I transformed Giada's classic chicken piccata into a complete one-pot dinner thanks to the addition of wilted spinach. This recipe is made gluten-free and dairy-free by using white rice flour and vegetable butter in the lemon curd. It’s quick—all cooked in 15 minutes—and low in FODMAPs, too, since there’s no garlic or onions!
Some people have a sweet tooth. Some teeth are salty. But most importantly, I have a sore tooth.
That’s not to say I don’t like sweet and salty things – I’m human after all. But I would like them better if they also had a pungent, acidic current running through them. Salt and vinegar chips are the ultimate comfort food for me. When it comes to weeknight dinners, nothing satisfies my sour cravings better than Lemon Chicken Piccata.
If you love one of my pans Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoesyou will swoon over this recipe from across the Ionian Sea.
The signature dish of this Italian classic is a creamy sauce of fresh lemon juice and salty capers. There's no roux or sauce, but the piccata sauce is naturally thickened thanks to the flour used to coat the thinly sliced chicken breasts.
Chicken breasts are butterflyed or pounded, dusted with flour, and pan-fried. The flour left behind helps add texture to the chicken broth and lemon juice used in the sauce. The chicken is then returned to the liquid to cook through and thicken further. The piccata sauce is topped off with a generous amount of cream, which helps soften the strong flavor (since not everyone has acid teeth like me).
Make Gluten- and Dairy-Free Chicken Piccata
This recipe is adapted from Giada's classic chicken piccata because it's one of the more streamlined recipes I've found. No onions or garlic (great Low FODMAP Dinner! No white wine. The entire recipe has less than 10 ingredients, most of which are pantry items, and takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
You may remember that I gave another of my favorite players a similar GF/DF treatment, Jamie Oliver's Fish Pie Recipe.
To make gluten-free chicken piccata, I used white rice flour instead of regular flour. It's one of my favorite all-purpose single-ingredient flours for thickening sauces or dredging proteins. Millet flour is great for the latter, but has a slightly sandy texture that can thicken the sauce.
If you don't have white rice flour on the shelf, feel free to use any AP gluten-free flour, chickpea flour, or oat flour. For the paleo version, you can use almond flour.
Since the sauce is so rich in flavor, this is a recipe where you really need the mouthfeel of butter fat. So, to make dairy-free chicken piccata, I recommend using vegetable butter instead of oil. I used less than Giada's original recipe and stirred it in at the end rather than grilling the chicken in it.
Finally, for aesthetic reasons and because the flavor is so strong, I added a whole sliced lemon. If you don’t like eating lemons this way, you can skip this step. I also added a whole bunch of spinach so that the gluten-free chicken piccata could be a complete one-pot dinner—no side dishes required.
If you want some carbs to soak up all that dairy free lemon piccata dressing, I would recommend a simple pilaf, Spinach Mashed Potatoesor mixed with some short-shaped pasta olive oil.
Read on for my gluten-free and dairy-free version of Giada’s Lemon Chicken Piccata!
With health and hedonism,
phoebe
Giada's Lemon Chicken Piccata (Gluten-Free + Dairy-Free)
portion size 4
raw material
- 2 Large boneless skinless chicken breast About 1 ½ pounds, see notes
- sea salt
- 1/2 cup White rice flour or AP gluten-free flour
- olive oil
- 4 spoon vegetable butter See note
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 2 lemons
- 2 cup chicken soup
- 1/4 cup capers rinsed
- 1 lemon Cut into thin slices (remove seeds)
- 5 ounce baby spinach
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley chopped
instruct
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Place chicken breasts on a clean work surface. Place the palm of your hand on top of the breast, hold it against the cutting board, and carefully cut the breast in half lengthwise (parallel with your hand across the center). Alternatively, you can ask your butcher to butterfly the chicken breasts for you. You should have two thin slices of chicken. If they are still attached at one end (butterfly-shaped), cut them off so you have 4 steaks in total (from 2 breasts). Season chicken with salt and pepper.
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Place flour in a shallow bowl. Dredge chicken breast slices until completely covered in flour, shaking off excess flour. Set coated chicken aside.
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In a large skillet, heat a thin layer of olive oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add a tablespoon of cream and immediately add half the chicken to the pan. Cook 3 minutes, or until a brown crust forms. Turn chicken and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove and transfer to a plate. Repeat with additional chicken pieces, adding more oil and butter as needed, adjusting heat if flour bits start to burn.
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Meanwhile, combine lemon juice, chicken broth, and capers in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or bowl.
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When the chicken is done, add the lemon slices directly to the pan and sauté over medium-low heat until lightly bubbling, 2 minutes. Remove to plate with chicken.
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Add spinach to pan and sauté until wilted, 2 minutes. Season lightly with salt and remove to the same plate.
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Add the chicken stock-lemon mixture to the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, scraping up any brown bits of spinach. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cream to the sauce and carefully return the gluten-free chicken piccata to the pan. Simmer until the dairy-free piccata sauce has thickened slightly, but not completely evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed.
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Remove from heat, tuck spinach between chicken chops, and garnish with curly lemon slices and fresh parsley. Serve immediately as a complete meal, or serve with rice or your favorite gluten-free pasta.
If you make it, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe – I’d love to see it!
