Make tender hen piccata with lemon, butter, and briny capers! This basic Italian American dish comes collectively simply at house and is ideal as a weeknight dinner.
The primary time I made hen piccata at house, I couldn’t imagine how easy it was to make (regardless of the flamboyant title that at all times intimidated me). It’s simply hen cutlets pan-fried after which bathed in a vivid lemon-butter sauce with briny capers. Alex took one chunk and instantly requested why we had waited this lengthy to attempt it!
Right here I’ve performed with my model of the recipe to make it style recent and lightweight, nothing like restaurant variations which may typically style heavy. This hen piccata recipe brings these basic Italian American flavors in simply 20 minutes, making it nice for weeknight dinners or entertaining!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Unimaginable taste: The mix of tart lemon juice, wealthy butter, and punchy capers creates a sauce that makes you need to lick the plate clear (a minimum of, I do!)
- Prepared in 20 minutes: It’s excellent for busy weeknights or particular dinners whenever you need to impress
- Easy method: It’s easy and works each single time
- Lighter than restaurant fashion: My recipe is frivolously pan fried and has much less butter and cream than restaurant variations
5-Star Reader Opinions
“I like this dish, and capers are what does it for me, a real basic that I haven’t had shortly, not to mention made, so thanks.” -Sabrina
“Tried the hen piccata for lunch. It was nice, had with mashed potatoes and beets, and poured the juice over all. YUM. Can’t wait to attempt the recipe with capers, that sounds good too.” -Gloria F.
Components You’ll Want
Hen piccata is a dish the place hen cutlets are pounded, dredged in flour, pan fried and served with a lemon butter sauce. You would possibly suppose the dish is Italian in origin, but it surely’s truly Italian American: it was created by Italian immigrants to America within the 1930’s with veal, which was a less expensive protein in these days.
Right here’s what you’ll must make the fashionable chicken-based spin on this basic:
- Hen cutlets or boneless skinless hen breasts: Should you purchase common hen breasts, you’ll butterfly them your self (I’ll present you the way). The skinny cutlets are key as a result of they cook dinner shortly and keep tender.
- All-purpose flour: This makes a lightweight coating that helps the sauce to cling to the hen. It’s also possible to use gluten-free 1-for-1 flour.
- Olive oil: For pan-frying the hen.
- Garlic cloves: Contemporary minced garlic provides fragrant depth to the sauce.
- Capers: These briny little taste bombs are important: don’t skip them: they’re what makes an excellent hen piccata!
- Lemon juice and lemon zest: Provides vivid, fragrant taste.
- Dry white wine or hen broth: For greatest taste I like dry white wine (like Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc), however hen inventory or low-sodium hen broth work too.
- Butter: Use salted or unsalted.
- Heavy cream (optionally available): Conventional hen piccata doesn’t at all times embody cream, however I like the way it provides physique to the sauce.
Methods to Make Hen Piccata
This hen piccata recipe is fast and easy to make. As a result of the hen is pounded to a fair thickness, it cooks extraordinarily shortly. Right here’s an outline of the method (or soar to the recipe under):
- Put together the hen: Should you’re beginning with common hen breasts, you’ll must butterfly them first. Place your hand flat on high of the breast, then use a pointy knife to slice horizontally via the center, leaving about half an inch related on one facet. Unfold it and lower alongside that fold to create two separate cutlets. (For detailed directions, try my information on butterfly a hen breast.) Place them between two items of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or a heavy skillet to a fair 1/4-inch thickness. This step is essential for even cooking.
- Season the hen: Sprinkle the hen on all sides with the kosher salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Dredge the hen breasts frivolously in flour unfold on a plate, shaking off the surplus.
- Pan fry: Add the olive oil to a big skillet and warmth over medium warmth. Add the hen and cook dinner for 3 to five minutes per facet, till golden brown on each side. Watch out to not overcook.
- Make the sauce: In the identical skillet, scale back the warmth to low and add minced garlic and capers. Cook dinner about 1 minute, then stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and white wine or hen inventory. Convey to a boil, then scale back to a simmer and add the butter and cream (if utilizing). Simmer 1 minute till the sauce thickens barely and takes on a shiny sheen, then return the hen to the pan and simmer for two minutes till warmed via.
- Serve: Take away the hen to a serving plate and high with sauce and chopped parsley.
Suggestions for Success
After testing this hen piccata recipe a number of instances, listed below are a couple of suggestions I’ve discovered:
- Don’t skip the pounding step. Taking a minute to pound the cutlets to a fair 1/4-inch thickness makes an enormous distinction in how they cook dinner. In the event that they’re uneven, the skinny parts cook dinner via a lot quicker than the thick elements.
- Pat the hen dry earlier than dredging. That is key to get the flour coating to stay.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan. In case your giant skillet isn’t sufficiently big to suit all of the hen with area between every bit, cook dinner it in batches. Should you overlap items, the hen steams as a substitute of searing.
- In case your sauce is simply too skinny: Let it simmer for an additional minute or two to scale back, and use the heavy cream to thicken.
- In case your sauce tastes too tart: Add one other tablespoon of butter or a drizzle of cream to steadiness with richness.
- In case your hen is dry: It’s overcooked. Cutlets cook dinner very quick, often simply 3 to five minutes per facet. Use an instant-read thermometer to verify for 165°F.
Taste Variations & Substitutions
The piccata idea is extremely versatile! You may make piccata sauce to go along with many various proteins. Listed here are a couple of concepts:
- Salmon: Flippantly season and coat salmon in flour, then make pan seared salmon. Take away it from the pan and make the piccata sauce within the recipe under.
- Scallops: Make pan seared scallops, then take away from the pan and make the piccata sauce.
- Swordfish: It is a basic Italian variation! Make pan fried swordfish then make the piccata sauce.
- Tilapia: Make pan fried tilapia, then take away and make the piccata sauce.
Serving Concepts
What to serve with hen piccata? This basic Italian American dish goes effectively with many various sides, like rice, pasta, inexperienced beans or a crisp salad. Listed here are a couple of facet dishes for hen:
- Rice: Attempt white rice or lemon rice
- Pasta: Go for garlic butter noodles, angel hair pasta, orzo, or these pasta facet dishes
- Polenta: Add creamy polenta as a easy facet
- Greens: Attempt inexperienced beans almondine, haricot verts, roasted broccoli, or pan fried broccolini
- Salad: Make chopped salad, kale salad, apple salad, radicchio salad, or considered one of these salad recipes
- Potatoes: Attempt creamy mashed potatoes or garlic roasted potatoes
Storing Leftovers
Retailer leftovers refrigerated for as much as 3 days. To reheat, place the hen and sauce in a big skillet over low warmth. Add 2-3 tablespoons of hen broth or water to loosen, then heat gently, stirring sometimes, till heated via.
I don’t advocate freezing hen piccata. It is a dish greatest loved recent or inside a couple of days of constructing it.
Dietary Notes
This hen piccata recipe is gluten-free with gluten-free 1 for 1 flour.
Continuously Requested Questions
Piccata is a cooking methodology the place meat (initially veal, however now usually hen) is sliced skinny, dredged in flour, sautéed, and served with a sauce constructed from lemon, butter, and capers.
The phrase comes from the Italian “piccare,” which implies “to prick” or “to sting,” which in all probability referred to the sharp taste from the lemon and capers. It sounds Italian, however hen piccata is an Italian American creation that emerged in the USA within the Nineteen Thirties.
Pound your hen cutlets to a fair 1/4-inch thickness in order that they cook dinner shortly. Make certain to make use of capers: they supply that signature briny, salty taste that makes a piccata a piccata. Additionally, scrape up all these brown bits whenever you deglaze pan so as to add depth to the sauce.
I needed to look this up! Each are Italian American dishes. Hen francese is dipped in egg earlier than being dredged in flour and doesn’t embody capers. Hen piccata makes use of a lightweight flour coating and at all times consists of capers, and usually has a brighter and extra tangy sauce.
You may prep forward by butterflying and pounding your hen cutlets as much as 24 hours upfront. Maintain them lined within the fridge, then season and cook dinner whenever you’re able to serve. Or, leftovers additionally retailer as much as 3 days refrigerated. However this dish is greatest freshly cooked!
Sure, you’ll be able to skip the flour dredging if you happen to’re avoiding carbs. Season the hen cutlets effectively with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then cook dinner them immediately within the olive oil. It would nonetheless style scrumptious!
Hen Piccata
Make tender hen piccata with lemon, butter, and briny capers! This basic Italian American dish comes collectively simply at house and is ideal as a weeknight dinner.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook dinner Time: 10 minutes
- Complete Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Class: Essential dish
- Methodology: Stovetop
- Delicacies: Italian
Components
- 2 boneless skinless hen breasts or 4 cutlets (about 1 ½ kilos, natural if doable)*
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly floor black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour (or gluten-free 1-for-1 flour)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup capers, drained
- 2 tablespoons recent lemon juice, plus zest of ½ lemon
- ½ cup dry white wine or hen inventory
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream, optionally available
- ¼ cup finely chopped recent parsley
Directions
- Pat the hen dry with a paper towel. If utilizing breasts, slice them in half horizontally (if you happen to purchased cutlets, skip this step). Place hen cutlets between two items of plastic wrap and place them on a reducing board. Utilizing a mallet or heavy skillet, pound them to a fair 1/4” thickness.
- Sprinkle the hen on all sides with the kosher salt, black pepper and garlic powder.
- Unfold the flour in a shallow plate. Dredge the hen breasts in flour, shaking off the surplus.
- Add the olive oil to a big skillet and warmth over medium warmth. Add the hen and cook dinner for 3 to five minutes per facet, till browned on each side. When the interior temperature is 165°F, or the middle is not pink, take away to a plate.
- In the identical skillet, scale back the warmth to low and add minced garlic and capers. Cook dinner about 1 minute, till garlic is aromatic, then stir within the lemon zest, lemon juice, and white wine (or hen inventory). Convey to a boil, scraping up the brown bits from the pan for further taste.
- Scale back to a simmer, then add the butter (and optionally available heavy cream). Simmer till thickened barely, about 1 minute, then return the hen to the pan and simmer for two minutes, permitting the hen to absorb the sauce.
- Take away the hen to a serving plate and high with a drizzle of the sauce and chopped parsley to garnish.
Notes
*This recipe makes 4 modest servings, so if you happen to’ve received very hungry eaters or extra folks to meals, take into account making 1.5 instances or double the recipe. If that’s the case, use a really giant skillet and pan-fry the hen in batches.
For the wine, use a dry white wine like Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. Keep away from candy wines.
The heavy cream is optionally available however provides a silkier texture to the sauce.
