Trying to cook healthier, but still missing your classic favorites? Zesty, buttery, and full of flavor, this healthy chicken piccata recipe tastes like the real thing. It’s a simple, delicious meal, and great for serving guests!
Really looking to impress? This recipe is amazing served with gluten-free cannolis and a glass of organic red wine. It’s the complete Italian meal of your dreams that you’ve been missing!
What is Chicken Piccata?
Chicken piccata is a classic Italian dish made with lemon, butter, and capers, as well as chicken breast cutlets dredged in flour and browned.
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Piccata
You’ll love this healthier chicken piccata because it’s buttery, full of zest, and has everything you love about the original – but much healthier! Its enough to feed the entire family for one night or enjoy for a couple nights on your own.
Ingredients
Flour
This recipe uses tapioca flour in place of traditional all-purpose flour. This makes the meal paleo, Whole 30, and gluten free. For a keto or lower carb version, sub almond flour for the tapioca flour.
Chicken
This recipe works best with thin cut pieces of chicken. Select thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets or slice your chicken breasts horizontally to make them into thinner cutlets.
The Rest
This recipe also calls for salt and pepper, butter (sub ghee for paleo or dairy free butter if desired), olive oil, 4-6 zucchini, lemon juice (I prefer the taste of fresh), garlic cloves, capers, chicken broth, and parsley.
How To Make Chicken Piccata & Sauce
Healthy chicken piccata begins by coating thinly sliced chicken breast cutlets in tapioca flour and pan frying them. Meanwhile, the zucchini noodles can be fried in another pan for 5-7 minutes.
When the thin coating is crispy, the chicken is removed from the pan. Then the lemon juice, onion, garlic, capers, and chicken broth are added and cooked. The sauce is thickened slightly with tapioca flour…then the chicken and sauce are served over the zoodles. Surprisingly simple!
Variations:
Gluten Free
This recipe is already gluten free as it uses tapioca flour.
Dairy Free
Substitute vegan butter for the regular butter – the rest is already dairy free.
Egg Free
This recipe is already egg free.
Special Diet: Keto, Whole 30, or Paleo
This recipe is already Whole 30 compliant. For paleo, use ghee instead of butter. For keto, substitute almond flour for the tapioca flour.
Different Protein
Substitute boneless pork chops or white fish for the chicken cutlets.
FAQ
A spiralizer, a lemon juicer, and a garlic press will make this recipe easier.
Reheat this recipe in the microwave for about 60 seconds.
This recipe is good leftover for 1-2 days stored in the refrigerator.
Make Healthy Chicken Piccata Fast and Easy with a Spiralizer
Never made zoodles (zucchini noodles) before? I’m super picky about my healthy cooking – prior to going gluten-free, I actually ate pretty much nothing other than fruit and pasta/grains. But these definitely make my top three gluten and grain-free replacements; second only to spaghetti squash (try it in my Spaghetti Squash Bake – Pizza Casserole). They are amazingly delicious, take on flavor really well, and function as an easy low-carb/grain-free/paleo pasta substitute.
They seem really complicated, but are super easy using a spiralizer. If you haven’t used one before and are vegan or paleo, they are worth the investment. My local health food store’s produce department packages up about one serving of fresh spiralized product for around $7-$8 and I can make twice as many servings for the same price using organic produce at home. It takes me about three minutes as well. This is the first recipe I’ve posted using my spiralizer, but you will definitely see more to come!
What to Serve with Chicken Piccata
Chicken piccata is great with healthier sides like asparagus, sauteed green beans, roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, toasted potatoes, sauteed spinach, rice, and cherry tomato or cucumber salads. It’s also delicious with rolls, butter noodles, and stuffed artichokes.
More Healthy Chicken Recipes
Chicken piccata is a great meal with wholesome ingredients that is low in carbs and gluten free. For more healthy, gluten free chicken recipes, try the quick and easy Chicken Bacon Gnocchi with Trader Joes Cauliflower Gnocchi or gluten free and paleo Chicken Tikka Masala.
Enjoy! Here’s to easy healthy meals and regaining our sparkle together,
✧❈✯✦Jenn✦✯❈✧
Healthy Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- ½ cup + 1 teaspoon organic tapioca flour divided
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts halves or thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets
- 4 tablespoons butter or ghee for Paleo
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 large or 6 small zucchini
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 jar capers about 3.75 oz, rinsed
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Add ½ cup tapioca flour to a large bowl. Mix in salt and black pepper. Press the chicken into the mixture and shake off the excess.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of butter & 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add three of the floured chicken breasts. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden. Transfer to a plate. Add 2 more tablespoons of butter and 2 more tablespoons olive oil. Fry the other three chicken breasts. Transfer to a plate.
- Meanwhile in another large skillet, heat remaining tbsp olive oil. Cut ends off zucchini and make into “zoodles.” Sauté for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Set aside.
- Add lemon juice, onion, garlic, capers, and chicken broth in the skillet the chicken was cooking in. Bring to boil, scraping pan to loosen up the browned bits. Add 1 teaspoon tapioca flour and boil for one minute.
- Return all chicken pieces to skillet and cook for additional one minute.
- Plate zoodles and top with chicken piccata. Sprinkle chopped parsley. Serve.
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