I have been making more of an effort to eat healthy lately, and that means cooking healthy. And no more takeaway for dinner. That means I need simple recipes that don’t contain tons of fat and calories. That’s why this Healthy Chicken Piccata recipe stood out. I love chicken piccata, but it normally has tons of butter in the sauce (which is probably why I love it!). This recipe omits the butter entirely and switches to a non-stick pan to reduce the amount of olive oil needed. But like all healthier recipes, my first question was ‘Will it taste as good?’ Only one way to find out, so let’s try it out!
Healthy chicken piccata recipe with lemon, capers, white wine and parsley. A delicious and healthy version of classic Italian lemon chicken.
The Ingredients
My pre-shopping pantry and refrigerator check showed me I had several ingredients for this recipe: all-purpose flour, salt, ground pepper, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, chicken broth, and capers.
That left me with a few things to buy, but they were all basics that were easily found at my regular grocery store. I even took advice from the notes section to make things a little quicker and easier. I bought thin-sliced chicken cutlets so I didn’t have to cut them myself.
The Process
This recipe’s instructions broke down the steps into simple steps that were easy to handle. It begins with slicing the chicken into cutlets and dredging it in seasoned flour. I bought 1.3 pounds of chicken cutlets and cut them in half for 4 cutlets. The recipe says 1 pound of chicken will make 8 cutlets, so perhaps mine were very large.
Next, I browned the chicken with a little olive oil in a large non-stick saute pan for 4 minutes per side. (I chose a saute pan instead of a skillet for the higher sides, but a skillet would work too.) The pan had to be wiped clean when the chicken was done. Tip: A balled-up paper towel held in kitchen tongs is an easy way to clean the pan while avoiding burns.
With the addition of a little more oil and I was onto the next step of browning the onions and making the sauce. From there the garlic is added, then the remaining seasoned flour. Next, the wine, broth, capers, and lemons are added and stirred constantly. Finally, the chicken was returned to the pan and coated in the sauce, and cooked for a few more minutes.
Timing
This recipe lists a total time of 30 minutes but no prep or cooking times. I came pretty close to the total time:
- 7 minutes to prep
- minutes to cook
- 35 minutes total
