Chicken Piccata

Sure, chicken breast isn’t the most exciting thing ever. But, it doesn’t take much to perk it WAY up. Just a few, easy-to-find ingredients—ones that you might even have around already—and you’ll be amazed how delicious that humble chicken breast can be. Here’s what you’ll need to make chicken piccata:

2 pounds chicken cutlets or breasts, boneless, skinless, butterflied to create thinner pieces

½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 ¾ teaspoons sea salt

1 cup flour

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic (from 4-6 cloves)

1 ½ cups chicken stock

1 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 lemon), plus more to taste

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons capers, drained

Fresh parsley, chopped, optional

How to Make Chicken Piccata Part 1: The Pan-Fry

1. Slice the chicken breasts horizontally—you’ll need a sharp knife for this, obviously! The reason you cut the chicken breast into thin pieces is so that they can cook evenly during the pan-frying process. Thin pieces of chicken mean that when the outside is crispy and perfectly brown, the chicken will be cooked through. Magic!

2. Dredge! Season the chicken breast pieces, and then give them a nice coating of flour. For whatever reason, kids really love to help out with this step. If they’re old enough to know to be careful with raw poultry, go ahead and outsource this step to them!

3. Fry! Fry the chicken cutlets in a combination of olive oil and butter. The oil helps prevent the butter from burning, plus, we love the flavor of both!

How to Make Chicken Piccata Part 2: The Piccata Sauce

My piccata sauce is simply a pan sauce, which means that we use the good crispy, chicken-tinged buttery bits that are left in the skillet after frying the chicken cutlets to make a sauce. Here’s how to make this lemony piccata sauce:

1. Sauté shallots and garlic in the pan drippings—i.e. the leftover oil and butter.

2. Add stock! This is your chance to scrape up those tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

3. Stir in more butter, plus the requisite capers and lemon juice.

4. Season with a little salt and pepper.

5. That's it! You made a pan sauce!

Pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley before serving.