Chicken piccata
Crisp golden cutlets in a buttery lemon caper sauce that feels fancy and cooks fast.
- 35 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $3.55 a serving
- 640 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 chicken breasts
- 3 tbsp butter, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 tbsp capers, drained
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
- 4 slices french bread (optional)
From your pantry
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
Each serving has about 640 calories, 54 g protein, 21 g carbs and 37 g fat, and costs about $3.55 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No french bread? Sourdough bread works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Lay each chicken breast flat and through the middle, parallel to the board, to make 4 thin cutlets. and with the salt and pepper.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Put the flour on a plate and press each cutlet into it on both sides, then shake off the extra.
Dolly’s tip: A thin, even dusting is all you want. Thick patches turn gummy.Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large over medium-high until the butter foams. Add 2 cutlets and cook 3 minutes, until .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the middle reads 165°F. Move them to a plate, add the rest of the oil, and cook the other 2 the same way.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Thin cutlets cook fast, so check the first pair early. Two at a time keeps the pan hot enough to brown.Food safety: Chicken is done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Turn the heat to medium, add the garlic, and stir for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Pour in the broth and lemon juice to , , then add the capers.
Deglaze. Deglazing means pouring a splash of broth, wine or water into a hot pan to loosen the browned bits on the bottom. Those bits are full of flavor, and this turns them into the start of a sauce.
How you’ll know: It hisses and steams, and the bits lift easily when you scrape with a wooden spoon.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Medium heat
Let it bubble 4 to 5 minutes, until by about half.
Reduce. Reducing means simmering a liquid with the lid off so some of the water steams away. The sauce gets thicker and its flavor gets stronger.
How you’ll know: The level drops in the pan, and the sauce coats the back of a spoon instead of running off.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Turn the heat to low and swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter until the sauce turns silky.
Low heat
Dolly’s tip: Keep it below a boil once the butter goes in, or it turns greasy instead of silky.Slide the chicken back in for 1 minute to , spooning the sauce over. Scatter the parsley and serve with bread.
Heat through. Heating through means warming food that’s already cooked until it’s hot all the way to the center. You’re not cooking it more, just making sure no part is still cold.
How you’ll know: It’s steaming, and a piece from the middle is hot, not lukewarm.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
