Instant Pot Chicken Piccata

At a glance

What stands out: This chicken piccata has all the flavor of the original, but it cooks in less than 30 minutes using your Instant Pot pressure cooker.

How long it takes: 25 minutes cooking, plus 10 minutes prep and 10 minutes to come to pressure
Equipment you’ll need: Instant Pot
Servings: 4

Restaurant-Style Chicken Piccata

When we first bought our Instant Pot, we used it almost exclusively for making boiled eggs and cooking shredded chicken for meal prep. Eventually, we branched out to dishes like Instant Pot mac and cheese and spaghetti squash, but you know what? Cooking chicken is still one of our favorite uses for it! And this Instant Pot chicken piccata is one of our go-to recipes.

What makes it special:

Big, bold flavor. Chicken piccata is nothing if not flavorful, and this Instant Pot version is no exception. The chicken gets a nice sear, and bright lemon juice, Italian herbs, and briny capers make it shine. (If you’re a fan of chicken piccata, you’ll want to try this skillet cod piccata, too!)

Tender, juicy chicken. The boneless skinless chicken breasts in this recipe are evenly tender thanks to the pressure cooker, which helps lock in moisture. Every bite is juicy and succulent!

Pantry-friendly: Most ingredients are likely already in your kitchen.

One pot convenience: Brown and cook everything in the Instant Pot, so you’ll have minimal dishes to do. (we also love this one pan chicken piccata pasta! The pasta cooks right in the sauce so you won’t have a separate pasta pan to wash.)

Brina Said:

“Very good and straightforward! Thank you. We doubled the ingredients and it was wonderful.”

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How it comes together

Prepare the chicken. Using a sharp knife, slice the breasts in half horizontally to make them into thin cutlets. Dredge the cutlets in the seasoned flour, making sure they’re well-coated.

Brown the chicken. Using your Instant Pot’s sauté function, heat the oil, then cook the chicken cutlets two at a time in a single layer. To get that nice golden brown crust, let the chicken pieces cook for a full 3 minutes on each side without disturbing them. They should release fairly easily from the pan. Transfer the cooked cutlets to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Make the sauce. Add the garlic to the Instant Pot and cook until it’s fragrant (but not browned), stirring constantly. It will take less than a minute. Pour in the broth and lemon juice, then add the dried herbs. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. This will keep you from getting a burn notice and the browned bits add lots of extra flavor to the sauce.

Pressure cook. Nestle the chicken cutlets into the sauce and sprinkle the capers over the top. Cover, seal, and pressure cook for 4 minutes (remember that it will take about 10 minutes to come to full pressure!). Then, speedy release the pressure, remove the lid, and make sure the temperature of the chicken is at least 165ºF.

Thicken the sauce. Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot and select the Sauté setting. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch into the broth, then stir the slurry into the sauce in the Instant Pot. Continue to stir until the sauce is thickened. If you’d like, stir in a pat of butter until it’s melted, then serve.

Straightforward Recipe Variations

• Buy cutlets instead of cutting them yourself. This will streamline your process a bit! Buy four cutlets or thin-cut pieces of chicken.
• Swap in shallot for the garlic. Shallot has a milder allium flavor than garlic, along with a subtle sweetness. Cook it in the oil until it softens.
• Add parsley. If you’d like, you can garnish your Instant Pot chicken piccata with coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley.

What to Serve With Chicken Piccata

• Pasta, rice, potatoes, or polenta. You’ll want to enjoy every last drop of that rich sauce! We love using angel hair pasta but spaghetti or fettuccini are reliable, too. Often chicken piccata is served with rice. Try Instant Pot brown rice or basmati rice. Polenta is another great choice, as are creamy mashed potatoes.
• Vegetables. We always serve vegetables with Instant Pot chicken piccata. Sautéed asparagus and green beans (try these Parmesan roasted green beans!) are our favorites. A crisp green salad goes well, too. Try our classic house salad recipe which is dressed with a tangy balsamic vinaigrette.
• Dessert. We like to serve a lemon-flavored dessert as a grand finale to this lemony chicken dinner. One of our favorites is a lemon lime tart (you’ll love the shortbread crust!). Lemon sugar cookies are always a hit, and this lemon bread is popular too! Everyone loves no-bake lemon berry cheesecakes (and you’ll love them because they’re straightforward to mix!)

Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup

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• Yield: 4
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 25 minutes
• Total: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts ( 1 ½ to 2 pounds total)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (another type of cooking oil can be used)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¾ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth (see note)
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ¼ cup capers, drained
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon chicken broth or water
• 1 tablespoon butter, optional

Method

1. Slice each chicken breast in half as though you were going to butterfly it (opening it like a book), but cut all the way through to make two thin flat pieces ( 4 total).
2. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper on a plate. Dredge both sides of each piece of chicken in the flour mixture until well-coated. Reserve plate.
3. Heat Instant Pot to Sauté. When it’s hot, add oil. Add two pieces of chicken to the pan, brown for 3 minutes without disturbing, flip it over, and brown the other side for 3 minutes more. Chicken won’t be completely cooked through. Transfer to reserved plate, and brown the remaining 2 pieces of chicken, adding more oil if needed. When chicken is browned, remove it from the Instant Pot and set aside.
4. After you've browned the chicken, add minced garlic to the Instant Pot, and cook, stirring constantly for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
5. Add broth, lemon juice, oregano, and basil to the Instant Pot, and scrape any brown bits off the bottom. Return chicken to Instant Pot, and sprinkle the capers on top.
6. Put cover on, making sure valve is sealed. Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook (or Manual, High Pressure depending on your model) for 4 minutes.
7. When timer goes off, quick release the pressure. Carefully remove lid. Using an instant read thermometer, check the internal temperature of the chicken (it should be at least 165°F).
8. Remove chicken from the pan. Turn Instant Pot to Sauté. In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon additional broth or water. Slowly stir the cornstarch mixture into the sauce in the pan, cooking and stirring constantly until sauce is thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. For a richer flavor, stir in butter, if desired.
9. Serve chicken on pasta, if desired, spooning sauce over the chicken and pasta.

Notes

Chicken: Instead of butterflying your chicken, you could buy four chicken cutlets (sometimes labeled thin cut). We usually cut our own because it’s less expensive and not difficult to do.

Chicken broth: we use reduced-sodium broth. From-scratch broth is excellent too if you happen to have it on hand! If you don’t use reduced-sodium, you may want to decrease the salt in the recipe.

Storage/Freezing: Store the chicken piccata with the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. For longer storage. freeze the chicken cutlets with the sauce to a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 3 months; thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.

Reheat: Warm up the leftovers in a skillet set over medium heat or heat them in the microwave. Try not to overheat the chicken.

Recipe changes: This recipe was retested and revised 7/2025. The original recipe didn’t have cornstarch to thicken the sauce, but the sauce is thin without it. The original recipe also included more capers. The amount of capers you add is up to you. We think you’ll love this new and improved recipe!