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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 last night because my family loves the piccata flavor combo. We all loved it! It’s being added to our collection of faves. We also talked about how great the sauce would be on fish or chicken thighs, pasta, rice … slurped from a bowl! Totally love it.
Hi Marci! I’m so happy to hear it was a hit! and yes – LOVE the idea of using htat sauce on pasta, or even fish! Appreciate you taking the time to come back and leaving a comment 🙂
What/how can I sub out the cheese since I’m allergic?
Hi Rosa! I’m so glad to hear you’d like to give this recipe a try! You can sub the parmesan with 1 additional tablespoon of breadcrumbs. I would start with 1 and see if the meatballs hold their shape, they should, but if not, just add another tablespoon!
Absolutely delicious! We had it a couple of weeks ago and my husband already wanted it again! Great recommendation! It’s easy to make a double batch of meatballs and freeze, so I now have a stash waiting for our next time.
So glad to hear this was a hit for y’all! Love that you doubled up on the meatball mixture for another round, Kandy!
A great, yummy recipe! I actually used half the chicken broth and substituted the other half with white wine and it added a great flavor. Served it over whole wheat noodles for a hearty, healthy dinner. It made a good amount of sauce too, and I didn’t feel the need to double it like in most recipes.
So glad to hear it was enjoyed Amy, and I love how you made it your own! Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment 🙂
Hi,
Your recipes look amazing. Wanna try this but what to alternate for capers? I don’t know if they’re readily available in my part of the world.
You can use a few green olives that you just chop up finely or you can simply omit them from the recipe 🙂
My family loved this. Followed the recipe exactly except I didn’t get fresh parsley, used a reduced amount of dried parsley. Paired it with linguini. Delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
These were fantastic! Everybody loved them. The sauce is crazy good – glad I doubled it!
Wow! These were so delicious. To make it even easier, I did the meatballs in my air fryer for 8 min at 390. I used a cookie scoop to portion them so they cooked evenly.
Thank you for yet another 5 star recipe!
Fantastic! I made them exactly as is and I couldn’t be happier. I took the advice from TwirlyGirly and chilled the meatball mixture before forming them, and I think it definitely helped to keep their shape when cooking. I served the meatballs over some penne.
This is a fabulous dish!
I have three suggestions:
1). Buy an electric meat grinder. In my area, ground chicken is 4.99/lb. but I can buy boneless/skinless chicken breasts and thighs on sale for 1.99 or less on sale. The meatballs taste best using a combo of light & dark meat; the preground chicken is only white. I purchased a Gourmia GMG525 on Amazon for 50.00 and it will pay for itself in just 3 months grinding the chicken for this recipe!
2). Use a #10 cookie scoop to portion the mixture onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for one hour. This will firm up the mixture and then when you pick up each portion to roll it into a nice ball it won’t stick to your hands! (The balls also will stay more round when you brown them).
3). I like to use a vegetable peeler to remove just the yellow part of the skin of a second lemon in vertical strips. Then I stack 3-4 strips at a time and cut them into julienne strips about 1/8″ wide. I add these to the sauce to give it a nice, bright, lemon flavor (in addition to the lemon juice in the recipe). Those thin yellow strips look pretty, too!
GREAT RECIPE!!!!
My husband makes me make this for him at least a few times a month! This is a great party idea as well because you can make it in a large tray, freeze immediately and then bake when youre ready to serve guests. tastes even better the next day.
hi..came across ur comment…how can you make ahead??beginner cook so not sure but i def want to do it ahead..hope u see this!!
Great recipe, I am a huge fan of chicken Picatta! I have been boiling orzo pasta in chicken broth or stock 2 cups stock or broth, 1 cup water and 1.5c orzo. (Estimate you can use more or less of each I uaually use what is left in a carton of the broth/stock) The liquid is absorbed by the pasta and makes a nice side for this dish and you can add some parmesan to add extra yum . I usually use unsalted or low salt stock/broth and add salt to taste.
Wow these were really good but not nearly enough sauce for the number of meatballs especially if you’re having this over pasta. Next time I will definitely double the sauce while keeping butter to 4 tbs.
These are delish! Saved this page straight to my desktop! Thank you!!!
Do you have the nutritional breakdown for this recipe? My one concern is the amount of the butter. Can’t wait to try it, but I may just have my portion with very little sauce.
I am here trying to find the same!
These are delicious! I have made this recipe a number of times without changing anything. Equally good with spaghetti or spaghetti squash.
The first time I saw this recipe I knew it was a keeper. The first time I doubled it, freezing half (uncooked) for a later date. I paired them with zucchini noodles…delicious. The second time I took the raw meatballs out of the freezer and cooked them from frozen following the recipe. That time I served them as an app. They were a huge hit. Tonight I quadruple the recipe serving 50 for dinner and freezing 100?. They will come in so handy ‘this holiday season. I either have 2 dinners or apps on the fly. Thank you! Thank you!❤️
What a great idea! And thank you for letting me know the meatballs freeze well, I’m sure others will appreciate this info as well 🙂
I made this for my husband and me. It was delicious and I am excited to make it soon for company.
Not only has this become one of my go-to dinners, but it also makes amazing leftovers for “luxurious” desk lunches at the office. Thank you!
Made these a couple of nights ago minus the capers/brine and sub dried parsley. Amazing! The sauce is so good. We ate it on egg noodles. My hubby made sure to tell me 3 different times that this recipe was a keeper!