Irresistible Chicken Piccata coated with Parmesan and served with a citrusy lemon sauce.
My low-carb chicken dinner meal is quickly and easily prepared in one skillet.
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What is Chicken Piccata?
Chicken Piccata is an Italian dish, which originally was prepared with thin slices of veal meat. The chicken version is called Piccata di pollo in Italian.
Piccata refers to a thin cut of meat, flattened with the help of a meat mallet. Pollo means simply chicken.
In a piccata, the meat is coated with flour before it is cooked in butter in a pan.
Serving the chicken with a lemon caper sauce is a common occurrence in North Italy AND in Italian franchise restaurants, such as the Olive Garden, in the US.
If the cutlet is breaded or coated with Parmesan cheese, as in today's recipe, it is also called a Milanese (means from Milano).
Technically, today's chicken dinner meal is a chicken piccata Milanese served with a lemony sauce.
How to make it?
This chicken dish resembles my chicken marsala in the preparation.
I have broken down the preparation for your chicken piccata in 3 main steps.
That way, you can quickly decide if you want to make this super delicious from-scratch dinner tonight!
Step 1
Cut chicken breast into two flat cutlets and flatten meat.
Dredge meat through seasoned flour, then dip in egg and coat at last with grated Parmesan.
Step 2
Heat up pan with oil and butter and cook meat on all sides golden brown.
Step 3
Prepare sauce in a pan with white wine and lemon juice.
Place chicken piccata into the sauce, garnish with fresh parsley and lemon slices. Serve hot.
📖 Recipe
Lemon Chicken Piccata Recipe
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 3 Pieces Chicken Breast
- ⅓ Cup All-purpose Flour
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- 1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning or Oregano (*see Notes)
- 1 Egg
- 1 Cup Parmesan packed, grated fine
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 2-3 Tablespoon Butter
For the Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Butter
- ½ Cup White Wine *see Notes
- Juice of one Lemon
To Garnish
- Parsley Fresh fresh
- Lemon Slices
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Prepare your chicken breast by cutting each breast into two slices lengthwise.3 Pieces Chicken Breast
- Place cling wrap on your chicken cutlets and flatten with a meat mallet. *see Notes
- Get 3 shallow plates or containers. In the first plate, combine all-purpose flour, salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning or oregano.½ Teaspoon Salt, ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, ⅓ Cup All-purpose Flour, 1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- Break an egg into the second plate and whisk quickly with a fork.1 Egg
- Place grated Parmesan cheese into the third plate/container.1 Cup Parmesan
- Drag each chicken cutlet through the flour first so that it's completely coated. Then take it through the egg and coat it at last with the Parmesan.
- Place coated chicken pieces into a dish. They shouldn't touch.
- Heat up the skillet and add the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter. Wait for it to get hot.1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, 2-3 Tablespoon Butter
- When the oil is hot enough (but not smoking) place chicken slices into the pan. Don't overcrowd, I add about 2–3 slices at once.
- Flip and cook chicken slices golden on all slides. Add and use remaining butter as needed. Take out from the pan and keep aside.
For the Sauce
- Keep the pan hot over a slow heat setting.
- Place a tablespoon of butter into the pan and wait for it to melt.1 Tablespoon Butter
- Pour white wine into the pan and mix with a spatula over a medium heat setting.½ Cup White Wine
- Continue to add in lemon juice and take down the heat setting. Combine well and take from the heat.Juice of one Lemon
To Garnish
- Place the Chicken back into the pan with the sauce.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and freshly cut lemon slices.Parsley Fresh, Lemon Slices
- Serve up still hot.
Notes
- You can use Italian seasoning or oregano if you don't have Italian seasoning. It's more flavorful with the former.
- Cling wrap helps in avoiding that the meat being ripped off during the flattening process.
- Use a white wine of your choice. I used a decent Riesling. Wine labeled as cooking wine is not always up to the quality for a sophisticated dish like this.
- You can season your sauce with capers too. Just add them to your pan before you pour in the white wine.
Nutrition
Variations
Originally, I used to make my chicken piccata by coating it with flour only.
In 2015, I came across the enhanced Parmesan coated piccatta milanese and I couldn't go back ever since!
However, you are free to just coat the chicken with flour and to skip the egg and Parmesan coating. It would save you time (but you would miss out on some amazing flavors!)
OR if you would rather not coat your chicken with Parmesan, you can coat it with bread crumbs. The same way you coat a chicken Schnitzel.
The lemon butter sauce is also a game changer! Trust me, you don't want to skip that sauce.
The sauce is anyway prepared in the same skillet, which was used to cook the chicken, and it's ready in 5 minutes!
My lemon sauce is prepared with butter, white wine and lemon juice. Just 3 ingredients!
In Italy, they like to add capers too. You can add capers to the sauce during the preparation. Capers add very intriguing flavors to your sauce!
I skipped the capers because I rarely have quality capers in my fridge. They are just so difficult to come by, and I don't like those from commercial brands. I rather skip adding capers then adding poor quality capers to this chicken piccata.
Serving Suggestions
Chicken Piccata is served with pasta noodles and tomato sauce in North Italy, Switzerland, and Austria.
You can skip the tomato sauce and serve this chicken piccata with spaghetti or other penne.
We like it with plain cooked rice or buttered parsley potatoes.
Mashed potatoes and french fries are a popular choice for children.
Feel free to serve up it up with sheet pan roasted vegetables of your choice. Roasted carrots, brussels sprouts, potatoes, and baked parsnips or turnips make a great choice.
I can also recommend sautéed mushrooms as a side dish with this meat piccata recipe.
Artichoke hearts are a secrete serving suggestion.
FAQs
I recommend pairing this dinner meal with a white wine or a rose. I like a good Chardonnay. A Riesling or sauvignon blanc is another great white wine choice. The best recommendation is to pick a wine that you enjoy too.
Follow the flour, egg, and Parmesan coating instructions. Place the chicken in a fridge friendly container with a lid and store it in your fridge. Take it out whenever you want to cook it. Cook your chicken within 2 days.
Yes, you can. Coat chicken with flour, egg, and parmesan. Spread coated chicken on a sheet pan so that they don't touch each other. Place into your freezer and wait for them to freeze hard. Place into a freezer-friendly container and take out whenever you want to cook them. First, thaw chicken completely in your fridge overnight and cook as per recipe instructions.
