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Home » Recipes

Chicken Scallopini With Piccata Sauce Recipe

Nov 12, 2022Last Modified: November 12, 2022

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This page may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link. This post is about a Chicken Scallopini With Piccata Sauce Recipe!

Chicken scallopini or thin slices of chicken cooked and garnished with Italian parsley with a sauce of capers, garlic, lemon juice, chicken broth and butter poured over the chicken.
Jump to:
  • What Is Chicken Scallopini?
  • What is Piccata Sauce?
  • 🥘 Ingredients
  • 🔪 Instructions
  • Suggestions For Serving Chicken Scallopini With Piccata Sauce
  • FAQ
  • Some Other Dishes You May Enjoy!
  • Join Me On A Fun Food Journey!
  • Chicken Scallopini With Piccata Sauce Recipe

If you are in need of an easy peasy dinner chock full of amazing flavor, then you have come to the right place!

Chicken Scallopini with Piccata Sauce absolutely fits these criteria. This dish is perfect for a busy weeknight, and elegant enough for date night.

Let me tell you a bit about this wonderful Italian dish!

What Is Chicken Scallopini?

Scallopini (also known as scaloppine) is a thin slice of meat. Chicken scallopini is then thin slices of chicken. Veal and beef are also used for scaloppine dishes. One benefit I love with scallopini is that the meat cooks up quickly, as you will see here in this recipe.

What is Piccata Sauce?

Piccata sauce is a lemon, butter, and caper sauce. The combination of these 3 ingredients is absolutely heavenly! The sauce has the lovely briny taste of the capers, the zestiness of the lemons, and the richness of butter.

In this dish, we'll prepare this sauce using the pan drippings from the cooked chicken. It will then be poured over our scallopini ready to devour to your delight!

🥘 Ingredients

Thin slices of uncooked chicken breast in a white dish, bowls filled with butter, lemon zest, salt and pepper, olive oil, minced garlic, capers, white wine, chicken broth, lemon juice, and Italian parsley.

You will need the following ingredients for this quick and easy Italian chicken recipe:

  • Chicken breast, sliced extra thin to ¼" thickness; buy it this way at your grocery store, or we can use a meat mallet to pound it down
  • Butter
  • Olive oil
  • White wine
  • Chicken broth
  • Fresh garlic
  • Lemon zest - we will use zest from ½ lemon
  • Lemon juice - we will use juice from ½ lemon
  • Salt
  • Black pepper,
  • Capers
  • Italian parsley (as a garnish)

You should be able to find all of these lovely fresh ingredients at your local grocery store.

Now let's gather our ingredients and make this mouthwatering dish!

🔪 Instructions

I hope you were able to find some extra thin sliced chicken breast prepared this way and ready to use. If not, no worries!

Prepping the Chicken

Begin by examining your chicken breasts. You want them to be around ¼" thick. If they are not, then use a meat mallet to pound them down to this thickness. To use the meat mallet, place the chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound.

Please note that if you buy very thick slices of chicken breast, it's best to cut them in ½ horizontally using your knife prior to using the meat mallet. For 1 pound of chicken, it's likely we will have between 5-6 pieces of chicken for this scallopini.

Chicken breast placed between plastic wrap with a meat mallet poised over it.

Now season both sides of your meat with ½ ts salt and ½ ts pepper.

Cooking The Chicken

Most likely you will have more chicken than will fit in your skillet at one time. Therefore, I'm including instructions to fry the chicken in 2 batches (I assume 2 batches will be enough to cook the 1 lb of chicken that you have).

For the first batch, add 1 tablespoon of butter and ½ tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet on medium heat. Add half the chicken to the skillet, and cook each side approximately 2 minutes - 4 minutes, or until each side is lightly browned.

Chicken scallopini or thin slices of cooked chicken seasoned with salt and pepper on a white plate.

Remove to a plate, and then repeat these instructions with the 2nd batch (add another tablespoon butter and the remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil at this time). Add this to the plate with the other chicken, and keep warm while we prepare the sauce.

Preparing The Sauce

Add the white wine into the pan, scrape up the brown bits from frying the chicken and deglaze the pan. Now add the chicken stock and garlic and bring to the boil for around 2-3 minutes. You'll want the sauce to reduce to about half, so if you need to continue boiling more than 2-3 minutes to achieve this, then adjust this time as necessary.

Reduce the heat to a low simmer, and add the lemon zest, lemon juice, the remaining tablespoon of butter and capers. Cook on this low simmer for about 2 minutes. Taste the sauce, and add additional salt or pepper if desired.

Brown bits left from frying chicken in a cast iron skillet being deglazed by wine with a blue kitchen turner resting on the skillet at the top left.
Deglaze with white wine.
Chicken broth, white wine, butter, garlic, capers, lemon juice and lemon zest in a cast iron pan.
Piccata sauce with butter, capers, lemon juice and zest, and chicken broth.

Pour this sauce over the chicken, and garnish with Italian parsley. Enjoy!

Seasoned thinly sliced chicken breast cooked in a lemon and caper sauce garnished with Italian parsley.

Suggestions For Serving Chicken Scallopini With Piccata Sauce

Chicken scallopini or thin slices of chicken cooked and garnished with Italian parsley with a sauce of capers, garlic, lemon juice, chicken broth and butter poured over the chicken.

This delicious dish is perfect served with pasta, such as spaghetti. I've also served it over rice, as the rice is ideal to soak up the beautiful piccata sauce.

Consider serving some Italian side dishes to accompany your Chicken Scallopini. I'd love to suggest Italian Broccoli With Garlic and Lemon, or Easy and Elegant White Asparagus.

I do hope you will love this dish as much as I do!

Buon Appetito!

FAQ

What is the difference between scallopini and piccata?

Scallopini refers to thin slices of meat, and piccata refers to a type of sauce made of butter, lemon, and capers.

What kind of meat is scaloppine (or scallopini)?

Scaloppine dishes are most commonly made with thin slices of veal, beef, or chicken.

Some Other Dishes You May Enjoy!

Here are some other dishes you may enjoy:

  • Veal Parmigiana (Classic Italian-American dish)
  • Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino
  • Easy Everything Bagel Breadsticks Recipe

Join Me On A Fun Food Journey!

I invite you to come along on this food journey with me! Please sign up to get the latest recipes and inspiration for you to expand your food comfort zone! It's an incredible journey, please join me by signing up here.

Cheers!

Grace

Chicken scallopini or thin slices of chicken cooked and garnished with Italian parsley with a sauce of capers, garlic, lemon juice, chicken broth and butter poured over the chicken.

Chicken Scallopini With Piccata Sauce Recipe

Grace
Chicken Scallopini With Piccata Sauce is a quick, easy and delicious Italian dish which your whole family will love! Thin slices of chicken breast accompanied by a buttery lemon and caper sauce is absolutely mouthwatering! Buon Appetito!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 12 mins
Total Time 27 mins
Course dinner
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 people
Calories 206 kcal

Equipment

  • Large skillet

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb chicken breast very thinly sliced to ¼" thickness; buy it this way at your grocery store, or we can use a meat mallet to pound it down
  • 3 tablespoon butter split
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil split
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • ½ each lemon zest zest from ½ of a lemon
  • ½ each lemon juice juice from ½ of a lemon
  • ½ ts salt
  • ½ ts pepper
  • 2 tablespoon capers drained
  • 1 tablespoon Italian parsley chopped as garnish

Instructions
 

  • Begin by examining your chicken breasts. You want them to be around ¼" thick. If they are not, then use a meat mallet to pound them down to this thickness. Please note that if you buy very thick slices of chicken breast, it's best to cut them in ½ horizontally using your knife prior to using the meat mallet. To use the meat mallet, place the chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound. Then season both sides of your meat with ½ ts salt and ½ ts pepper.
    Chicken breast placed between plastic wrap with a meat mallet poised over it.
  • Most likely you will have more chicken than will fit in your skillet at one time. Therefore, I'm including instructions to fry the chicken in 2 batches (I assume 2 batches will be enough to cook the 1 lb of chicken that you have). For the first batch, add 1 tablespoon of butter and ½ tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet on medium heat. Add half the chicken to the skillet, and cook each side approximately 2 minutes - 4 minutes, or until each side is lightly browned. Remove to a plate, and then repeat these instructions with the 2nd batch (add another tablespoon butter and the remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil at this time). Add this to the plate with the other chicken, and keep warm while we prepare the sauce.
    Thin slices of seasoned chicken breast cooking in a cast iron skillet in a mixture of olive oil and butter.
  • Add the white wine into the pan, scrape up the brown bits from frying the chicken and deglaze the pan. Now add the chicken stock and garlic and bring to the boil for around 2-3 minutes. You'll want the sauce to reduce to about half, so if you need to continue boiling more than 2-3 minutes to achieve this, then adjust this time as necessary.
    Brown bits left from frying chicken in a cast iron skillet being deglazed by wine with a blue kitchen turner resting on the skillet at the top left.
  • Reduce the heat to a low simmer, and add the lemon zest, lemon juice, the remaining tablespoon of butter and capers. Cook on this low simmer for about 2 minutes. Taste the sauce, and add additional salt or pepper if desired.
    Chicken broth, white wine, butter, garlic, capers, lemon juice and lemon zest in a cast iron pan.
  • Pour this sauce over the chicken, and garnish with Italian parsley. Enjoy!
    Seasoned thinly sliced chicken breast cooked in a lemon and caper sauce garnished with Italian parsley.

Notes

For 1 pound of chicken, it's likely we will have between 5-6 pieces of chicken for this scallopini.
This dish is great served over pasta.  I've actually also enjoyed it over rice as the rice soaks up the delicious piccata sauce. 
Buon Appetito!

Nutrition

Calories: 206kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 26gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 74mgSodium: 565mgPotassium: 525mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 143IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 32mgIron: 1mg
Keyword chicken scallopini, lemon caper sauce, scallopini
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About Me

Hi I’m Grace! I'm married and a mom to my fur baby, Toby, and food and travel are two of my greatest passions! Since our bank account does not allow us to travel or eat out as much as we'd like, I decided I would cook delicious meals that could give us a taste of all the places we'd like to go. My goal is to get you in the kitchen, and inspire you to cook and taste delightful meals that will transport you too. Let’s throw some actual travel in from time to time, all with an emphasis on keeping your wallet full and happy as well. Let’s get cooking and let’s start exploring!! I'm excited to be on this journey with you!!

By the way most of these recipes are Toby taste tested and Toby approved!!

Chief Taste Tester Toby

Toby Chief Taste Tester

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