Pollo
Piccata
Italian-American chicken with lemon & capers
Thin chicken cutlets turn golden in the pan, then take on a bright sauce of lemon, capers, white wine and butter.
Chicken cutlets, lemon & capersGolden cutlets,
a lemony pan sauce.
Pollo piccata pairs lightly floured chicken cutlets with a lemon-and-caper pan sauce. The flour gives the meat a delicate crust and helps the sauce cling. White wine and broth loosen the browned pan juices, while butter rounds out the sharp lemon and briny capers.
This chicken preparation is familiar in Italian-American cooking. Piccata also describes other thin-cut meat preparations, so the name does not establish a particular Italian region. Here the chicken stays in flat cutlets, with enough sauce to spoon over each piece and a little parsley at the finish.
Explore by food: Meat
Let’s make pollo piccata.
Thin cutlets cook in two batches before the lemon-and-caper sauce is made in the same pan.
Four chicken cutlets, one per person; side dishes are separate.
What you’ll need
- 600 gskinless chicken breast, cut horizontally into 4 cutlets
- 40 gplain flour
- 30 mlolive oil, divided
- 40 gunsalted butter, divided
- 100 mldry white wine
- 180 mllow-sodium chicken broth
- 30 mlfresh lemon juice
- 2 tbspcapers in brine, drained
- ½lemon, thinly sliced
- 1 tbspchopped parsley
- to tastefine salt and black pepper
The sauce should remain pourable. Taste before adding more salt because the capers and broth already contribute it; thicker cutlets may need longer to reach the stated temperature.
How to make it
- 01
Prepare the chicken
Pound the cutlets between sheets of baking paper to about 6 mm thick. Season with salt and pepper, dust with flour and shake off the excess. Discard any flour left after coating raw chicken.
- 02
Cook in two batches
Heat 15 ml oil and 10 g butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. Cook two cutlets for about 3 minutes per side, until golden and 74°C/165°F in the thickest part. Transfer to a clean plate. Repeat with the remaining oil, another 10 g butter and the other cutlets.
- 03
Reduce the sauce
Add the wine to the pan and scrape up the browned bits. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add the broth and capers and simmer for 4–5 minutes until reduced by about half.
- 04
Finish with lemon and butter
Turn off the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and remaining 20 g butter. Return the chicken and its juices, coat with sauce and finish with the lemon slices and parsley. Serve promptly.
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