir the lemon juice into the sauce. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, as desired.
10. Transfer the chicken to a serving plate or platter. Spoon the sauce over the top of the cutlets and sprinkle with parsley. Note: The sauce will thicken more as it cools.
11. If desired, serve chicken and sauce over mashed potatoes. Garnish with lemon wedges.
12. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Notes

*For gluten-free flours, we like Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour or King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Gluten-Free Flour.

**To make this dairy-free: Use a favorite plant-based butter instead of dairy butter

Nutrition Information

• Serving Size: 1/4 of the recipe (without mashed potatoes)
• Calories: 232
• Fat: 13 g
• (Sat Fat: 3 g)
• Sodium: 542 mg
• Carbohydrate: 3 g
• (Fiber: 0 g
• Sugar: 0 g)
• Protein: 28 g
• Cholesterol: 78 mg

Egg-FreeGluten-freeNut-free

© The Real Food Dietitians