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Favorite Chicken Piccata

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Submitted by curl

Chicken piccata with pounded chicken breasts seared in butter, finished with sherry, lemon juice, and capers in a quick pan sauce. A weeknight Italian classic for eight in 40 minutes.

YIELD

8 servings

PREP

20 min

COOK

20 min

READY

40 min

Chicken piccata is the kind of Italian-American restaurant standard that earns its place because it works. Tender, flour-dredged chicken breast gets browned in butter, then finished with a quick deglaze of sherry, lemon juice, and salty capers, all in the same pan. Twenty minutes of active cooking, restaurant-quality results.

Pounding the breasts flat is the technique you cannot skip. Even thickness means even cooking, and thinner cutlets hit the table tender and juicy instead of dry on the edges and undercooked in the middle. A meat mallet works, but the bottom of a heavy skillet between two sheets of plastic wrap does the same job.

The sauce is the soul of the dish. Sherry brings depth and a faint nutty note that white wine alone cannot, lemon juice cuts the butter with brightness, and capers add salty pop in every bite. Reduced together over high heat, the sauce thickens slightly into a glossy gravy that coats the chicken without smothering it.

A double-onion approach (yellow onion plus four green onions) is a slight regional twist, the green onions add a fresher, slightly sweet herbal note on top of the sweeter sauteed yellow onion base.

Pro Tips

  • Pound chicken to even ¼-inch thickness, not paper-thin. Too thin and it dries out, too thick and it cooks unevenly.
  • Shake off excess flour after dredging, a thick coating burns instead of browning and clumps in the pan sauce.
  • Use a clarified butter or butter-oil mix for the sear, plain butter burns at the high heat needed for golden crust.
  • Add a splash of chicken broth (the optional ingredient in the recipe) to stretch the sauce and keep it from over-reducing.

Variations

  • Substitute capers with chopped Castelvetrano olives for a milder, fruitier briny note.
  • Add a tablespoon of butter at the very end to mount the sauce, this gives it a glossy, velvety finish.
  • Use thin pork cutlets or veal in place of chicken for a true scaloppine variation.

Ingredients

1 1
SMALL SMALL YELLOW ONION
peeled, chopped
2 2
CLOVE CLOVE GARLIC
crushed
4 4
EACH ONIONS
finely chopped
8 8
EACH EACH CHICKEN BREAST
2 30
TABLESPOONS ML OLIVE OIL
½ 118
1
X SALT AND BLACK PEPPER
to taste *
2 30
TABLESPOONS ML BUTTER
2 30
TABLESPOONS ML SHERRY
dry
2 30
TABLESPOONS ML LEMON JUICE
1 15
TABLESPOON ML CAPERS
chopped
2 30
TABLESPOONS ML CHICKEN BROTH
optional
8 8
SLICES SLICES LEMONS *
2 30
TABLESPOONS ML PARSLEY LEAVES
chopped

Directions

Sauté the yellow onion, garlic and green onions in the olive oil just until tender.

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Remove skins and bones from chicken breasts and pound them flat.

Mix flour, salt and pepper together and place in flat bowl.

Dip chicken into flour mixture, lightly brown chicken in butter 2 or 3 minutes per side.

Add the sautéd onions and garlic.

Over high heat add sherry, lemon juice and capers.

This should thicken to make a nice gravy for chicken.

* not incl. in nutrient facts Arrow up button

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 178g (6.3 oz)
Amount per Serving
Calories 509 33% from fat
 % Daily Value *
Total Fat 19g 29%
Saturated Fat 6g 32%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 161mg 54%
Sodium 288mg 12%
Total Carbohydrate 9g 9%
Dietary Fiber 3g 11%
Sugars g
Protein 114g
Vitamin A 7% Vitamin C 26%
Calcium 7% Iron 17%
* based on a 2,000 calorie diet How is this calculated?
Trans-fat Free, Good source of fiber
 
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