Weeknight · Skillet · About 30 minutes

Chicken Piccata

Name: Chicken Piccata
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts; 60 g all-purpose flour; 1 ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt; ½ tsp black pepper; 30 ml olive oil; 56 g unsalted butter; 2 garlic cloves; 120 ml dry white wine; 180 ml chicken stock; 1 lemon; 2 tbsp capers; 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley

Pan-fried cutlets in a glossy lemon–caper butter sauce. Bright, savory, and on the table in about 30 minutes.

~30 min total 4 cutlets 1 skillet

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Servingsamounts scale to match

Units

Ingredients

Mount the butter off the heat. Swirling the final butter in away from the burner is what gives piccata its glossy sheen — added over high heat it breaks and turns oily. And don't rinse the skillet between steps: the flour fond is what thickens the sauce.

Easier, if you like

Pre-sliced chicken cutlets (thin-cut breasts) skip the halving and pounding entirely.
Bottled lemon juice and jarred sliced garlic are fine on a busy night — fresh is better, but this recipe is forgiving.

Method

Cook's notes

Mounting the butter off the heat is what gives piccata its signature sheen — added over high heat it breaks and goes oily.

The flour does double duty: it browns the cutlets, and the residue left in the pan helps thicken the sauce — so don't rinse the skillet between steps.

If the sauce tastes flat, it usually needs salt before more lemon — add the salt first, then adjust the acid.

On doneness: these cutlets are white meat, so they're juiciest pulled at 145–150°F and rested rather than cooked to 165°F — see pull it early, let it rest.

Serve over angel hair, mashed potatoes, or with crusty bread to catch the sauce.

Make it gluten-free

Gluten-free: dredge in a 1:1 GF flour blend or rice flour — it browns the cutlets and thickens the sauce just the same.