Just a little chicken, pounded into thin, tender slices and coated with a bit of savory salt and pepper flour. Browned up nice and topped with a pan sauce of capers, butter, and all those delicious little bits of this and that that stick to the pan while you cook the chicken.
By Bowen Close
Chicken Piccata
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
Just a little chicken, pounded into thin, tender slices and coated with a bit of savory salt and pepper flour. Browned up nice and topped with a pan sauce of capers, butter, and all those delicious little bits of this and that that stick to the pan while you cook the chicken.
Ingredients
- Two large chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup flour
- Salt and pepper
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 3 Tbsp. dry white wine
- 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. capers, rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
Instructions
- – If you want to do it how we did it, take each breast and cut it into four pieces. It doesn’t particularly matter how – we cut perpendicular to the length, basically slicing it into four very thick slices.
- – Take a piece of chicken and put it between two sheets of plastic wrap, then pound with a meat tenderizer/pounder or a heavy skillet (or some other heavy object) to pound the meat into a thin (1/4-inch thick) piece. Do the same with the rest of the pieces, using the same plastic wrap for each piece.
- – Mix together flour with generous doses of salt and pepper in a shallow dish or plate.
- – Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture, making sure each piece is thoroughly coated. Shake/tap to get off any excess flour.
- – Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the butter starts to sizzle. Sautee dredged chicken pieces until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes on each side. You’ll likely need to do two batches of cooking, based on the size of the pan. Transfer the chicken to a plate and drain excess fat from the pan.
- – Next you’ll make the pan sauce, which should be done right before serving. If for some reason you need delay some part of this whole process, stop now – make the chicken and drain the pan (but don’t clean it). Then start again from here when you’re ready. Return the pan to medium heat and add the wine, using a spoon or spatula to scrape up and stir in any browned pits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the wine has been reduced by about half – should be under a minute. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, capers, and butter. Before serving, add the parsley and season with salt as needed. Pour over the chicken to serve.
Notes
There are a variety of ways to create the thin (1/4-inch thick) chicken cutlets needed for this dish. We chose a pretty straight-forward way that created four small pieces from each breast – we just cut each breast width-wise into four pieces – but you could also butterfly the breasts or buy ready-cut cutlets from your butcher.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
