This easy Chicken piccata is damn delicious. The walnut Parmesan creamy sauce makes this piccata a knock-out dish. Bright, tasty & full of flavors. Yum.
Chicken Piccata
Chicken is a dinnertime favorite all over the world because of its flavor, versatility and affordability. Roast chicken, chicken schnitzel, chicken strips and chicken casseroles are just some of the delicious things you can create using chicken in its various forms. Today’s recipe is for easy chicken piccata, a delicious dish made with chicken, fried to a crisp in a tasty cream-based sauce. A generous squeeze of lemon and a selection of finely chopped herbs help to create the signature chicken piccata taste that is known and loved across the globe.
How to make Chicken Piccata
Aside from packing an incredible flavorful punch, this easy chicken piccata is a surprisingly quick and easy meal to make. It’s best to use a tenderized, butterflied chicken as this is the softest cut. If you are preparing the chicken from filleted breasts, use a meat tenderizer to beat the meat into a soft, tender texture.
The next step is to dust the chicken with powdered Parmesan and flour to make a crispy outer coating in the pan. This coating also ensures that the chicken does not become tough on the inside, but remains deliciously soft in texture. If you like your chicken with a kick, you could include a teaspoon of paprika or cayenne pepper in the flour and Parmesan mixture for your easy chicken piccata. You may also want to dip the chicken pieces in a mixture of egg and water or egg and milk to make sure that the basting sticks to the flesh evenly. The butterflied, basted chicken is fried in oil or butter, or a combination of both as this tends to splatter the least. You can leave the chicken to fry for quite some time, turning it when one side has been sufficiently browned.
CHICKEN PICCATA SAUCE
The capers are an important factor as they add delicious little pockets of flavor to this piccata. Fresh lemon juice is the best option, as you may have guessed. Slice the lemon in half and extract the juice with an orange juicer to get the most out of it. Some chefs like to include a bit of grated rind in the meal for an extra zing of flavor.
In terms of selecting your herbs, it is not without reason that parsley is the most popular choice for piccata. The Italian flat leaf variety works best. You can slice this into slivers and then again into even smaller pieces, until the parsley appears minced. Alternatively, use a pestle and mortar to grind the parsley along with the garlic or nut mixture. White wine is also a delicious addition to the sauce so you can add in a liberal amount if you like the taste.
It’s no secret that homemade chicken broth is the best. It is also the healthiest, as store bought stock or broth is usually made with a lot of preservatives. Make it in advance with the leftover bones of a roast chicken, boiling water and your choice of condiments. Be warned in advance that it needs to cook over the stove for a good few hours.
The chicken is removed from the heat once it has been fried and then the sauce is prepared in the same skillet. Make sure that you drain most of the oil before preparing the sauce. Leave a thin coating on the base of the pan to keep the ingredients from sticking. You can even prepare the easy chicken piccata in a large wok, to make sure there is a large surface area for the chicken to cook. While our recipe includes a serving of heavy cream, chicken piccata does not traditionally have a creamy sauce. We recommend you combine the ingredients and prepare them before adding in the cream. Some chefs like to add in lemon slices as part of the sauce, and this of course accentuates the lemony taste in the sauce. This is a great trick if the fresh flavor of the lemon juice is your favorite part of chicken piccata.
HOW TO SERVE CHICKEN PICCATA?
There are lots of options for serving my easy chicken piccata. Because of its creaminess, it’s great with long, stringy pasta. Serve it alongside a pile of mushroom fettuccine or linguine. Because of its sauciness, easy chicken piccata lends itself to being served with a chunk of crusty bread to mop up every last bit of flavor. Because of its meatiness, its great with a complement of oven roast or stir fried vegetables. Lower calorie grains such as cous cous and quinoa are delicious with chicken piccata too.
This is a kid-friendly dish, so you may find yourself serving it up alongside cheesy macaroni, tomato spaghetti or perhaps even hand cut oven baked French fries. This piccata is delicious with buttery roast or crushed potatoes or perhaps asparagus or long stem broccoli to add colour to the table. It goes very nicely with rice too. Chopped green salad is also a wonderful contrasting side to serve with this dish , although you may want to consider providing your guests with side plates to keep the sauce from running over the salad.
The warm, rich, creaminess of this easy chicken piccata makes it a great choice for comfort food. Serve it to your dinner guests with a bottle of chenin blanc or merlot, and perhaps a berry pavlova or sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Other Piccata recipes:
Salmon Piccata- for seafood lovers.
EASY CHICKEN PICCATA RECIPE
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EASY CHICKEN PICCATA
- Total Time: 35 mins
Ingredients
- For Piccata
- Chicken Fillet- 3 ( halved horizontally to make 6)
- Corn Flour- 1 cup ( for coating)
- Parmesan cheese ( finely grated) -4 tbsp
- White pepper- 1 tsp
- Paprika- 1 tbsp
- Black pepper- ¼ tsp
- For Sauce
- Unsalted/ Slightly salted Butter- 3-4 tbsp
- Toasted Walnuts( ground)- ½ tbsp
- Toasted Pine nuts( ground)- ½ tbsp
- Baked Garlic cloves( minced)- 1 tbsp ( optional)
- Chicken stock- 1 ½ cup
- Evaporated milk or heavy cream- ½ cup
- Grated Parmesan Cheese- ½ cup
- Capers- 3 tbsp or more ( According to your taste)
- Corn flour- 1 tbsp ( mixed with 3 tbsp water)
- Fresh lemon juice- 3 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- For Garnish
- Fresh parsley ( finely chopped) - 4 tbsp
Instructions
- Take a large skillet or frying pan. Spray with vegetable cooking spray.
- In a shallow dish combine flour, paprika,pepper and Parmesan cheese.
- Season halved chicken fillet and dredge in flour Parmesan mixture. Shake off extra corn flour ( starch).
- Melt 2 tbsp butter in a pan/ skillet. Fry chicken 3-4 minutes per side until it is browned and cooked. Transfer onto the serving dish/plate.
- In the same skillet melt the remaining butter. Add ground walnuts & pine nuts. Fry about 20 seconds, add baked minced garlic & and fry for another 20 seconds. Add evaporated milk & chicken stock; cook 2 minutes over medium heat.
- Add lemon juice, seasonings and 1 tbsp Capers. Cook 5 minutes. Bring the sauce to boil.
- Add corn flour mixture & Parmesan cheese. Continue to cook another 3-5 minutes over low heat. ( If you feel that the sauce is very runny, just and 1 more tbsp corn starch).
- Pour the sauce over the chicken. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley & capers).
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Chicken recipes
- Cuisine: Italian/American
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