Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata – grilled lemon herb chicken over a creamy piccata sauce. SO good! Better than any restaurant! We make this at least once a month!
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Pin This RecipeA few weeks ago, I saw a recipe for a lemon pasta dish, and I immediately thought “Yuck! Lemon and Pasta sounds nasty!” BUT, I took a minute and thought about how much we love chicken piccata, so why not try a Creamy Chicken Piccata. I decided to give it a shot.
The experiment paid off big time. We LOVED this dish. I made the sauce while the chicken was on the grill and just tossed it together – SIMPLE! I marinated the chicken in some lemon and garlic so it would go with the sauce. I took our usual piccata sauce and just added cream to it (well, I did half and half, but cream would be even better). The chicken would be good just on its own, but the creamy lemon caper sauce just puts it over the top. I love when a recipe comes together just like you pictured it in your mind!
As I said, this was a HUGE hit at our house. We’ve made it several times and just love it. This chicken pasta is great with a salad and some garlic bread. Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this yummy pasta:
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Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata
Ingredients:
Chicken
- Juice of 1 lemon, 3 Tbsp
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp basil or oregano
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Pasta
- 2 cups dried penne pasta
- 2 Tbsp butter
- Juice of 2 lemons, 6 Tbsp
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- ½ cup half and half or heavy cream
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 Tbps capers
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Chicken
- Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well. Place chicken in a ziplock bag and pour marinade over chicken. Marinate a few hours to overnight in the refrigerator.
- When ready, grill until done. Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes and then slice into strips to serve over pasta.
Pasta
- While chicken is grilling. Cook pasta according to directions (10-12 minutes). Reserve ½ cup of pasta water and drain.
- In the same saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in garlic and lemon juice. Pour in half-and-half and whisk until hot. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Add the parmesan cheese, basil and capers, and heat until cheese is melted.
- Check the consistency of the sauce and add some of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary. Toss in pasta.
- Serve in pasta bowls with grilled chicken on top. Sprinkle with more parmesan if desired.
Steph
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I made this tonight for the second time in two weeks. It’s that yummy! Thanks for a great recipe!
What kind of capers you use
I use Nonpareille Capers. Any brand that is at Walmart or the grocery store.
I must agree the sauce is a little tangy. However, I used Red Bird chicken breast and marinated it for thirty minutes. Broiled the chicken for ten minutes and the chicken was delicious. Overall a good recipe just add lemon to your taste.
This looks absolutely delish, BUT, I am not a fan of capers, so I think I would add broccoli to this dish instead…yummy for my tummy lol
So so good! Fresh and yummy!!!
Two questions how many ounces of parm…1/2 cup parms is pretty subjective. Also in regards to pasta what weight is two cups pasta?
Oh my goodness! This is delicious!! I added sliced mushrooms and chopped artichokes. I didn’t think the kids would eat it, but they gobbled it up and raves about it. I will double it next time for sure – which will be very soon!!
I think this would be extra wonderful with mushrooms and artichokes! SO glad you enjoyed it.
Wow my fiance and I loved this!The chicken marinated in my fridge for about 14 hours from frozen, we grilled according to package directions and it was perfection. Our chicken was a tad dry, yet very tender almost like rotisserie chicken. Those whose chicken isn't turning our just may be miscooking it. The pasta sauce turned out great too. The only thing we would change is less lemon, I used 5 TBSP and we agreed it was a little much.
I'm a huge fan! Am I right in thinking that the amount of servings for your recipe would be 2 & would therefore need to be doubled to serve a family of 4? Love your site! :o)
This was so easy to make. I found the lemon flavour a little weird but I got used to it and I found adding extra parmesan on top mellowed it a bit. Thanks for the recipe and adding another recipe to my repertoire.
Loved it! Used fresh basil and garlic, held off on so much lemon juice in the sauce (used half a lemon) and baked the chicken since hubs was out of town. Served it with roasted squash and steamed brocolli and it was the best meal I've had in a while. Next time will grill it and it'll be even more delicious. And I think I'll use more capers 🙂 great recipe.
That looks so incredibly delicious!!!!
OMG.
'nuff said. 🙂
HI, I've made this twice now and I must be doing something wrong…each time I've made it the sauce curdles when the cream and lemon are combined. Help! What am I doing wrong?
Made this last weekend!! Perfection! Everything about this recipe was perfect!! The chicken is wonderful! That marinade smells wonderful & tasted even better! Don't skip this one, you won't regret it!
I tried this out tonight and it was pretty good with the following modifications: I used 1/2tbsp of fresh lemon juice in the marinade; I pan seared chicken instead of grilling; I used 1/3 cup of grated parm cheese. I only squeezed a tad bit of lemon juice into sauce (6tbsp seems excessive for our taste). I also added a little flour to sauce to make thicker consistency. I used 1/2 tsp of garlic powder in marinade and sauce. Would prefer more sauce though.
I made this tonight but just threw all the ingredients together and cooked my chicken in a skillet on low. Was nice and juicy and tender. The sauce I used very small amout of water for the sauce and just Squeezed some lemon juice into the sauce instead of what it called for. My daughter who hates everything loved this meal.
I tried this last week, and it was delicious! Tonight, I added some red pepper flakes to the sauce, and it added a nice kick! Thanks for posting!
For the record I grill my chicken breasts on my George Foreman grill. I only have a charcoal grill and using it for 2 chicken breasts is a waste.
But I figured out why my sauce didn't turn out. I used shredded parmesan instead of grated. Other than that it's delicious.
i enjoyed the dish, but could not get the sause did not come out smooth, what did i do wrong???? the kids loved the taste but not the texture !!!!
I have made this now twice and my family raves about it. My husband comes from a family of cooks and when he ate this meal he said it was an emotional meal for him…lol. its delicious!
Just made this – pan seared for about a minute and a half and then threw the chicken with its "marinade" and 1/2 cup water in the oven, covered, for 16 minutes at 325. Used egg noodles and had to add more Parmesan, half and half, and butter to get the flavor I was gearing for. My "chicken and rice" and "beef and potato" family absolutely loved it! A quick suggestion to all the "bad experiences" – TASTE IT WHILE COOKING!! The best part of making things at home is that you can tailor the recipes to your liking!
Thank you do much for the recipe – with a few adjustments this has been added to our menu plan!! You have won a new follower for sure
This has become one of our very favorite dishes! I absolutely adore it! My daughter doesn't like the capers, so I just serve them on the side now (I think it adds so much to the dish).
Also, to save time, sometimes I buy Trader Joe's fresh pre-grilled chicken strips and still marinate them. I just heat them up in the microwave while I cook the pasta, & it is just as yummy 🙂
Jennifer – you can pan sear the chicken about 3-4 minutes per side (depending on how big the chicken is) or you can bake it in the oven for about 20 minutes. I prefer to pan sear the chicken – I like the color it gets from cooking in the pan.
Any suggestions on how to amend this recipe to not use the grill, could I bake the chicken in the oven instead?
This is a very lemony dish, I will try this again with less lemon. I left out the capers and used thin slices do green onion as a garnish.
Also – to those who are complaining…with dishes like this, it's impossible for everyone to get the same taste with the exact measurements given. A prime example being bottled lemon juice is stronger than fresh lemon juice. I use bottled, and cut down on the amount I use. Just use common sense and keep tasting everything periodically while cooking so you know if you need to add anything. I used the recipe more like a guideline and tailored it to suit my needs and tastebuds…cooking isn't like baking, where everything is exactly measured out…that's why I love it! Room for experimentation 🙂
This is probably my all-time favorite pasta recipe! Something I wish I could have every day, in fact (but I don't!). Love love love it.
It was really good even though my sauce didn't turn out right. I'm going to try it again.
Mom loved it, baby boy wouldn't try it, and husband endured it. Too much lemon for him. Next time, we will reduce the amount of lemon by half. He was puckering throughout the meal.
I just made this for lunch and I thought my husband had died and gone to heaven!!! He LOVED it!!! I didn't use 3 tbsp of lemon juice because I didn't have that much, but I used all that I had. Maybe 1-2tbsp. We grilled the chicken and it was PERFECT!!!!!!! Since I didn't have any lemon juice for the sauce, I left that out, as well as the capers. I liked the sauce like that. We will definitely be making this again! I served it alongside some broccoli and applesauce.
WOW! This was absolutely disgusting!!! I just made this and had to throw it all away… noodles and chicken!! I read everyones comments and hoped the bad ones weren't true. Oh but they are. Nasty Nasty Nasty!! Lemon is too strong and I still cut the measurements in HALF! Soo disappointed. Don't make this save yourself time and money!
We made this tonight and it is delicious. I loved all of it and had no problems with the recipe. We will definitely make it again.
absolutely horrible. literally the worst thing we have ever made, It tasted so bad i thought i had to of made a mistake on measurements but after my fiancee and i triple read the recipe we finally realized it is just a god awful dish! YUCK
I have some kale that needs using, and usually I make a penne and feta mixture with it. The whole time I was reading your recipe I kept thinking how good this sauce would taste with the kale. Either way, it is a must try! YUM!
Just made this for dinner, delicious! I only had 1 lemon left for the sauce, and it ended up being the perfect amount for me.
Sorry but we did not love this recipe. We grilled the chicken and it was very good but the sauce for the pasta was too tangy. Will try some other piccata recipes.
We found this on pintrest and I am making it for dinner tonight for my Mom! Thank you! It looks great 🙂
I have the chicken marinating right now! I can't wait to try this tomorrow! (:
I made this for dinner today. IT WAS FABULOUS!! I followed your recipe – just tripled it. My family loved it!! I found that was made it creamy was adding the water from the pasta. Will be a mainstay recipe in my house!! Now, what to make next……? 🙂 Catherine
Well, as soon as I poured in the half and half, it curdled and became chunky. I thought maybe the cheese would make it creamy, but it didn't. I ended up with water pasta with chunks of cheese and half and half. Maybe I needed to let the half and half warm up a bit before I added it? I was a little skeptical about adding a milk product directly to so much citric acid. Oh well. This didn't taste bad, just wasn't creamy chicken piccata like I was hoping for.
This was not good. The chicken turned out terribly and the sauce was grainy. It didn't taste like it should have. I was basically eating parmesan cheese on pasta. I will not be making this again and I advise others to find a better recipe. The capers and zucchini were the only good parts of this dish.
If it was grainy, the key is to have the creamy temperature right are you will have a grainy sauce.
I made this tonight and it was the frist meal i've made in our new home. It was absolutly fantastic! I only did two things differently. I put the lemon juice into the pot while the pasta was cooking so that the lemon was there but not over powering since its also on the chicken. Secondly I didn't use the capers because i'm simply not a huge fan of them. The meal was really good and i would really reccomend it!
To emphasise my sincerity and enthusiasm I am switching to all caps. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR BLOG. Thank you. x
Made this tonight and we LOVED it. I used heavy cream, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.
This was good except it was SO lemony! I used a bottle of lemon juice as opposed to squeezing lemons, so maybe the measurements are a little off? I think I would reduce the lemons for the sauce by at least half. Other than that, it was good.
Found the recipe on pinterest. i will try it too.
i love lemon!!!^^ snowy regards from Austria
We found this over on Pinterest and my hubby made this tonight. It was SO good and we'll be adding it to our stash of regular recipes!
I'm making this tonight! Can't wait!
I made this for dinner last night and it was SO lemony! Way too strong! I didn't have fresh lemons, so I just used the tablespoon measurements for lemon juice, do you think that that was what went wrong? Is bottled juice stronger then fresh? I loved it, just way too lemony for us.
Delicious! We added more water to thin up the sauce- and used low fat 1/2 and 1/2. It is Jan but warm in Chicago- we grilled the chicken and it was amazing!!!
It looked a lot creamier in the picture than it came out for us. Also would have left out the capers.
this was SO good! my grandaughter found this recipe off of pintrest and we decided to make this! thank you so much for sharing this; I'm thinking of making this a family tradition meal for our holidays
xoxo
RWebb – it will change the flavor of the dish, but it will still taste great without them. It is just better with them.
I've never had/used capers before. If I leave them out, will it make much of a difference in the taste? And your pic of this dish looks AMAZING!
I made this tonight and it is amazing! I found you on pinterest and will totally start following you!
The only thing I did differently was not add capers. Gag me. lol. But it was still yummy!!! I will definitely use this recipe again.
Thank you! (I'm going to share it on my blog, too.)
I think I love this! I can't wait to try it!
looks wonderful. me too with the ick to lemon/pasta… but sometimes things surprise you. yumo!!!
Mmm…I love lemon and pasta, this looks fabulous!
That pasta looks so perfect! I love chicken but that pasta looks so good, I could eat a giant bowl of it and not even miss the chicken 🙂
Oh, man! We love pasta and lemon! The kids will as for an extra slice of lemon to squeeze at the table. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
~ingrid
I like the looks of this! The cream just richens it up and makes it all the more delicious!
AWESOME! Bookmarked and will be tried very soon, maybe even Sunday. That chicken shot is just luscious.
I know that my family would absolutely love this dish. Thanks for sharing.
I had the same thought about the lemon pasta, but your recipe really makes me want to try it! Thanks 🙂
Great looking dish. I luv piccata.
Stephenie, this looks so delicious. I didn't see this over at PW so thanks for sharing the recipe.
I like everything about this dish and will have to try it soon. Be sure to check out my blog today.