Creamy chicken piccata with pasta is one of my favorite early spring recipes. It is a bright and creamy pasta dish with pan seared chicken, and it is perfect for an easy weeknight recipe. Although very simple, this pasta dish is elegant enough to serve company but simple enough to enjoy on a random weeknight. One of the best parts is that this whole recipe comes together in under 30 minutes! Your whole family will love this creamy chicken piccata with pasta recipe.
Lemon Caper Cream Sauce Recipe
My favorite parts of chicken piccata is the lemony caper sauce that comes with it. To make it even more indulgent, I finish this off with cream. For this recipe, I tend to use cashew milk for lower calories, but I use heavy cream or whole milk if I am serving this without care of calories if I am entertaining (back when we could do that).
You will need fresh lemon juice. I know the little plastic lemon juice is convenient, but the fresh lemon juice is essential. Take the elegance up another notch and use meyer lemons when they are in season. Meyer lemons are a less tart and almost floral lemon that are absolutely amazing in this recipe.
Healthy Chicken Piccata Recipe
Like I said before, to cut calories a bit, I do use cashew milk for my cream sauce. Cashew milk tends to be creamier than almond milk however any milk will do in this. Dairy free? Go without it. Traditional chicken piccata had no cream at all. It will still be plenty creamy because the flour and stock will thicken the sauce up, but I think the milk at the end really rounds our this dish in a spectacular way. Trust me though, once you have my creamy chicken piccata with pasta, you'll never want it without.
What to serve with chicken piccata that's not pasta
If you are not having pasta with this, I would serve this with either roasted vegetables (try my simple roasted green beans) or even mashed potatoes. I've always eaten this with pasta. If you are serving this without pasta, cut the liquid in half. You'll still have plenty of sauce, but this recipe is made with the thought that you'll toss a fully cooked pound of pasta in it.
Weight Watchers Chicken Piccata Recipe
This creamy chicken piccata with pasta is a Weight Watchers friendly recipe with a few caveats. 1. I calculated my points using Barilla Plus Protein Pasta for Green and Blue. I used it when I was on those plans BUT I calculated it with 16 oz. of pasta and boxes come with less. 2 oz, regardless of box size, is a typical amount of pasta.
Caveat #2 is I use unsweetened cashew milk but I use regular butter and olive oil. In the past, I used Olive Oil spray and real butter, but now I just use regular olive oil. Switching to the spray won't shave off any points, but it can give you wiggle room for different pasta or different milk. No matter what, this is delicious and you'll enjoy it.
Creamy Chicken Piccata with Pasta
Green - 9 (using 16 oz. Barilla Protein Pasta)
Blue - 7 (using 16 oz. Barilla Protein Pasta)
Purple - 2 (using whole wheat pasta)
Ingredients
- 2 lb(s), Chicken Breast, thinly sliced into 8 cutlets
- 1 oz. All Purpose Flour
- 1.50 tbsp, Butter
- 1.50 tbsp, Olive Oil
- 0.25 cup(s), Capers
- 0.50 cup(s), Lemon Juice + 1 thinly sliced lemon (about 5 lemons)
- 1.50 Cup (240ml), Unsweetened Cashew Milk
- 0.25 cup, Italian Parsley
- 4 cup, Chicken Broth Fat Free Low Sodium
- 1 lb(s), organic whole wheat spaghetti (or preferred pasta)
- Kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Season chicken breast with a pinch of salt and pepper. Fill large pot with salted water and boil water for pasta.
- Dredge chicken in flour. The chicken should be lightly coated in flour on both sides. Shake off any excess. (see note)
- Melt butter and olive oil together in a large pan. When the pan is hot (if you swish the pan around the butter will sizzle in the oil), begin pan frying the chicken.
- Do not crowd the pan--I did all of my chicken in two batches. Chicken should take about 2-3 minutes on each side to get golden brown.
- Once all chicken is cooked, remove chicken from pan and deglaze with lemon juice. Pour lemon juice into the bottom of the pan and scrape with a wooden spoon to loosen the brown bits on the bottom.
- Once all the brown bits are loosened and incorporated, add in capers, chicken broth, and sliced lemon.
- Bring sauce to a boil and reduce to simmer. By this point, your pasta water should also be boiling and cook pasta 1 minute under al dente instructions.
- Once piccata sauce is simmering, slowly stir in the milk. Taste and season accordingly. Capers are salty and chicken stock varies greatly, so salt if needed.
- Add slightly under al dente pasta (reserve 1 cup of pasta water) to pot, add chicken back in, and simmer until pasta is done.
- The pasta will soak up all of the lemony goodness. IF the pasta liquid gets soaked up all the way, you can use a little bit of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce up again--this is especially important if you are making this with leftovers in mind.
- Once pasta is cooked to your liking, top with parsley and serve.
Notes
Don't drive yourself crazy measuring out one ounce of flour--I've done this plenty of times with a big scoop and measured before and after. Each time comes out to almost exactly one ounce.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1/8 pasta + 1 chicken breastAmount Per Serving: Calories: 335Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 682mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 4gSugar: 3gProtein: 23g
The nutritional information is calculated with Delallo Whole Wheat Spaghetti and calculated with My Fitness Pal.
Looking for more Weight Watchers friendly pasta recipes? I got you covered.
Here are some of my all time favorite Italian recipes on my blog.
Weight Watcher Italian Recipes
Here are some of my favorite WW Italian Recipes you can find on my blog!
