Chicken Piccata Pasta Recipe

Garlic, lemon and caper chicken piccata pasta garnished with fresh parsley.

Chicken Piccata Pasta Recipe

With a little bit of tinkering, a classic chicken piccata recipe makes a perfect pasta sauce, it is loaded with lemon, capers and garlic, before being given an indulgent silky finish with lots of butter.

Course Main Course

Cuisine European

Keyword chicken picatta pasta, chicken piccata pasta, lemon and caper chicken piccata pasta, lemon chicken piccata pasta

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings Servings

Calories 780kcal

Author Brian Jones

Ingredients

250 g Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs 9oz
1 Small-Medium Echalion or Banana Shallot 35g
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Lemon
1 Handful Fresh Parsley
50 g Capers ⅓ Cup
50 g Butter 3 tablespoon + 1 Tsp
75 ml Dry White Wine ⅓ Cup
75 ml Chicken Stock ⅓ Cup
200 g Dry Pasta (I use mafaldine)
¼ teaspoon Salt (plus extra to boil the pasta)
1-2 tablespoon Plain Flour

Instructions

Place the chicken thighs on a chopping board, cover them with baking parchment and then bash them with a rolling pin to an even thickness (about 1cm or just under ½").
Cut the shallot in half, peel it and then dice it as finely as you can.
Peel the garlic cloves and then finely dice them.
Zest the lemon.
Finely chop the parsley.
Just before you are ready to cook, season the chicken with the salt, then dredge it in flour.

Now is a good time to bring a 20cm or 8" saucepan of well salted water to a boil. I use 1½-2 teaspoons of salt in a pan this size.

Heat a 28cm or 11" frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the butter. When it begins to foam, add the chicken and lightly brown for a couple of minutes on both sides, then remove and set aside.
Add the shallots and garlic to the pan that you cooked the chicken in, and cook for 1-2 minutes.
As soon as you start cooking the shallots and garlic, add the pasta to the boiling water.

My pasta takes 10 minutes to cook, which is plenty of time to cook the sauce, but if your pasta cooks more quickly, delay adding it to the water as appropriate.

Add the white wine to the garlic and shallots and reduce by half.
Add the capers, most of the chopped parsley (leaving a little for garnish), lemon zest and chicken stock. Stir and reduce the heat to low.
Whilst the sauce and pasta is cooking finely slice the chicken chicken across the thigh, and add it to the sauce.
Drain the pasta (reserving a little of the pasta water), add it to the chicken sauce, adding as much lemon juice as required to get a nice zingy sauce and a little of the pasta cooking water. Stir until you get a nice emulsion.
Serve with the reserved parsley.

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