Chicken Piccata is one of those sneaky dishes that’s so sophisticated, beautiful and flavorful, it seems like it must have taken a lot of time and effort to make – you’re the only one who knows how quick and easy it really was. Unless your friends are hanging out with you in the kitchen, enjoying the bottle of white wine you opened for the lightening-fast, lemon-infused, butter-glossed pan sauce.
There isn’t much I need to tell you about the preparation of this dish that isn’t captured in the instructions in the recipe — except one important point about the chicken breasts themselves. The recipe calls for boneless breasts that are sliced in half horizontally — meaning, through their thickness – into two thinner cutlets. The point of this is to achieve a more uniform thickness so the chicken cooks more evenly.
If you’ve cooked a boneless breast or two, I know you know there are other ways you could accomplish this. One is to buy the thinly sliced pieces packaged as “cutlets” at the meat counter. Don’t do this – those are too thin and will overcook before they get brown on the outside. The other is to pound the chicken breast flat with a meat mallet. You could do this, but if you do, it will result in 2 huge pieces, so cut each one in half to get 4 smaller pieces before you cook them. Or you could trust me and try the slicing-in-half method, and you might find it becomes a habit for turning out perfectly-cooked boneless breasts for any number of preparations.
Actually, there’s one more thing. There isn’t very much lemon juice in the sauce for this chicken. Lemon is a very strong flavor, and this sauce is concentrated so as it cooks down, the lemon flavor intensifies. Use too much and you’ll overpower the entire dish in a really unpleasant way. If you tend to eyeball ingredients while cooking, just be careful with the lemon.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers.
- Pan-sauteed and sauced chicken breasts are quick to make and shouldn’t be made ahead if you want to enjoy the chicken at its tender-on-the-inside, seared-on-the-outside best.
- If I’m not going to serve all the chicken immediately, I usually use all of the sauce on the portions I do serve, and keep the leftover chicken without sauce. It can then be sliced cold and thrown into a salad, or reheated briefly in the microwave for a hot chicken sandwich.
Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 2 large boneless chicken breast halves, about 1 pound
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1½ lemons
- ½ cup white wine
- 2 tablespoons chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and heat a large, non-stick or cast-iron skillet over medium high heat.
- Step 2 Lay one of the chicken breast halves on a cutting board with the thick end toward your dominant hand. Hold it steady with your other hand and use a sharp, thin-bladed knife, held parallel to the cutting board, to cut the breast in half into two cutlets. If they’re not exactly the same size or thickness, don’t worry. Repeat with the other breast half.
- Step 3 Season the cutlets generously with salt and pepper, and then dredge them lightly in flour. Set them aside.
- Step 4 Add a generous swirl of olive oil to the hot skillet. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook it without moving it until the bottom side is browned, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook the other side until browned, 2 minutes more. The chicken will not be cooked all the way through, you’re just browning the outside.
- Step 5 Meanwhile, slice the whole lemon into ¼-inch rounds. Juice the half lemon and measure out 2 tablespoons of the juice.
- Step 6 Once the chicken is done, remove it to the foil-lined baking sheet and put it in the oven. Bake the chicken for 5 minutes or until cooked through.
- Step 7 Meanwhile toss the lemon slices into the skillet and cook them for 30 seconds on each side. Remove them to a plate.
- Step 8 To the drippings in the skillet, add the lemon juice, white wine and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a vigorous simmer, and simmer until the liquid is reduced to about ¼ cup. Add the butter and whisk the sauce until the butter is melted and the sauce is thick and glossy. Taste the sauce and add salt and/or pepper if needed.
- Step 9 Turn off the heat under the skillet but leave it on the burner. Return the chicken breast pieces to the skillet and turn them to coat them with sauce. Add the lemon slices over the top of the chicken. Heat the chicken and sauce together for 1 minute, then transfer the chicken to plates with the lemon slices on top. Spoon the sauce over and sprinkle with parsley.
