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Say goodbye to boring chicken dinners and try something bright and flavorful with this Healthy Chicken Piccata. It comes together in one skillet in less than 40 minutes, but is low-calorie and packed with 26 grams of protein.
One of the most frequent complaints I hear from my weight loss clients is how tired they are of eating boring chicken. However, you can add a lot of flavor to chicken without sacrificing your health goals.
This low-fat chicken piccata is bursting with flavor from bright citrus and salty capers to the crispy almond flour, but has loads of protein and less than 300 calories per serving. It’s the perfect flavorful meal to add to meal rotation and is anything but bland.
If you like healthy, single-skillet dinners, you will love my chicken and gnocchi and buffalo chicken pasta!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Comfort Food Made Healthier: I love ordering chicken piccata at my favorite local Italian restaurant when I need a comforting meal after a long day. This healthy chicken piccata recipe makes it easy to capture those flavors at home with fewer calories and fat, so I feel nourished physically and emotionally.
- Bold and Bright Flavor: Fresh lemon juice, spicy Dijon mustard, capers, and garlic add bold and bright flavor to any dish, but they really shine when paired with gold pan-seared chicken breasts.
- One Pan Meal: From searing the chicken to making the sauce, this entire dish comes together in the same skillet. This keeps cooking and cleaning a breeze, so you can relax after your delicious, comforting meal.
- Low Calorie Meal: This healthy dinner recipe is under 300 calories while being delicious and higher in protein.
Ingredients
- Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or prepackaged chicken cutlets to make this chicken piccata. They will render the most tender, juicy chicken at the end. I also use chicken breasts to make this Greek chicken casserole.
- Almond and Tapioca Flour: This recipe is naturally gluten-free because it uses a blend of almond flour and tapioca flour to coat the chicken. Almond flour has a nutty flavor and sticks to the chicken, while the tapioca flour turns crispy and crunchy.
- Lemon Juice: Use freshly squeezed lemon juice for acidity and bright citrus flavor. You can also use your favorite bottled lemon juice if you don’t have fresh lemons. Use extra lemons to make a batch of healthy lemon bars.
- Capers: These sharp and salty pickled flower buds add pungent and savory flavor to dishes and taste delicious paired with lemon.
- Dijon Mustard: Add a bit of a tangy and spicy kick to your piccata sauce with dijon mustard.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations & Dietary Modifications
- Make It Dairy-Free: While this recipe uses heavy cream in the sauce, you can easily make it dairy-free by using canned coconut cream instead.
- Add Veggies: Make this a full meal by stirring mushrooms, peas, or spinach into the sauce so you can include vegetables without cooking them separately.
- More Intense Lemon Flavor: Boost the lemon flavor without adding more acidity by adding some lemon zest. Start with 1 teaspoon and then add more to taste.
- Choose Your Complex Carb: The beauty of this recipe is you can add a complex carbohydrate that works best for you. Angel hair is what is traditionally paired with chicken piccata. You can use gluten-free pasta, a higher protein pasta, orzo pasta or risotto. For a low carb meal, you can serve with roasted spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, roasted squash, or cauliflower rice.
How to Make Healthy Chicken Piccata
This healthy lemon chicken piccata is the perfect recipe to get you out of a boring dinner routine. It’s packed with flavor and protein, but is lower in calories than takeout piccata.
Prep your chicken by cutting the breasts into thinner cutlets, horizontally through the middle, and pounding them even before you start cooking.
- Step 1: Make the Flour Mixture. Combine the almond and tapioca flours with salt and pepper in a shallow dish with a large flat bottom.
- Step 2: Coat and Sear the Chicken. Place the chicken into the flour mixture and lightly coat each side. Then transfer the chicken to the hot skillet. Sear for 3-5 minutes on each side, until the outside turns golden brown. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside.
- Step 3: Sauté the Aromatics. Lower the heat on the stove to medium-low and add the onion and garlic to the skillet. Let them cook down for about 1 minute, until they soften.
- Step 4: Add the Lemon. Pour the chicken broth and lemon juice into the skillet and increase the heat to medium-high. Bring them to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Step 5: Pour in the Heavy Cream. Once the liquid stops boiling, add the heavy cream and mustard. Stir until it’s well incorporated.
- Step 6: Finish Cooking the Chicken. Return the chicken to the sauce and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. Serve with the sauce and top with capers. This zucchini pasta salad makes a fresh, yet simple side.
Expert Tips
- Pound Out the Chicken: Whether you use chicken cutlets or you use a knife to horizontally slice chicken breasts in half, you’ll still need to pound the chicken into 1” – 1 ½” thick slices. You can use a rolling pin or a meat tenderizer to beat the meat. Be sure to cover the meat with plastic wrap to avoid splattering raw meat everywhere. This helps create uniform pieces of chicken that will cook at the same rate, as well as tenderize the meat for a better texture.
- Check Chicken Temp for Doneness: The USDA states chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165°F before serving it. Use a meat thermometer to accurately check the chicken’s temp.
- Don’t Overcrowd the Pan: For the chicken to crisp, there needs to be space between each piece of meat. Without space, the chicken will steam, and the flour coating won’t crisp. You may need to cook your chicken in batches to ensure there are a few inches of space around each piece of meat.
- Storing: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can also freeze leftovers for a month. Freezing the leftovers may change the texture of the flour on the outside of the chicken, but it’s still delicious.
Serving Suggestions
The bright, fresh flavor of this healthier chicken piccata makes for a delicious meal to add to your weekly rotation. You can serve the chicken with a traditional side like pasta, potatoes, or serve it with veggies. No matter what you serve it with, it’s sure to be a hit for dinners with your family or friends.
- This light chicken piccata pairs perfectly with pasta, like spaghetti, angel hair, and orzo, or serve it with rice. For a low-carb option, try zucchini noodles instead, like my healthy chicken cacciatore.
- Another excellent pairing for this easy chicken piccata is creamy, low-calorie mashed potatoes. Create a similar dish, but with fewer carbs by using a roasted cauliflower mash.
- Instead of serving the lemony chicken with heavy foods like pasta or potatoes, pair it with a fresh, delicious copycat Olive Garden salad.
Healthy Chicken Piccata Recipe FAQs
If your sauce tastes too salty or too tangy, it’s likely coming from two ingredients: capers and lemon juice. Capers are naturally briny and add saltiness all on their own, and the chicken broth also brings some as well, so the salt can sneak up quickly. Meanwhile, lemon juice is the star of piccata’s signature bright flavor, but a splash too much can make the sauce taste overly sour.
Both are easy to fix! Before adding the chicken back in, give the sauce a taste. Too tangy? Add a little more broth to mellow out the lemon. Too salty? Hold off on adding any extra salt until you’ve tasted the finished sauce as you may not need it at all.
If your chicken is tough and chewy, then it is probably overcooked. Pounding out the chicken helps ensure the thin cutlets cook evenly and don’t require a long cooking time. Be sure to check the chicken reaches 165°F and then promptly remove it from the heat to avoid overcooking.
If your chicken doesn’t have a golden and crispy crust, then your skillet was most likely not hot enough when you added the chicken to it. The olive oil should be glistening, but not smoking, when you add the chicken to the pan.
For the best results, reheat leftovers in a skillet with a bit of broth over medium heat until it’s heated through to 165°F. Be sure to thaw frozen leftovers in the refrigerator for 24 hours before reheating them.
More Delicious Healthy Comfort Food Recipes
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Healthy Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless – pounded into 1/2" thickness
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons Blanched Almond Flour, or tapioca flour
- 2 tablespoons Tapioca Flour
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2 tablespoons Garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup White Onion, chopped
- 1 cup Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth, reduced sodium
- 3 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- ⅓ cup Heavy Cream, or low-fat half and half or canned coconut cream
- ½ teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- 3 tablespoons Capers, drained
- Parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Slice each chicken breast in half so they are thinner to make 4 portions. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the top of them and pound them to a 1/2 inch thickness.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
- Place the salt, pepper, almond flour, and tapioca in a large bowl. Place each chicken breast into the bowl and coat with the almond flour. Add the olive oil to the skillet.
- Once the oil is sizzling, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture bowl covering each chicken piece well then shake off the excess. Place in the skillet. Cook 3-5 minutes on each side until lightly browned then remove the chicken from the pan, place on a plate and set aside.
- Lower the heat to medium-low. Add the onions and garlic. Cook and stir for one minute then add the broth and lemon juice. Bring the heat medium-high to bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, add the heavy cream and mustard. Stir and reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the chicken back to the skillet and simmer 3-5 minutes. Serve with a vegetable over angel hair noodles, risotto, orzo, zucchini noodles, or cauliflower rice.
Notes
- Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and use a rolling pin or meat tenderizer to pound each piece until it reaches a uniform thickness of 1”- 1½”.
- Cook the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F, then serve promptly to avoid overcooking.
- Leave a few inches of space between the pieces of chicken to ensure each piece cooks evenly and crisps.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
you left me wondering if i am suppose to cook noodles?
I did not cook the noodles in this recipe, but that does not mean you cannot cook them if you want to.