This chicken francaise recipe was absolutely decadent and delicious! While I make mine with extra vegetables and the breading I make has extra flavor, chicken Francaise is actually easy to make!
While investigating the dish, as I am wont to do, I discovered that Chicken Francaise is more of a battered chicken breast rather than just flour dredged like piccata. And the lemon sauce? Wowza. My eyes were rolled heavenward the whole time I ate this. A glass of crisp white wine was beside me and they were a match made in heaven! (This post has been updated from 2010 so my step by step photos are oldies but work! )
What is Chicken Francaise?
Chicken Francaise is an Italian chicken recipe that is skillet cooked chicken with a lemon sauce. This recipe and Chicken Piccata are very similar, so similar in fact, that the main difference is the way the chicken is made. In chicken Francaise, the chicken is dredged through a flour mixture while chicken piccata has no coating. Chicken Francaise is usually a lemon sauce and Piccata a lemon-caper sauce. I had added a LOT to this recipe, along with capers, so I am not claiming that this is an authentic sauce. Omit the capers in this recipe if you want, but you lose the wonderful taste!
Now MY recipe is a little crazier than most. I LOVE capers, so I added them. Mike and I can’t get enough of artichoke hearts and they match so perfectly with this dish, adding a tang to the dish along with the lemon sauce. I also use Parmesan cheese in my flour coating – it’s soooo good!
How to Make Chicken Francaise
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Combine the ingredients for the coating in a bowl.
- Just like my Oven Crispy Chicken recipe, dip the chicken in the flour mixture first. Then dip it into the beaten egg. Then back to the flour mixture for another coating. Time to let them sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
- Then dip it into the beaten egg.
- Then back to the flour mixture for another coating.
- Time to let them sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
- Prepare the sauce and serve the chicken over pasta.
I am a nerd and for the sake of recipes and experimenting, cooked both Francaise and Piccata. You can see the differences below. I will be updating my chicken piccata post as it is also 8 years old and needs a rewrite!
Tips and Tricks
- The sauce is delicious, simply drizzle a bit over the top of the chicken and the pasta when you plate it.
- By only heating the chicken at the end again in the sauce, you have a crispier end result.
- Letting the chicken sit with the egg and flour in the cold fridge really does help keep the batter on!
- The added vegetables are AMAZING! We love artichoke hearts and along with the red peppers, onions and capers this really is the BEST chicken francaise sauce ever!
- The Parmesan in the flour coating is going to change the recipe and take it from good to AMAZING. It’s one of my little secrets when making a flour coating.
- I would even add olives to this recipe, yumm!
Side Dish Suggestions
Chicken Francaise is a meal in one thanks to placing it on a bed of pasta. If you want however you can serve it with a crispy green salad with my homemade vinaigrette or something equally as light. You can also try my Mediterranean Chickpea Salad or my Creamy Cucumber Salad
My son the “vegetarian” ate this chicken. Our jaws hit the table with disbelief. I think it’s because it looked like a crispy chicken strip. Enjoy and let me know what you think, because this is something I will make again…and again…and now that I wrote the recipe up, I am craving it.
Happy cooking!
Karlynn
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Chicken Francaise
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, pounded until thin with meat mallet
Chicken Flour Coating
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Lemon Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
Optional Add Ins
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 2 tablespoons minced red peppers
- 2-3 tablespoons minced white onion
- 1/2 cup canned artichoke hearts, drained
Serve With
- 4 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 454 grams your choice of pasta
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients for the coating in a bowl.
- Dip the chicken in the flour mixture first. Then dip it into the beaten egg. Then back to the flour mixture for another coating. Time to let them sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side, cooking until they reach 165 °F. Once done, remove from the skillet and place on a clean plate.
- IF you are using my add ins, fry the onions and red peppers in the 2 tbsp of butter at this time until they are tender and cooked through. Stir the flour into the skillet along with the vegetables.
- If you don’t use the added vegetables, melt the butter in the skillet then add in the flour.
- Slowly add the wine to the skillet and start scraping the browned bits off into the mix. (deglaze it). Whisk in the lemon juice and the chicken broth. Simmer on medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes, reducing the sauce further.
- Add the chicken breasts back into the sauce, heating them up again. If you want the capers and the artichoke, add then in to heat up at this point.
- Serve over your choice of pasta and top with fresh parsley.
Notes
- You can choose any pasta you like for this dish!
Nutrition
Barbara Levee says
What to do ic you forgot the white wine, substitute with what?
Hope says
This recipe was so good and exactly what I was looking for to make for dinner! I served it with rice pilaf instead of pasta ..Its a keeper! Thank you!
Heidi Fatula says
Best I ever made. If I would change anything I would double the sauce recipe
Madeline says
looking forward to cooking
Anthony Maccarini says
Made this last night. Very tasty. I might modify it next time with some red pepper flakes or include some poblano peppers for a bit of heat.
Also, I’ve been using thin rice noodles in place of pasta. May be more healthy and the taste is about the same. A great recipe. Thanks.
Deb says
Try this
Bob says
Just wondering, do you make the sauce in the same pan as you cooked the chicken in, and do you leave the leftover oil in the pan or discard it before making the sauce?
Frimmy says
Aha you said “wont”! Kidding.
It looks wonderful I’m jotting the ingredients I don’t have on a shopping list and…wait, I have all of them except capers! I’ll be making it as soon as I get capers. I love capellini noodles.