The Best Chicken Picatta Recipe
Easy pan-fried chicken breasts with a simple lemon, wine and caper pan sauce
Equipment
- 1 large skillet
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless) butterflied and cut in half (to make 2 thin breasts)
- Salt and fresh black pepper, ground
- ½ cup All purpose flour for dredging
- 6 tbsp butter preferably unsalted, but salted will work
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup dry white wine OR chicken stock
- ¼ cup brined capers
- fresh parsley (optional) for garnish
- 1 lemon, sliced (if using) optional
Instructions
- season breasts with salt and pepper then dredge in flour, shake off the excess
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add 4 Tbsp of butter and 4 Tbsp of evoo and once it starts to sizzle, add your chicken breasts and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Remove and put on a plate, set aside.
- If your skillet is not large enough to do all 4 breasts at one time, then do two at a time using half of the butter and olive oil each time.
- In the pan, add the wine and let it cook for a couple of minutes to cook off some of the alcohol. (if you are using chicken stock only, then you don't need to wait before proceeding to the next step)
- Add the lemon juice and the capers and stir, making sure to scrape all of the good bits from the bottom of the skillet into your sauce. Taste for seasoning. Adjust if necessary (salt and pepper)
- Add lemon slices (optional) for an extra burst of lemon.
- Return all of the chicken breasts back into the pan with the sauce and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to your serving platter (or plates).
- Add remaining 2 Tbsp of butter to the sauce and whisk vigorously to emulsify.
- Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley, if using.