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These Chicken Piccata Meatballs are made with ground chicken and simmered in a delicious lemon butter sauce. Serve this dish over pasta, quinoa, or with crusty bread on the side. A real family favorite!
Oh sweet golden glory!
Chicken piccata meatballs are a REAL thing.
They’re tender, seared chicken meatballs rolling around in a creamy, buttery lemon caper sauce sprinkled with parsley to finish. The garlic is there. The meatballs are melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
But for real though, that pan sauce. There may have been a moment (or two) of weakness where I slurped it with a spoon – straight from the skillet. Could you blame me? It’s LEMON BUTTER sauce, and it’s so gosh darn good. But then there was also a moment when I went in with a wedge of crusty bread. 🤷🏻♀️
These chicken piccata meatballs are loaded with classic piccata flavors. Bright, beautiful and so comforting.
This was absolutely fabulous! Always looking for a great new recipe! Just had dinner and my husband and I are already arguing over who gets the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
Chicken Piccata Meatballs Video:
What do you need to make chicken piccata meatballs?
- Ground chicken: I like to use ground chicken breast for this recipe, but ground chicken thighs would produce juicier results if you’re a ground chicken thigh person. You could also use ground turkey instead.
- Panko breadcrumbs: We’ll use the panic in the meatball portion of this recipe to help bind the ground meat and to absorb any excess moisture from the protein.
- Parmesan cheese: parmesan plays a two-part role, the first is that it flavors the meatballs. The second, it helps absorb any excess moisture.
- Large Egg: Another binding ingredient for the meatballs.
- Garlic Cloves: We’ll use garlic in both the meatballs and the sauce portion of the recipe.
- Seasonings: you’ll need some kosher salt and black pepper to flavor the meatballs. Feel free to make these your own by swapping the salt for seasoning salt, and you can always add a smidge of onion powder or even some Italian seasoning if you’d like.
- Low sodium chicken broth: this makes the base of this piccata sauce.
- All-purpose flour: aids in thickening the sauce.
- Lemons: we’ll need lemon zest for the meatballs and lemon juice to use in the piccata sauce.
- Capers: adds that tart punch that piccata in known for.
- Unsalted Butter: helps thicken and adds richness to the sauce.
How to make chicken piccata meatballs:
- Start with the meatballs. Add the ingredients to a large bowl and fluff the chicken mixture with a fork until the ingredients are evenly combined. Don’t overwork the ground chicken; otherwise, the meatballs will have a tough texture. Roll the meatballs into balls between damp hands.
- Sear them off. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs in a single layer and cook them in batches. Don’t worry about cooking the meatballs all the way through; we’ll just brown them for now. These will finish cooking in the piccata sauce. Which will allow them to soak up the lemon butter flavor. Once the meatballs are done, remove them to a plate. If you’re worried about the amount of oil in the meatballs, you can remove them to a plate lined with a paper towel.
- Make the sauce. Add a tbsp of butter to the skillet and allow the garlic to cook in the butter. Stir as needed to keep the garlic from burning. Then whisk in the flour. You want the flour to cook in the butter to get rid of the raw taste. Then slowly drizzle in the chicken broth with one hand as you whisk. Add the brine from the capers and lemon juice before you let the sauce gain a simmer. You want the meatballs to cook in the sauce for a few minutes. Lower the heat and add the remaining butter. Add it in slowly. Follow these instructions carefully. Adding in cold butter to the warm sauce allows it to emulsify and thicken the sauce. This is a chef’s secret to getting the best, restaurant-quality sauce. Sprinkle with fresh parsley on top. Serve with angel hair pasta, orzo, mashed potatoes, or some fluffy rice.
Other Meatball Recipes to try:
- Firecracker Chicken Meatballs
- Greek Chicken Meatballs in Creamy Lemon Sauce
- Salisbury Steak Meatballs
- Cajun Chicken Meatballs
- General Tso’s Chicken Meatballs
Recipe Tips and Tricks:
Combine everything but the meat in a bowl first so you can ensure even mixing without overworking the meat. Once you add the meat, mix until it’s just combined. The texture is so much better when you take an extra minute to do it right.
Once you’ve made the meatball mixture, just divide them into 20-22 portions. I use a medium cookie scoop so that all the meatballs are the same size. This also cuts out the guesswork because they cook in the same amount of time.
Keep any leftover chicken piccata meatballs in an airtight container for 3-4 days. You can also freeze the meatballs in an airtight container for roughly 2 months.
These would be delicious with an orzo risotto or some cheddar mashed potatoes. Roasted garlic mashed potatoes with Asiago are another great options.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Fancy but Easy Salmon Piccata
- Greek Chicken Meatballs in Lemon Cream Sauce
- Comforting French Onion Chicken Meatballs
- Seriously Amazing Swedish Meatballs in Brown Gravy
- Mini Moroccan Meatballs Couscous Soup
Rustic Chicken Piccata Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley plus more
- 1 1/4 pounds ground chicken or turkey
- 1 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon pepp
Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons cold butter cubed
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour scant
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1/4 cup capers plus 2 tsp caper brine
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- MEATBALLS: In a medium bowl, using a fork, mix together all the ingredients except the ground chicken. When the ingredients are combined, add the ground chicken and mix until *just* combined. Just be sure you don’t overwork the meat. Roll into 20-22 meatballs using a cookie scoop (affiliate link) or about 1 1/2 tablespoons each.
- SEAR: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle in a little oil. Add the meatballs to the skillet but do not overcrowd. Cook in batches if they don’t all fit. Sear the meatballs for 4-5 minutes, flipping to brown all sides evenly. We’ll finish cooking the meatballs through in the sauce later. Remove meatballs to a plate.
- SAUCE: Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet along with the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the flour and whisk. Once the flour cooks for 30 seconds, slowly drizzle in the chicken broth with one hand while you continue to whisk with the other hand. Add the caper brine, capers, lemon juice, and allow the sauce to gain a simmer. Then add the meatballs reduce the heat to medium and let thicken, about 5-7 minutes. Lower the heat to low, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and allow them to slowly melt into the sauce as you stir. The butter will help thicken the sauce further. Serve with additional chopped parsley on top if desired.
Notes
- The sauce will thicken as it sits so I’d advise keeping a little additional broth on hand if you don’t plan on serving this right away. Serve over egg noodles, zoodles, quinoa, rice, or with crusty bread!
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Made this today for Sunday dinner. I wanted to take a pic but it was to good to stop eating. I doubled the meatballs and froze half for another time. I served it on a bed of zucchini noodles. Definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Hi Joann,
How did you freeze? Did you freeze cooked meatballs, with or without the sauce? I’d love to freeze but not sure best way.
Thank you!!
Absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe exactly, which I don’t normally do! It was great! My whole family loved it!
I’ll be making this tomorrow, it sounds terrific. One small quibble, though: why do we refer to the Italian cheese with a French word “Parmesan,” when the actual name is Parmiggiano? Of course, it’s not just in this recipe, but all over the place. It just makes no sense to me. I know parmesan is in common usage, but it’s inaccurate.
I don’t understand why people have to post these types of comments. Parmesan is also the English translation of parmigiano (which, incidentally, you misspelled). This recipe is written in English, so the English word is used. Do you also want her to use “pollo” instead of “chicken”, “aglio” instead of “garlic” or “limone” instead of “lemon”? If so, then you should have said “formaggio Italiano” and “mot français” in your comment. Your “small quibble” is unnecessary and unkind. Marzia, your recipe sounds amazing, exactly as written. I can’t wait to try it!
I agree…..people nitpick over everything….
Would it make a difference if I leave out the capers? Not a fan of capers… Thanks.
You can leave them out if you’d like!
OhMyGod!!! This recipe is amazing! I just threw them together a moment ago as a trial for a dinner party I’m hosting. I literally just ate the entire prepared portion!!!! I’m using them as an appetizer with grilled garlic toast to suck up every bit of yumminess. As an appetizer and because I’m lazy, I did everything in a cast iron pan. Sauteed meatballs, exact ingredients, then combined exact sauce ingredients together with more flour for thicker sauce and poured over meatballs and simmered in the same skillet. If you are a chicken piccatta fan, this recipe is a MUST HAVE!! Thank you for sharing.
Hi- I am making the piccata chicken meatball recipe and was scrolling thru the directions and noticed the pic you have of the ingredients in the bowl for the meatball before adding the chicken…there is a dried ingredient next to the salt and pepper. I rechecked the recipe to make sure I didn’t leave anything out and couldn’t find what that might be. Let me know if that was something I was suppose to add. They are simmering now and smell wonderful. Thanks!
I am going to make this because I love chicken piccata, but will lessen the broth by 1/4 cup and use 1/4 cup white wine.
This was absolutely fabulous! Always looking for a great new recipe! Just had dinner and my husband and I are already arguing over who gets the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
Love this recipe. Have made us multiple times and it doesn’t disappoint!
I cannot tell you what a big hit this was with my family! My daughter asked for leftovers as her snack when she got home today. It was delicious! Wonderful recipe, thank you!
This recipe quickly became a favorite in my house. I’ve made it 6 or 7 times. Usually I serve it with half spaghetti/half zoodles, but last night I tossed steamed broccoli through the sauce and hubby said it was the best brocolli he had ever had.
Appreciate the tip on mixing the i ingredients.
Thanks for being such a consistent source of yummy, easy recipes!
Absolutely loved this dish! Such a creative interpretation of chicken piccata. I made them a week ahead, froze them in their precooked state, thawed them overnight in the fridge the day before I pan seared them and made the sauce. I finished them in a 350 degree oven, in a covered casserole dish, in their sauce. Such a flavorful dish. Highly recommended. Perhaps the only change I would make would be to thicken the sauce with less butter next time, but my sense is that seeming excess has more to do with my final cooking method rather than the recipe.
This is a fantastic recipe, I made 4x the recipe because I had just ground several pks of fresh chicken breasts.
I made the balls with a large 1/2 cup ice-cream scoop and fried them in a nonstick pan getting them a beautiful bright golden brown color and finished cooking in the sauce as told. The Parmesan must help to make such a beautiful color.
I agree with a previous commentor that the butter at the end is not needed… it just pooled in the sauce and I even spooned a lot of it out.
Served it over Fettuccini I shared a video of the recipe on my Fb page and will share the recipe too!
I absolutely loved these. The only change I made was to substitute basil for the parsley, both in the meatball and sprinkled on top. The sauce was delicious. I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow.
Absolutely fabulous!! The sauce is beyond scrumptious! I also like the tip to mix the other ingredients first before adding the ground chicken. Great idea. 5 stars all the way!
Made these tonight. They were fabulous.
Family loved it. They almost liked it better as leftovers as the flavors built in the meatballs.
I found this recipe by accident. I was looking for a recipe with spring peas and cous cous which I found on this site. One of my boyfriend’s favorite meals that I make him is chicken piccata. When I saw that this recipe used the same ingredients except ground chicken instead of chicken breasts I decided to try it. I followed the directions exactly except I used unsalted butter and I skipped the caper brine. Just the brine not the capers. It was so delicious and looked just like the recipe photo! It has replaced my chicken piccata recipe! My boyfriend asked me what was I going to do with the leftovers. This is a man who never eats leftovers! He also asked me if I can make a batch and freeze them! I served them over brown rice. I will try the peas & cous cous next.
I have shared this recipe with 2 of my best friends and they agree it is fantastic! The flavors are amazing and they are so easy to make. I am leaving a second comment because when I made them for the buys as a snack, I added some slightly browned pine nuts just for a twist since I was serving as appetizers. I also doubled it to make more…WOW. You have such wonderful recipes thank you so very much.
Made them two nights ago and they were as delicious as I knew they would be. Always looking for a new way to have chicken in the daily routine. The hunny loved them so much he asked me to make them for the guys as a snack. I plan to try them as an appetizer by making the balls a little smaller like a swedish meatball so they can eat them with tooth picks. Will let you know how it comes out. Its the flavor ladies and gents, just absolutely delightful!
Came out fantastic. Only things I did different was to deep-fry the meatballs (after freezing for 30 in deep freeze) and only cooking my x-wide egg noodles for 7 minutes and finishing them in the piccata so they soaked up that wonderful flavor!
Thank you, this was a winner.