Lemon Chicken Piccata Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is piccata sauce made of? ›

Made with white wine, butter, capers, and extra virgin olive oil, our piccata sauce brings the robust and bold flavor of capers, with a lemony background for a fantastic finish. Served with spaghetti, let's cook this dish together!

I also found the whole lemon slices included in many traditional recipes left my sauce with a bitter aftertaste from the lemon's pith. To avoid this, but maintain the acidic brightness this dish depends on, I added a bit of white wine to the sauce instead of lemon slices.

Lemon is acidic and helps balance the stronger flavor of the dark meat in thighs and legs, and the fat from the chicken skin.

Best Option: Lime Juice

Lime juice wins the spot for best overall substitute for lemon juice because of its similar taste (just a little sweeter) and acidity level. You can use it in both savory and sweet dishes, as well as co*cktails.

Capers are the unriped green buds of a prickly bush called capparis spinosa that grows wild across the Mediterranean and parts of Asia. Those briny globes we buy in jars at the grocery store start as flower buds, then get picked, dried and preserved.

Sweetness: From sugar, honey, fruits or otherwise, sweetness will counteract bitter and sour flavours. It can also be used to cut down the heat of a particularly spicy meal. Saltiness: Salt plays two very important roles in flavouring a dish. Firstly, it balances against bitterness.

Important: If your marinade is full of fresh citrus or vinegar, like the one in this chicken skewers recipe, keep the marinating time below an hour for optimal results. Poultry marinated in citrus, like lemon or lime juices, or vinegars can turn mushy and stringy if left to soak for too long.

If you season your poultry before cooking, the flesh itself will be imbued with the fresh lemon flavor. Applying lemon juice after cooking won't affect the flavor of the meat as much, and will have a harsher and more sour taste because you haven't allowed the acid to permeate through the chicken.

Should you put lemon on chicken before cooking? ›

Lemon helps add flavor and tenderize the chicken, but if left for too long, it will actually start breaking down the proteins way too much, resulting in tough, rubbery, or even mushy texture. For even cooking, pound chicken breasts to about ½ inch thick evenly. Remember to zest the lemon before squeezing it.

Broth. Chicken or vegetable broth can be a flavorful replacement for white wine. You can even swap it in equal amounts (go for low-sodium broth so your dish doesn't end up too salty). Just keep in mind that broth won't add any acidity, so you might want to add a touch of white vinegar to achieve a similar tang.

Piccata, though, is an Italian word meaning larded. It seems to be a translation of the French word pique (sharp, as in piquant). When used in a reference to a way of preparing food (particularly meat or fish) it means sliced and sauteed in a sauce containing lemon, butter, and spices.

Chicken piccata can be served with an array of side dishes. Popular choices include buttery mashed potatoes, angel hair pasta or crisp salad with Italian vinaigrette.

Chicken Francaise vs.

Chicken piccata has capers. So for you caper haters out there, the Francaise version is for you. Chicken Francaise is dredged in flour and egg, whereas chicken piccata is dredged only in flour, so the Francaise has a bit more (delightfully) substantial coating.

Chicken Piccata is a quick dinner comprised of a crispy pan seared chicken breast with a Lemon Butter Caper Sauce. This chicken has a bright, lemony sauce that's just on the right side of tangy. It's incredibly easy and amazingly tasty!

The difference between the two is for Francese, the chicken breast is first dipped in flour, then into a beaten egg mixture, before being cooked. For piccata, the chicken is first dipped in egg and then in flour. Both are then simmered in a lemony butter sauce, but the piccata sauce includes capers.”