This savory one-skillet lemon chicken piccata is made all in one skillet and couldn’t be easier! Perfect for weeknights and the leftovers save well for lunch the next day. It’s gluten free, paleo, low carb and keto.
One-skillet chicken is a thing of beauty, don’t you think? I mean one-skillet anything is pretty much the only way I do things on weeknights anymore. I mean, along with some roasted veggies that require zero effort and no brain power thanks to the oven-timer feature.
But anyway, chicken. There are just about a trillion ways to cook chicken and you can find most of them with a 30 second search on Pinterest. Slight exaggeration, but ever so slight, really. People love chicken and it really is SO versatile, tasty, and quick too.
I have a one-skillet chicken marsala, tuscan chicken, lemon chicken, pesto chicken, and others that I can’t think of off the top of my head right now.
It’s definitely time for something new – and this lemon chicken piccata is the perfect twist on your one-skillet chicken dinner.
We start with thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts – I pounded mine thin to about 1/2″. I used a combination of almond flour and tapioca for dredging, but you can use all tapioca if you prefer. I’ve tried it both ways and there’s no big difference, although I feel like the one with almond flour is a bit more crisp even after being in the sauce.
After the chicken is pan fried, it’s time to make the sauce, which is incredibly simple. Garlic and onion, bone broth, lemon, and coconut cream form the base of the sauce.
I like to add in a little stone ground mustard for extra flavor plus salt and pepper to season. The mustard is optional so if you’re not a fan, simply omit it.
Once you stir in the capers and add the chicken back in, everything simmers together for a minute and then it’s time to eat! I served mine with sautéed cauliflower rice but any veggie noodles, or roasted potatoes would be delicious too.
The finished dish is so so tasty! Lots of lemon and garlic, a creamy dairy-free sauce, juicy flavorful chicken. It’s everything you could ask for in chicken piccata!
Okay, go grab your ingredients and a nice big skillet because it’s time to make this one-skillet Paleo lemon chicken piccata – let’s go!
Lemon Chicken Piccata {Paleo, Whole30, Keto}
Lemon Chicken Piccata {Paleo, Whole30, Keto}
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded to 1/2” thickness (or purchased thin-sliced)
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 3 Tbsp blanched almond flour *
- 2 Tbsp tapioca flour
- 3 Tbsp ghee divided
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 cup chicken bone broth
- Juice of 1 lemon about 2 Tbsp
- 1/2 cup coconut cream blended before using (the cream is the thick part of a chilled can of coconut milk. It can also be purchased separately
- 1 1/2 tsp stone ground mustard optional**
- 1/4 cup capers drained
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pound your chicken breast to 1/2” thickness, if necessary, and cut into cutlets. Season with sea salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat a large skillet over medium/medium-high heat. In a shallow bowl, mix together the almond flour and tapioca* for dredging. Add 2 Tbsp of the ghee to the skillet.
- Once the ghee is heated, lightly dredge the chicken, one cutlet at a time, in the flour mixture, shake off the excess, and place in the skillet. Cook about 4 minutes on each side to cook through. The outside should be golden brown - adjust the heat if you need to to avoid over-browning. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Lower the heat to medium low and add the remaining ghee. Add onions, cook for a minute until translucent, then add the garlic. Cook and stir another minute, until softened. Add the broth and lemon juice, then raise the heat to medium and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Cook for 3 more minutes, then stir in the coconut cream and the mustard (if using). Cook and stir another minute, then stir in the capers. Add the chicken back to the skillet, lower the heat to a simmer and simmer another minute. Serve over sautéed cauliflower rice or veggie noodles. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
*To make the recipe nut free, you can replace the almond flour with an equal amount of tapioca flour, making the tapioca flour measurement 5 Tbsp.
**This is for a flavor boost only, omit if you don’t like the taste of mustard
Nutrition
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Want More Whole30 Paleo Dinner Recipes? Try One of These!
One Skillet Creamy Tuscan Chicken
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If I have everything but the tapioca flour on hand would using all almond flour work out okay? Thanks!
I used all almond flour – tasty but it doesn’t thicken. Still loved it.
yummy
I made this tonight and it’s so good! I happened to have everything on hand already. Definitely will make again. Thanks!
It was delicious but the coconut cream was too overpowering. It ended up tasting more like a dessert. I will not add it next time or add very little!
Yummy! This recipe has so much flavor in it and tasted great as a leftover on day 2. We will surely be making this on a regular basis. Thank you Paleo Running Momma!
Not yet but I will definitely make it. It looks so good. Thank you.
This was fabulous! Made it for dinner and the only thing wrong was that there weren’t any leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. 😀 Thank you for a great, easy, and delicious recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it!
What do you mean by the coconut cream being blended? If coconut milk is used, how do you “blend the cream”? The cream and milk are separated but I assume you don’t mean that we are to blend the milk since it calls for cream…
Do you use dry ground mustard?
I never rate recipes, but this was a HUGE hit with the whole family, none of whom realized it was Paleo-friendly. Oldest son said “wow” after first bite and asked to take leftovers in his lunch. Youngest son (10) had seconds, after dessert!, and sopped up the sauce with bread after his meal was done
Made this tonight and it came out amazing! Sauce was perfect – used the mustard. Yum!
Absolutely delicious and super easy
This was delicious! But When I make it the next time, I’ll be leaving out the coconut cream. I found it overpowered the lemon flavor.
Everyone loved it but not as a true Lemon Piccata
I think I will too. i loved everything about this recipe except for how sweet it tasted and I think that was the coconut cream. I might use an arrowroot slurry.
Loved this but chose to taste after 2 tablespoons of coconut cream and there was just enough lemon flavour discernable so left it at that. Will make this again and again!
Absolutely delicious. Husband loved it. We’ll make again. Don’t change a thing.
I never leave reviews… BUT I had to! This dish was amazing! I couldn’t wait for lunch the next day to have the leftovers! I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t change a thing. Thank you for sharing! Job well done!
Is there anything that can be subbed out for the coconut cream? I am allergic to coconut, and this recipe looks amazing!
See my comment below, I made it without coconut cream and subbed 1.5 Tbps dijon mustard and it still came out amazing.
This looks so delicious but I need it to be dairy free – what do you recommend I replace the ghee with? (Super beginner/terrible cook here so sorry if a stupid question)
I’d just use avocado oil or some other cooking oil to brown the chicken and cook the onions.
A great start to Whole 30 2020! Loved everything about it. So did my husband
Really tasty! I whisked in a little tapioca starch and almond flour when I simmered the chicken stock/lemon juice, so that the sauce would thicken. Also I used chicken tenders so I didn’t need to pound or cut them, they were perfect-sized. I’ll make this again!
Used this recipe as inspo for a quick and easy dinner last night and my partner thought it was the best thing ever. We ate it over roasted broccoli and it was satisfying and pretty minimal effort, and ready in about 30 minutes start to finish. I had to make some modifications based on what I had on hand in the fridge/pantry, but it still came out delicious and I’m sure the recipe as written would have been just as great. The modifications I made were: only used almond flour; used chicken thighs sliced into strips; subbed beef bone broth instead of chicken; and put in 1.5 Tbps of dijon mustard instead of coconut cream and the stone ground mustard and let it simmer for an extra few minutes to thicken up. My only “critique” is that the ghee got brown and very smoky while browning/cooking the chicken, so I had to empty it out of the pan and replace it with fresh ghee a few times during the process. I may try using avocado oil or something with a higher smoke point next time.
Also, I didn’t have fresh lemons so I just used 2 Tbsp Santa Cruz bottled lemon juice.
Everyone loved it. Even the grand kids.
I suggest to make more sauce. I doubled it and my son still wanted more sauce. Lol.
This was a winner with my family. My picky teenagers loved it. I will for sure be making this again.😍
This looks wonderful and I plan to make this recipe tonight. I have coconut flour on hand will that work instead of almond flour? I have never used almond or coconut flour and not sure if the taste and consistency of either effects a recipe. Looking forward to switching to a healthier flour!
I need to know this too! We’re out of almond flour 😭
Generally coconut and almond flour cannot sub for one another since they have such different properties. If you have cassava you might be able to use that though.
Yum!
I was short on time and ingredients, so I subbed cashew cream for coconut cream, salt water for broth (I know, whoops), and didn’t even dredge the chicken. Still so good, and quick! 🙂
Made this for dinner and it was delicious! Sauce came together beautifully. Loved the addition of the mustard as well.
This recipe tastes incredible. Would absolutely make again; it will likely be a staple. Cut back on the coconut cream, based on some other comments. Otherwise, made it exactly as written.
I can honestly say this is my favorite version of chicken piccata, even over non paleo versions (and I can’t say that about too many recipes). I did not use the mustard but a whole can of coconut cream and thought it was delicious, as did my husband and 3 littles. Definitely making again!
This was so delicious! I can’t wait to make it for my kids next time they’re home. I’ll probably cut back a bit on the coconut cream, but it was amazing! Definitely a keeper!
So delicious. I only had beef bone broth and it still was wonderful!
I made this recipe last night. My family though it was delicious. I used coconut flour in place of the tapioca flour but otherwise stuck to the recipe. I will definitely make this again!
Hi All, I am newer to both cooking and paleo. This was still very tasty but my sauce was completely brown and I’m not sure why! I did use avocado oil instead of ghee and only almond flour. My guess is that this happened because there were burned bits at the bottom of the pan after the chicken which I ended up having to cook longer than suggested due to having one cutlet that was too thick. If anyone has suggestions I am all ears and excited to try it again 🙂
Give it another shot. Use ghee this time. It’s a little more heat stable. If you pound out the chicken, you won’t have to cook it as long and you can remove it while it’s still a nice golden brown and avoid burning the crust. Starch helps everything stick and keeps the breading from being too thick. Feel free to substitute starches. I used thighs instead and added a little Arizona seasoning from Penzey’s to the “bread crumbs” and loved it. Another little trick is to refrigerate the coconut milk, open from the bottom and pour off the unnecessary liquid. Cheers
This is my absolute favorite recipe! I’ve made it twice, and each time it’s a hit! My husband also loves it!
Can you taste the coconut?
I am constantly searching out and trying new recipes. This is by far one of my favorites that I’ve found. Don’t skimp on the ghee. It’s totally worth the price. Absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing!
My 4 picky teenager boys loved this recipe. Making again tonight!😍
Delicious and easy dish!
So good! Made this for dinner tonight. Thank you.
Growing up, my favorite thing my mom made was lemon chicken! I finally found a recipe that makes it a little healthier — and it still reminds me of home. 🙂
I just made this and it is the bomb! I followed your recipe to the T and it turned out perfect!!! Thank you so much for sharing this.
Wow, this was incredible! My teen said it was restaurant quality. I followed it to the letter, even adding mustard. Served in a mound of cauliflower and sweet potato rice (premade mix).
Made this tonight as a replacement for ‘Italian date night’ and oh my goodness it was SO good! I didn’t return the chicken back to the pan but did add spaghetti squash noodles to the sauce and it turned out great!
After studying up on Paleo various books, websites, and podcasts, I’m glad to have found a “one-stop” resource that both verbally and visually explains the science in a clear, understandable way; provides guidance on special conditions and considerations; and also contains a bunch of tasty recipes that follow the guidelines (And also easily point out which recipes are good for which conditions). And the ebook is completely FREE! Available here:
https://healthlifestyle.club/paleo-beginners
This dish is amazing! So much better than your typical Chicken Piccata! I followed the recipe exactly, served it over whole wheat angel hair pasta with a green salad. My husband said it was so good he thought he was eating at our local specialty restaurant! Thank you for sharing….I know I will make this often!❤️
This was delicious and easy to make! Our entire family loved it! We forgot to leave our can of coconut milk in the refrigerator to separate, and it was still great using canned coconut milk instead of just the cream. This one’s a keeper. Thank you! We just found your website and are LOVING all your recipes!
Unbelievably savory and delicious! It took some prep but it wasn’t hard at all. I had everything for it already in my pantry. Thank you!!
This was very good! The only change I made was using tapioca AND arrowroot. No almond flour. I put some of the cooked chicken on the side for my Grandchildren who aren’t caper fans. That was really good by itself. Had the piccata with zoodles and sautéed mushrooms. It was a big hit all around.
Followed the recipe except used heavy cream instead of coconut cream. Tasted great, but couldn’t get the chicken pieces to brown with the mix of tapioca and almond flours. I will make it again.