I’ve revamped Giada’s classic chicken piccata to be a complete one pan dinner, thanks to the addition of wilted spinach. The recipe becomes both gluten-free and dairy-free by using white rice flour and plant-based butter in the lemon sauce. It’s quick—the whole thing cooks up in 15 minutes—and also low FODMAP since there’s no garlic or onion!
Some people have a sweet tooth. Some a salty tooth. But more than anything else, I have a sour tooth.
That’s not to say that I don’t love sweet and salty things—I’m human, after all. But I love them even more if they also have a tangy, acidic current running through them. Salt and vinegar potato chips are a pinnacle comfort food for me. And when it comes to weeknight dinners, nothing speaks to my sour tooth more than lemon chicken piccata.
If you love my one pan Greek lemon chicken and potatoes, you’ll be head over heels for this recipe from across the Ionian sea.
The signature of this Italian classic is a butter-laden sauce of fresh lemon juice and briny capers. There is no roux or bechamel, but the piccata sauce gets naturally thickened thanks to the flour used to coat the thinly sliced chicken breasts.
After being butterflied or pounded thin, the chicken breasts get dredged in flour and pan-seared. The flour that gets left behind helps bulk up the texture of the chicken stock and lemon juice used in the sauce. The chicken then gets added back to the liquid to cook through and further thicken it. The piccata sauce gets finished with a good dose of butter, which helps to soften the tangy notes (since not everyone has a tooth as sour as I do).
Making Chicken Piccata both Gluten and Dairy-Free
This recipe is adapted from Giada’s classic chicken piccata since it’s one of the more streamlined recipes I’ve found. There’s no onion or garlic (a great low FODMAP dinner!). No white wine. The whole recipe is less than 10 ingredients—most of them pantry items—and takes under 30 minutes start to finish.
You may remember I gave a similar GF/DF treatment to one of my other favorites, Jamie Oliver’s fish pie recipe.
To make gluten-free chicken piccata, I’ve subbed in white rice flour for regular flour. It’s one of my favorite all-purpose single ingredient flours to use to thicken sauces or dredge protein. Millet flour is great for the latter but is a little sandy in texture for sauce thickening.
If you don’t have white rice flour already on your shelf, feel free to use any AP gluten-free flour, chickpea flour, or oat flour. For a paleo version, you can use almond flour.
Because of the tanginess of the sauce, this is one recipe where you really do need the fatty mouthfeel of butter. So to make dairy-free chicken piccata, I recommend using a plant-based butter instead of oil. I use less of it than in Giada’s original recipe and instead whisk it in at the end rather than searing the chicken in it.
Lastly, I added one whole thinly sliced lemon for both aesthetic reasons and because the flavor is so powerful. Feel free to skip this step if you don’t like to eat lemon in this way. I also added a whole mess of spinach so that the gluten-free chicken piccata can be a complete one pan dinner—no need for a side.
If you want something carb-y to soak up all that dairy-free lemon piccata sauce, I’d recommend a simple rice pilaf, spinach mashed potatoes, or short-shape pasta tossed with some olive oil.
Read on for my gluten-free dairy-free version of Giada’s lemon chicken piccata!
With health and hedonism,
Phoebe
Giada’s Lemon Chicken Piccata (Gluten free + Dairy-free)
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts about 1 ½ pounds, see note
- Sea salt
- 1/2 cup white rice flour or AP gluten-free flour
- Olive oil
- 4 tablespoons plant-based butter see note
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice from 2 lemons
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup capers rinsed
- 1 lemon thinly sliced (seeds removed)
- 5 ounces baby spinach
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
Place the chicken breasts on a clean work surface. Place your palm on top of the breast to anchor it to the cutting board and carefully slice the breast in half lengthwise (parallel to your hand through the center). Alternatively, you can ask the butcher to butterfly the breasts for you. You should have two thin cutlets of chicken. If they are still attached at one end (in the shape of a butterfly), sever it so you have 4 cutlets total (from the 2 breasts). Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken breast cutlets until fully covered in flour and shake off any excess. Set the coated chicken aside.
In a large skillet over medium high flame, heat a thin layer of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add 1 tablespoon of butter, and immediately arrange half the chicken in the pan. Cook for 3 minutes, or until a brown crust has formed. Flip the chicken and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove and transfer to a plate. Repeat with the additional chicken pieces, adding more oil and butter as needed and adjusting the heat if any flour debris starts to burn.
Meanwhile, combine the lemon juice, chicken stock, and capers in a 2-cup liquid measure or bowl.
When the chicken is finished, add the lemon slices directly to the pan and sauté over medium-low heat until lightly blistered, 2 minutes. Remove to the plate with the chicken.
Add the spinach to the pan and sauté until wilted, 2 minutes. Season lightly with salt and remove to the same plate.
Pour the chicken stock lemon mixture into the pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, scraping up any brown bits the spinach didn’t dredge up. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the sauce and carefully return the gluten-free chicken piccata to the pan. Simmer until the dairy-free piccata sauce is thickened slightly, but not fully evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed.
Off the heat, tuck the spinach in between the chicken cutlets and garnish with the frizzled lemon slices and fresh parsley. Serve immediately as a complete one pan meal, or alongside rice or your favorite gluten-free pasta.
If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe – I’d love to see it!