If you’ve been on my blog very much, you know that I am a huge fan of lemon. Savory dishes, sweet dishes any dishes, lemon is my favorite taste and aroma. This gluten-free chicken piccata is a one-pan recipe that uses a classical pan-reduction technique and bathes the chicken in a lemony sauce with capers.
Pan Reduction Cooking Method
The cooking process in a pan reduction goes pretty quickly so it’s important to have all of the ingredients, chopped, measured and right near the stove. Before the chicken hits the pan you’ll need to have all the ingredients at your fingertips. So take the time to prep everything.
Ingredients
Flour – The chicken is coated in flour before cooking. Some of this flour will fall off and will help to thicken the lemon sauce. The only gluten-free flour I recommend for thickening a gluten-free sauce is white rice flour. It creates a similar texture as wheat flour and has a slightly sweet, neutral flavor. Brown rice flour does not have enough starch content to thicken well.
Salt – I recommend using a low-sodium chicken broth. Imagine Food’s Chicken broth is very good. Since all low-sodium broths do not have the same salt content I have not put an exact amount in the recipe. Add a little bit at a time and let your taste buds tell you how much is the right amount.
Chicken – The cooking method of this gluten-free chicken piccata relies on using very thin chicken breast so that it cooks quickly. If it cooks for too long, the flour will start to burn. Here’s how to cut the chicken to make it thin enough for this recipe.
How to Cut Thin Chicken
Most chicken breasts these days are unusually thick and large. For this gluten-free chicken Marsala, thin pieces work best. Most chefs would tell you to pound the chicken to make it thin. But this is a messy and time-consuming process and I’m just not that patient!
If you prefer to pound the chicken: Place it between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and use a fry pan to pound it flat. I prefer a fry pan to a meat mallet because it covers more surface area and goes faster. Use a medium amount of force. Press too hard and the chicken will tear.
So here’s how I prep my chicken for chicken piccata:
Start with a sharp knife and a stable cutting board. Put a damp paper towel underneath the keep it from slipping.
If the chicken breast is very large, I like to cut it in half this way before cutting thin.
Next: Place one hand on top of the chicken (fingers flat) and hold the knife parallel to the cutting board. Try to keep it as level as possible. With a long smooth stroke, cut a 1/4′ piece. For most chicken breasts this would be 3rds.
Then cut the remaining piece in half using the same technique.
How to Thicken Gluten-Free Sauce
I have found that all white rice flour is not exactly the same. Some brands seem to thicken better than others. Depending on how thick you prefer your sauce you may want to have a plan B if the sauce doesn’t thicken enough.
The best way to doctor a thin sauce when the dish is finished, is by using something called a buerre manie (burr man-YAY). This is a fancy French name for a mush of soft butter and flour. For this recipe, I recommend having this standing by in case you need it. Mix 1 tbsp soft butter with 1 Tbsp white rice flour until the flour is completely moistened by the butter. Stir this little mixture into a liquid and it will melt without lumps of flour. Bring the liquid to a boil and your sauce will become silky.
Chicken Piccata
This one pan gluten-free chicken piccata is bathed in a silky lemon sauce with capers.
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 3 lemons
- ½ c white rice flour (super fine ground is best)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 shallot bulb
- ¼ c dry white wine
- ¾ c low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (I like Imagine “No-Chicken” Broth)
- 3 Tbsps unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsps capers
- 2 Tbsps fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley, chopped
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Cut one lemon in half. Trim the ends from one half and cut into thin slices about 1/8 inch thick, set aside. Zest the other lemon and cut in half. Juice the 3 halves to obtain about 1/4 cup juice; set aside.
- Mince the shallot and chop the parsley.
- Mix the flour and lemon zest together and place on a plate.
- See the main page of this blog post for a visual on how to prep the chicken for this recipe.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Cook half the batch in the skillet without moving them, until lightly browned on the first side, 2 to 2 ½ minutes. Turn and cook until the second side is lightly browned, 2 to 2 ½ minutes longer.
- Remove the chicken from the pan.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet, add remaining chicken pieces and repeat. Add cooked chicken to previous batch.
- Using the pan in which you cooked the chicken, cook the shallot in the oil and browned bits over low medium heat for 30 seconds -1 minute. Do not brown the shallots.
- Once the shallot become translucent, turn up the heat, add the wine and cook until most of the wine is evaporated. Add the chicken broth and lemon juice and allow to reduce to concentrate flavors.
- Remove the pan from heat and swirl in the butter until it melts and thickens the sauce*. If the sauce does not thicken enough see the notes section for a solution.
- Swirl in the parsley and capers. Taste. Add salt and pepper to your preference. Place the chicken back in the pan and coat with the sauce. Serve over pasta or quinoa.
Notes
*Beurre Manie
If the sauce does not thicken to your liking, combine 1 Tbsp white rice flour with 1 Tbsp soft butter. Start by adding half of it to the sauce over a medium-high heat, stir well and bring to a simmer. If needed, add the second half,
Did you make this recipe?
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 6 ozAmount Per Serving Calories 667Total Fat 29gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 18gCholesterol 169mgSodium 617mgCarbohydrates 40gFiber 4gSugar 4gProtein 59g
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated using information from the Nutritionix database. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator
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