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This creamy lemon chicken piccata is a quick and easy one-pot meal that’s on the dinner table in 30 minutes! Tender breaded chicken in a creamy lemon sauce that the entire family will love.
Chicken is a favorite protein around here with its mild flavor. It works for so many different recipes! You will have to try some of my other favorites, Lemon Garlic Chicken, Marry Me Chicken, and Tuscan Garlic Chicken!
Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata Recipe
One of our favorite meals of the week was this creamy chicken piccata. My favorite part was that it was a one-pot meal and ready to eat in 30 minutes! This also means easy clean-up! It’s just like the classic chicken piccata dish, but with the added lemon tang. It gives it such a fresh and delicious taste to the creamy sauce. The chicken has a delicious breading on the outside and is so perfect served over some pasta. Everyone in my family loved this meal. It had such a delicious flavor and will be one that we make again and again!
This American-Italian favorite is so creamy and delicious. Piccata literally means, pounded flat and cooked in a sauce of lemon, parsley, and butter. Cooked in one pan and in 30 minutes means you can have an incredible meal on the table in no time. Don’t be scared of the capers! They really make the dish amazing. If you have never had them, this is the perfect dish to try them with. If you love seafood, you’ll have to try this salmon piccata as well! It’s so delicious and packed with light, bright flavor!
Ingredients Needed
Super simple ingredients come together to make an irresistible meal. Serve your creamy lemon chicken piccata with a nice green salad, homemade breadsticks or rolls, and you have a winning dinner on your hands!
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded flat if needed. This is so they cook more evenly!
- Salt and Pepper: Season to taste.
- Flour: Creates a nice breading on the chicken.
- Butter: To cook the chicken in. It also adds a deliciously rich flavor!
- Olive Oil: Also used to cook and add flavor.
- Chicken Broth: A savory base for the sauce.
- Lemons: Fresh whole lemons to use for juice and garnish.
- Heavy Cream: You can also substitute half and half, but it won’t be as creamy in texture.
- Capers: Look for these with the pickles and jarred pepperoncini.
- Parsley: (Optional) For garnish and extra flavor.
- Angel Hair Pasta: You can also use spaghetti noodles if you would like.
What are Capers?
If you have never had capers before, this is the perfect introduction. They’re typically served alongside chicken and salmon dishes, adding a ton of flavor. Capers are under ripened flower buds of a plant known as the caper bush. The capers are picked and dried. Then they are pickled to create this tangy, salty, and briny flavor that is out of this world yummy.
These little pea-sized condiments produce big flavor. A little goes a long way. Use them in salads, pasta, and chicken. Because of their lemony flavor, they are also great with fish. You’ll have to try them out in these other recipes: Pan Seared Scallops with Lemon Caper Sauce, Pasta Puttanesca with Chicken, and Lemon Salmon Piccata.
Making the Perfect Lemon Chicken Piccata
If needed, take the time to pound your chicken to get it nice and thin. You won’t regret it. They will cook faster and more evenly!
- Prepare Skillet, Season Chicken: Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Then salt and pepper each side of the chicken breasts
- Adjust Thickness: If the chicken breasts are overly thick, pound them to be thinner. Then the cooking time will be shorter.
- Flour: Using a shallow bowl, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture.
- Brown: Then put the chicken breasts in the skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until it is cooked throughout and no longer pink. Then remove from the skillet and set aside on a plate.
- Sauce: Turn the heat to medium-low. Then add juice from lemons, heavy cream, and capers. Bring the sauce to a boil and then return to medium-low heat. Test the sauce and then season with salt and pepper as needed. Allow the sauce to cook and bubble for about 3 minutes.
- Serve: Serve the chicken over cooked pasta and then spoon the piccata sauce over top. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.
A Reader’s Review
Just made this and it is amazing. Tastes just like the one you order at a local restaurant! It was easy to make and has a great presentation. You won’t be disappointed!
Tips and Variations
Here are a few ways to switch up this simple dish! You’re going to love this lemon chicken piccata. And it can easily be tweaked to your personal tastes! It can also be made keto if you’re wanting a more diet-friendly option!
- Noodles: Truly any kind of pasta can be used to serve this scrumptious lemon piccata dish with. (Want to switch things up? Try tagliatelle!) You can also serve it over steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, or rice.
- Keto/Low-Carb: To make this meal keto-friendly, use almond flour for coating your chicken in instead of all-purpose flour. You’ll also want to swap out the angel hair pasta for zucchini noodles or protein-packed chickpea noodles.
- Chicken: Make sure your chicken is thin! You can pound each chicken cutlet thin or slice it in half, either way, it will create the size you are looking for.
- Fresh Lemons: I wouldn’t recommend using bottled lemon juice here. It will not taste the same. The fresh lemon really brings this piccata together.
- Capers: Some find the capers to be too salty. If you want to avoid that, just rinse the capers before adding.
Storing Leftover Lemon Chicken Piccata
Another reason why this recipe is the best: it makes fantastic leftovers! This chicken piccata can be heated up easily for a bright, flavorful lunch.
- In the Refrigerator: Keep your lemon chicken piccata in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Then warm leftovers in the microwave or over the stove.
Note: It’s best to store the chicken and sauce separately from any noodles so they don’t get soggy.
More Chicken Recipes to Try
Chicken is so versatile. It can be used in all sorts of cuisines. American, Italian, Chinese, Mexican and everything in between. Chicken is a relatively cheap protein making it an economical, family friendly dish! You can boil it, fry it, grill it, bake it, you name it! We also can’t forget the Instant Pot and air fryer! These are all incredible ways to prepare chicken, so if you need a new recipe to try, look no further. I’ve got you covered. (Find my full list of chicken recipes here!)
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Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Breasts Whole Boneless Skinless
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 Lemons whole
- 3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1/4 cup capers
- parsley for garnish, chopped
- 1 pound Angel Hair Pasta
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. (If the chicken breasts are overly thick, pound them to be thinner. Cooking time will be shorter.) Salt and pepper each side of the chicken breasts.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour.
- Put the chicken breasts in the skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until it is cooked throughout and no longer pink. Remove from the skillet and set aside on a plate.
- Turn the heat to medium low. Add broth, juice from both lemons, heavy cream, and capers. Bring the sauce to a boil and return to medium low heat. Test the sauce and season with salt and pepper as needed. Allow the sauce to cook and bubble for about 3 minutes.
- Serve the chicken over cooked pasta and spoon the sauce over both. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this chicken dish for the first time. I am new to the internet. Just loved the dish. I can hardly wait to try the next receipe.
This has been a favorite dinner rotation since I came across this recipe a couple years ago (sorry I’m just now leaving a review haha). I season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning before dredging in flour. And usually add a smidge more lemon because we love lemon in this house. We rotate using angel hair and pappardelle noodles. You cannot go wrong, this dish is absolutely delicious!!
For those having issues with cream curdling, you have to let the wine or lemon juice (or both) simmer awhile and then add a big dollop of real butter and real heavy cream….not milk. Milk curdles but the cream has enough fat, along with the butter to counter the lemon juice. But like i said, make sure you simmer the lemon and wine so it isn’t so stringent. Add mushrooms, garlic, capers and parsley and put the leftovers over linguine.
First time making this and it was pretty good. I used chicken bread tenders and only have of 1 lemon. I think next time I will use even less of a lemon.
This was absolutely delicious, I did add just a tad bit more cream. This is definitely going in my meal rotation. Served it with fresh broccoli, cooked in the pasta water from the thin spaghetti. The pasta water adds a nice flavor to the broccoli. Delicious, quick and easy meal, using simple ingredients.
Can I make ahead and keep warm until serving time?
Yes, that will work out great. Just continue to stir it.
Can I double batch this and keep warm in an electric skillet? How far in advance? I love this recipe and wold like to make ahead for a dinner party.
Yes, you can make this ahead of time, about 2 to 3 days max. When warming it in the electric skillet keep it low and stir so the sauce does not separate.
Super easy to follow, super delicious to test!
Will be a standard for us!
Delicious! I’ve never thought of adding cream to a piccata before, but this really came out great. The sauce is perfect for soaking up with a nice crusty piece of fresh bread, too! For those concerned about the lemon curdling the cream: I add the broth & lemon juice (and capers) to my pan first, heating it through & scraping up all the nice browned bits from the pan; once it starts to simmer, I VERY SLOWLY add the cream, whisking constantly until it is incorporated. You may need to add it a little at a time instead of all at once, but the big key is to keep whisking. Once it starts to simmer again, I turn up the heat a little to just barely boiling around the edges, and whisk for another minute or two – at that point you should see that it has started to thicken up & reduce a bit and you don’t need to worry about it separating any more.
Delicious! Easy and quick to make! I wish recipes (not just this one) specified an amount of lemon juice because my lemons were big as well as an approximate size/weight of chicken breast, again because mine were pretty big. I will definitely fix this again!
My family prefers this over rice! The lemon sauce really gives a great flavor to the rice.
Just made this and it is amazing. Tastes just like the one you order at a local restaurant! It was easy to make and has a great presentation. You won’t be disappointed!
This was the first time making Chicken Piccatta and it was aboslutely delicious. Don’t usually stock cream, so I substituted with Doublecream Greek Yoghurt & added some cream powder just for the extra creaminess. Also, as yoghurt has lots of natural tang, I only used 1 lemon.
Hands down, this is the best chicken piccata recipe I have ever made! I have been making this one for years and is my go to piccata recipe! I also add the zest from the lemons for an extra little zing!
Tasted fantastic! This is something I will be making again and again!! Yummy 😋
It’s January 2. After all of the delicious rich food over the Holidays, I’m looking forward to a fresh “light” pasta dish. This Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata fits perfectly. I’ve made several times with great results every time. It’s a great quick and simple dinner option time and again. And a bit of heavy cream over multiple servings is no big deal. Enjoy! We do!