- Chicken piccata is an Italian American favorite
and probably one of the easiest weeknight dinner recipes
to make at home.
Thinly sliced chicken breasts are dredged in flour,
seared until golden
and simmered in a lemon butter sauce
that's dotted with capers and chopped parsley.
This recipe has been popularized
by all of the Italian style
and Italian fusion restaurants in America
so you might have enjoyed it previously
at an Olive Garden or something similar,
but I'm gonna show you how to make this restaurant worthy,
super tasty recipe at home and in only about 20 minutes.
So let's get started.
You'll need two large chicken breasts for this recipe
and then what you're gonna do is thinly slice them
in half horizontally,
just as you would if you were going to butterfly them.
In Italian, this is known as a scalloping dish,
which just means that the meat is sliced thinly,
whether that's chicken, veal, or something else.
This is easiest to do
when the chicken is still firm and chilled
rather than room temperature.
And the key is holding the knife perfectly flat
in perpendicular to the cutting board.
And while I did a good job on my first one here,
I'll show you my second one that wasn't so great
as I angled the knife slightly downward at the end
which created a hole in the middle.
Now, in all honesty, I debated reshooting this,
but also wanted to show you guys
that I'm certainly not perfect cooking at home.
And sometimes mistakes happen, but guess what?
It still turned out tasty in the end
and that's what matters most.
As an alternative,
if you don't wanna slice your chicken breast in half,
you could also choose four small chicken breasts
for this recipe
and then pound them thinner with a kitchen mallet.
So it's up to you.
You'll need a quarter cup of flour for this recipe.
And since I'm gluten-free,
I'm using arrowroot powder today but almost any flour works,
so choose your favorite.
To that, add a quarter cup of finely graded Parmesan cheese
and I do recommend freshly grated, if possible,
then add one teaspoon kosher salt
and about a half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
Stir this around on a plate or shallow dish
until it's all mixed together.
And this is what you're gonna dredge
or coat the chicken in
to get that nice golden crust.
So grab your thinly sliced chicken
and press it down into the flour mixture to coat both sides.
I like to use my hands
to sprinkle extra all around the chicken
and then press it in to make sure that it adheres well.
And then place this on a separate plate
to take over to the stove here in a second.
Repeat this process with your other three chicken pieces.
Wash your hands and then you can move on
to prepping the ingredients for the sauce.
Chicken piccata often has a little white wine in the sauce,
but if you're alcohol free,
you can swap in more chicken broth.
I'm using my handy dandy bottle opener
that I'm obsessed with and got over 25 years ago
when I went wine tasting with my mom in Napa.
You just press the needle into the bottle
press the CO2 canister on top, and then out pops your cork.
And yes, I will link it for you below.
But back to the sauce.
You'll also need three tablespoons of lemon juice,
which you should be able to get from about one lemon.
And that's it in terms of prep.
So let's get cooking.
Add two tablespoons of olive oil
to a large pan over medium high heat
along with one tablespoon of unsalted butter.
Swirl that out around the pan
so that the butter and oil combine.
And once it's all nice and sizzling,
add the chicken to the pan.
Cook the chicken for about three to four minutes
on each side or until the chicken breasts
are nice and golden and release easily from the pan.
I know from comments that many of you have problems
with chicken sticking to stainless steel pans
and that's usually
because you're trying to flip them too early
before they've gotten a nice crust
and release naturally from the pan.
So use tongs to flip them over
and then cook them another three to four minutes
or until an instant read thermometer
reads around 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then remove the chicken to a plate.
(upbeat music)
Pour in a half a cup of white wine,
which should also deglaze the pan
and help to remove all those tasty golden bits
from the bottom and add four garlic cloves.
I like to mince the garlic
though you could always thinly slice it as well
if you prefer bigger pieces.
And then stir that around until it comes back to a simmer
and is reduced by about half,
which should take a few minutes.
Add one cup of chicken broth
and I prefer low sodium, three tablespoons of lemon juice,
two tablespoons of capers that you've drained,
and two tablespoons of unsalted butter.
Stir that around until it begins to simmer again
and then add the chicken back to the pan.
(upbeat music continues)
Spoon the sauce on top of the chicken,
infusing it with that buttery lemon goodness,
and let it simmer
for one to two minutes until it's warmed through.
The sauce for chicken piccata
is not meant to be a thick sauce,
it's definitely more liquidy
but if you prefer it slightly thicker,
you could also whisk in a smidge more flour.
And look at that, your chicken piccata is done.
I told you guys this was a super easy recipe.
You can serve it straight from the pan
or add it to a serving plate.
I'm gonna add mine to a serving plate today,
and if you notice,
I'm very strategic in blazing the holey chicken piece
on the bottom
so that I can cover it with the last piece of chicken.
If you wanna get fancy,
you can also add some freshly sliced lemon
to give a nod to the flavor in the sauce
though I think whenever people see capers
and chicken together nowadays
they instantly know it's a chicken piccata recipe.
And whatever you do,
don't forget about all of the sauce that's in the pan.
That is liquid gold drizzled over the chicken.
And if you serve this up over rice or mashed potatoes,
that sauce oozes into everything
which makes the entire plate taste like a million bucks
and very restaurant worthy.
To finish it off,
I'm adding a little bit of chopped parsley,
and since I'm feeling extra fancy today,
to make up for my holey chicken,
I'm going to add extra parsley to the side.
This is definitely a weeknight dinner recipe
that you should have in your back pocket
because start to finish
it honestly only takes about 20 minutes
and it's so versatile
in that you can pair it up
with a variety of different side dishes.
I hope you guys enjoyed today's video,
and if you did, make sure you're subscribed to my channel
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Hit that thumbs up button,
and share the recipe with your family and friends.
And with that, I will see you again in the next video.
(upbeat music continues)