My Weeknight Chicken Piccata is a quick and easy meal that has a restaurant quality thanks to the shallots and dry sherry. I sometimes wonder why I bother to make anything more difficult than this for dinner ~ it’s fabulous!
This Chicken Piccata has got everything I want and need in a meal and it takes me just minutes to put together. Piccata shares the same root with piquant, and it lives up to its name with lemon, garlic, shallots, capers, and fortified wine. Every kitchen should have all those ingredients on hand at all times, so all you have to do is pick up the chicken on the way home. (Yay— the express aisle!)
Chicken cutlets are thin slices of the breast, they cook quickly, and are really hold and absorb the flavor of a good sauce. If you use regular breasts you’ll need to put them between pieces of plastic wrap and pound them out to get the same effect. Don’t over cook cutlets, they don’t need long. Think of them as chicken pancakes…a few minutes per side does it.
Whether you serve it with a vegetable and salad, or alongside a starch like linguine or polenta, is up to you. We had ours with roasted Brussels sprouts and were very happy.
more chicken for dinner
- Cider Braised Chicken with Sage
- Chicken Margherita Pasta
- Creamy Lemon Chicken with Asparagus
- Lemony Chicken Soup with Orzo
- Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Apples and Brown Cabbage
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Easy Weeknight Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 2 chicken cutlets
- 1/2 cup flour, use gluten free flour if you like
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 large or 2 smaller shallots, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp capers, heaping, drained (plus more for garnish)
- 1/4 cup white wine, dry sherry or Marsala
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 lemon finely sliced on a mandoline slicer
- handful of fresh parsley, chopped (reserve some for garnish)
Instructions
- Season the cutlets with salt and pepper. Dredge the cutlets in the flour, making sure to get all the surfaces covered.
- Heat 1 Tbsp of the butter and 1 Tbsp of the oil in a pan. When it is nice and hot add the chicken and let brown for about 3 minutes each side, This will basically cook the chicken through.
- Set the chicken aside on a plate.
- Wipe out any burned bits from the pan and add the final Tbsp of butter and of oil. Saute the shallots and garlic for 2 or 3 minutes until soft. Add the wine and lemon juice to the pan along with the capers, parsley, and finely sliced lemon and continue cooking for a couple of minutes to create the sauce.
- Nestle the chicken back into the sauce, spooning it over the chicken. Heat through, and serve hot, garnished with more capers and parsley.
- If the sauce gets too thick, add a little water and reheat it through.
Hi Sue,
I love this recipe but now that I’m going back to make it again, I’m confused…it says 2 cutlets? how big are the cutlets or how much do they weigh? how many does this serve?
Hey Kathy, this is an older post that’s due for a refresh. I would say each cutlet might be 1/2 pound, to serve one, so the recipe is for 2 people.
thank you so much! Yes, do a refresh, it’s fantastic!!
My favorite way of cooking boneless chicken breasts, and I LOVE that you didn’t skimp on the capers! Looks fabulous Sue… yum. 🙂
I should have been here earlier in the day. I could have had that for dinner —looks delicious!
Looks delicious!
It’s difficult to jazz up chicken, this recipe definitely kicks things up several notches! (Love that express aisle!) 😀
Looks like it would be fancy enough for a nice dinner party Sue! And what a wonder that it comes together so quickly, love it!
Whenever I use shallots and some sort of fortified wine like vermouth, sherry, marsala, or brandy, it always tastes fancy to me…
This is one of my favorite chicken dishes! Every time I see it in a restaurant menu I order chicken picatta……I should start making it at home! Looks delicious!
I know—why should we pay to eat what is so easy to make at home??
chicken – tick, lemon – tick, capers – tick… perfection!
now that is one mighty fine chicken dish! Who said chicken can’t be fun and creative! This is anything but boring. I love it
This is one of my favorites. You photos make me want this now!