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This is a real Summery recipe, Clean eating Chicken Piccata: It’s quick, easy, fresh and lemony. You can have this ready in 10 minutes or so, making it one of the fastest healthy chicken dinners I make.
Clean Eating Chicken Piccata
Chicken Piccata is an old recipe, Italian by origin but now cooked all over the world.
We have this fairly often. I use chicken thighs for this, they’re really juicy and full of flavor as well as being a bit cheaper than breast meat.
Piccata refers to pounding the meat to thin and tenderise it, and was originally made with Veal. Chicken is more widely used now in the United States and throughout Europe, but it’s always been served with a Lemony sauce. And it’s absolutely delicious.
Many recipes use chicken breasts for this and if you have them, absolutely feel free to use them. I use chicken thighs instead of breast meat. I find it much more flavorful than breast meat, and it stays juicy and tender where chic ken breasts can dry out.
If you’re using chicken breasts, I recommend you butterfly the chicken and make sure it’s no thicker than 1/2 an inch thick. You want the chicken to cook fast in the pan, and any thicker than this will take to long to cook.
I buy chicken thighs already filleted. The price difference is small and the convenience of putting them straight into the pan is well worth the small price increase for me.
Use whatever chicken works for you here though, the main thing is that it’s thin enough to be pan fried quickly.
What’s Piccata Sauce Made Of?
Chicken Piccata sauce is really a lemon sauce. Most Piccata sauces I’ve ever come across have capers in them…but not mine. Now personally, I love capers. However, I’m the only one in the whole house that does.
In fairness to the kids, they’ve all tried them, and they all have had meltdowns at various times over the years when presented with them for a second time.
Capers have a really strong taste for us adults and it’s amplified for little kids delicate taste buds, so while I’m all for getting the kids to try new foods, don’t sweat the capers if yours are resistant, it’s really not worth the fight.
While they don’t feature in this recipe, if you kids like them, of course add in a table spoon or two when you’re making the sauce.
Chicken Piccata Leftovers
The chicken from this recipe makes a properly lovely lunch the next day. I often make double portions of this recipe with the sole intention of having it for lunch the following day. I’ll slice it up and have it with a salad cold, or reheat it and add some leftover mashed potatoes and steamed veg.
To store this, simply transfer it to an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Freezing Chicken Piccata
Yay, this is a great dish to keep in your freezer, however, the chicken must be fresh and not previously frozen if you want to freeze it. Bearing this in mind, you would then freeze the chicken and the sauce separately.
To be honest, as the chicken is simply pan fried and there’s nothing more to it, I find it’s way more hassle to freeze and then defrost and then reheat than it is to make this from scratch when I need it.
You have to weigh up the time factor and while usually the freezer method is a huge time saver for those weekdays when you’re fast running out of time, this recipe doesn’t really need to be ‘time saved’!
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How To Make Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 6 Medium Chicken thighs Filleted, the thickness should be no more than ½ inch
- 3 Lemons Juiced
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 Cup White wine You can use chicken stock if you prefer
- 4 Tbsp Butter
- Salt & pepper
- Capers Optional
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over a medium heat
- Add the chicken thighs in batches so they cook touching the pan and are not over lapping
- Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Leave the chicken in one place while cooking so you get crispy edges
- When the chicken is cooked through, place on a serving plate and put to one side. Cook all the chicken and add to the serving plate
- Add the white wine to the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the chicken bits off the bottom and combine them with the wine. Simmer the wine for a few minutes until the alcohol has evaporated and started to thicken
- Add the lemon juice and simmer for a couple of minutes
- Take the pan off the heat and add the butter. Combine it all until it’s mixed well
- Add the capers at this point if you’re using them and mix with the sauce
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately
Chicken Piccata Recipe
Clean Eating Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 6 Medium Chicken thighs Filleted, the thickness should be no more than ½ inch
- 3 Lemons Juiced
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 Cup White wine You can use chicken stock if you prefer
- 4 Tbsp Butter
- Salt and pepper To season
- Capers Optional
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over a medium heat
- Add the chicken thighs in batches so they cook touching the pan and are not over lapping
- Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Leave the chicken in one place while cooking so you get crispy edges
- When the chicken is cooked through, place on a serving plate and put to one side. Cook all the chicken and add to the serving plate
- Add the white wine to the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the chicken bits off the bottom and combine them with the wine. Simmer the wine for a few minutes until the alcohol has evaporated and started to thicken
- Add the lemon juice and simmer for a couple of minutes
- Take the pan off the heat and add the butter. Combine it all until it's mixed well
- Add the capers at this point if you're using them and mix with the sauce
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately
