Instant Pot Chicken Piccata
Instant Pot Chicken Piccata is an easy and quick recipe perfect for a weeknight dinner. Chicken breasts are coated in Parmesan and pressure cooked in lemon butter sauce.
One of the main ingredients for pressure cooker chicken piccata are capers. If you haven’t used them in cooking yet, this is your chance. Don’t be intimidated by their name.
They give this Instant Pot chicken piccata its unique flavor. You can also use them in stews or salads or in Puttanesca sauce.
4 reasons why you should give Instant Pot chicken piccata a go:
- Easy preparation
- Fork-tender meat
- Rich buttery sauce
- Deep flavors
Electric pressure cooker lovers might also like some of these recipes:
- Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan
- Instant Pot Chicken Risotto
- Instant Pot Chicken Paprikash
- Instant Pot Guinness Chicken Thighs
- Instant Pot Chicken Curry
- Instant Pot Chicken Lentil Soup
What to serve Instant Pot chicken piccata with?
It really depends on your preference. You can make orzo, rice, couscous, pasta or potatoes. My personal favorite is rice.
How to make chicken piccata in Instant Pot
The prep is easy but takes some time. You have two options. Either you buy thinly sliced chicken breasts or you will butterfly, cut and pound the breasts yourself.
If you are good at butterflying chicken breasts then go ahead and do that. If you are not (like me), don’t worry.
They don’t have to be perfect. Just make sure they all have the same thickness so they cook evenly.
Pound them with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin. Tenderizing does not only make the meat tender but also reduces its cooking time. Season each piece with salt and pepper on both sides.
After, coat each piece in flour that has been mixed with finely grated Parmesan cheese.
Now these chicken pieces will need some browning in your Instant Pot first. When making this Instant Pot chicken piccata recipe I brown the meat in two stages as the pot is not wide enough for me to brown everything in in one go.
Once done, deglaze the pot with chicken stock. When done, add butter and let it melt. Then place the browned chicken breasts back into the pot, throw in the capers and squeeze in some lemon juice.
Lock the lid and pressure cook on manual for 4 minutes. Wait until the pressure is released naturally. When following this Instant Pot chicken piccata recipe to a T, this will take about 4 minutes.
Now it’s time to thicken the sauce with corn starch that has been dissolved in little water. Make sure to always add 2-3 tablespoons of the sauce into the corn starch, stir it and only then pour the corn starch mixture into the inner pot.
Finally, add chopped parsley, taste it and add more seasoning if needed. You can also add more capers, if you like.
Useful tips:
- Now this recipe can be easily done on a stove top and even though it might take the same time, I feel like using the pressure cooker gives you amazingly tender chicken breasts.
- If you don’t have Parmesan cheese, use Grana Padano or Pecorino instead.
- Capers can be stored in the fridge several months. The important thing to remember is to keep them submerged in their brine. So make sure not to drain the brine.
- Capers are quite salty so you don’t need to season the sauce much. Wait until the very end and add only after you taste it (if needed).
Guys, if you would like to see more Easy Instant Pot Recipes on my blog, let me know in the comment section!
Want to see how to make Instant Pot Chicken Piccata? Watch the video!
Instant Pot Chicken Piccata
Ingredients
- 1.3 pounds Chicken Breasts , skinless and boneless (22 ounces/620 grams)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- black pepper
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour (35 grams)
- ¼ cup Finely Grated Parmesan (20 grams)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (40 grams)
- 1½ cup Chicken Stock
- ¼ cup Capers (40 grams)
- ¼ Lemon
- 3 tablespoons Corn Starch
- 2 tablespoons Fresh Parsley
Instructions
- Butterfly the chicken breasts and cut them in half. Pound them with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin. Season them on both sides with salt and pepper.
- In a wide plate/bowl combine the flour and Parmesan. Now dredge each chicken piece in flour mixture.
- When done, turn on the SAUTE function on your Instant pot and add the oil. When hot, place the chicken breasts in and brown on each side. When ready, take them out and deglaze the pot with chicken stock. Add butter, chicken breasts, capers and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Lock the lid and pressure cook on manual for 4 minutes. Wait until the pressure is released naturally (this will take about 4 minutes in this case).
- Remove the lid and take out the chicken pieces. Turn on the SAUTE function and thicken the sauce with cornstarch that has been dissolved in little water + little piccata sauce (Always add 2-3 tablespoons of the sauce into the cornstarch first, stir it and only then pour the corn starch mixture into the inner pot. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes before turning off the pot.
- Finally add chopped parsley and the chicken pieces.
- Serve with a side of your choice.
Video
Notes
- This recipe was developed for a 6-quart/6-liter Instant pot electric pressure cooker.
- The cooking time does not include time needed for the pot to come to pressure and time needed to release the pressure. Add extra 8 minutes in this case.
- Tenderizing – place the chicken pieces between 2 sheets of baking parchment or plastic wrap before you start pounding them with a rolling pin/meat tenderizer.
- Browning – the Instant pot is not wide enough to hold all the chicken pieces so you will have to do it in 2 batches.
- Deglazing – adding liquid like chicken stock to your hot pot will remove all the pieces that are stuck to the bottom of your pot so they will become part of the sauce. Some might not go easily so use a wooden spoon to scrape them off.
- The amount of capers/lemon juice/corn starch can be adjusted to your liking.
- Sides – the choice of side depends on your preference. Rice, orzo, couscous or pasta are some great options.
This looks delicious! I will be trying this for a group of 9-10 people. Would you recommend making three separate batches and keeping warm in the oven? Or can I make one batch, just tripling the ingredients? Thank you!
I would just make 1 batch – as long as you fit everything in the pot you should be fine. Hope this helps.
Hi Julia,
This recipe was delicious. I just have one question. (I am very new to the Instant Pot). I followed the recipe exactly and the sauce was getting too thick/bubbly before the timer went off. I stopped it early.
I am thinking that it took me so long to sauté the chicken that the pot was just very hot already. I am wondering what you would recommend to stop the sauce from getting so cooked before the stop time. I’m wondering if it is a good idea to turn off the Instant Pot for a few minutes before I turn on pressure cooking.
Thanks so much!
Hi. I am not sure if I understand what you mean exactly. Timer is only on pressure cooking (manual). Do you mean that the sauce was getting thick at the final stage (after you have added cornstarch)? If this was the case, then next time just reduce the amount of cornstarch or omit it completely if you see it is thick enough to your liking. Hope this helps. If not, can you specify in which step in the recipe you “stopped it early” and I will try to figure out what the problem could be.
I just made this for the first time, a big hit! Thank you! I had 2.5 pounds of chicken so I added another tablespoon of butter and used 2 cups of chicken broth. It gave me plenty of sauce, which is a rarity and even all of my kids loved it ages 12 -17. Served with rice.
Hi Angela. Thanks so much for finding time to leave the feedback! I am so happy to hear all your family loved this recipe. Hope you will find more tasty ideas on our blog. Happy cooking! :)
This is truly the best recipe that I have ever tried! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
You are welcome, Deb!
Enjoyed the recipe. Nr took longer but that was fine. Served mine on spaghetti squash.
Added olives because I had them.
Thank you for your feedback, Arlene. Olives sound like a delicious addition/substitution! :)
Absolutely delicious! Last time it was salty, so this time, I didn’t add any salt and drained the capers well— I also used a 4 oz jar of capers instead. Imo – the capers are salty enough for the dish & people can season as they wish… turned out incredibly! What a phenomenal recipe!