Chicken Francese Recipe (2024)

By Julia Moskin

Chicken Francese Recipe (1)

Total Time
35 minutes
Rating
4(6,890)
Notes
Read community notes

Chicken francese, sometimes called chicken French, is one of those rare restaurant dishes that's truly easy to cook at home. If you can make chicken cutlets, you can make this lemony, buttery recipe; the only difference is an easy pan sauce that brightens the whole plate. This version includes lemon slices browned in butter, which are pretty and tasty but entirely optional. Although the name suggests that it's a French or Italian dish ("Francese" means French in Italian), it's actually neither: Like spaghetti and meatballs, it's a mostly Italian-American invention. Serve with something starchy to soak up every drop of the sauce; pasta is traditional.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 2eggs
  • 2tablespoons whole milk
  • 1teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
  • ½teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
  • 1cup all-purpose flour
  • cup olive oil
  • cup vegetable oil
  • 4 to 6large boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (buy the cutlets thinly sliced, or buy regular boneless breasts and slice them in half horizontally to make thin pieces)
  • 3 to 6tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed (optional)
  • ½cup dry white wine
  • Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon, more to taste
  • 2cups chicken stock
  • 3 to 4tablespoons freshly minced parsley

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

1177 calories; 65 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 34 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 105 grams protein; 403 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Chicken Francese Recipe (2)

Preparation

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  1. Step

    1

    In a wide, shallow bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper until blended. Place the flour in a separate bowl. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

  2. In a wide skillet, heat olive and vegetable oils over medium heat until shimmering.

  3. Step

    3

    Working in batches to avoid crowding the pan, lightly dredge the chicken in flour and shake off any excess. Dip into egg batter, let excess batter drip back into the bowl and place in the skillet. Fry, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Adjust the heat as the cutlets cook so they brown slowly and evenly, with a steady bubbling. Transfer to the paper-towel-lined pan and repeat with remaining cutlets.

  4. Step

    4

    When all cutlets are browned, remove the pan from the heat and pour off the oil. Wipe out the pan with paper towels. Return the pan to low heat.

  5. Step

    5

    If making the lemon slices (if not, skip to Step 6 below): Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter and then scatter the lemon slices over the bottom of the pan. Cook, stirring gently occasionally, until the lemon slices are golden and browning around the edges, about 3 minutes. Scoop out the lemon slices and set them aside.

  6. Step

    6

    Add 3 tablespoons of butter, the wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Boil until the liquid is syrupy, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil and cook until thickened into a sauce, about 5 minutes. (It will thicken more when you add the cutlets.) Taste and adjust the seasonings with lemon, salt and pepper; it should be quite lemony and not too salty.

  7. Step

    7

    Reduce the heat, tuck the cutlets into the pan and simmer very gently until the sauce is velvety and the chicken pieces are heated through, about 4 minutes. Turn the cutlets over occasionally in the sauce. Place the browned lemon slices on top. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve, spooning some of the sauce over each serving.

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6,890

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Cooking Notes

Figaro

For the real thing, eggs, 2 TB fine grated parmesan & 2 TB lemon jce to batter, no milk; sauté in 3 TB butter, 4 TB olive oil. For sauce add clove of smashed garlic to pan, ½-1 cup broth, ¼ wine, jce of ½ lemon, then ½ cream. Cream cuts the lemon 'pucker'; 2 cups broth, you'll have a lake. Lemon slices, nice but more work than necessary, and basically inedible. Yes to the parsley.

Liz

I sometimes add some baby spinach right to the pan when I add back the chicken and cover to simmer. It wilts and no need for an extra pot for a veggie. Tastes great in the lemon butter sauce

Eric

Isn't this simply chicken piccata without the capers?

Steven

Don't wipe out the pan with paper towels as noted in Step 4. Poor off excess fat (if you must) and then add your lemon slices using residual fat plus additional butter. This assumes, that you haven't burnt your cutlets during steps 1-3 and you don't mind the specks of flour or breading that will color your sauce. Less pretty, but tastier. IMHO.

Hazel

This turned out beautifully. Delicious and tasty and beautiful to look at. I think some of these reviews really tell more about the reviewer than the recipe. If you change the recipe you lose the right to be critical of it.. it’s now your recipe not this recipe. Cutlets are plenty meat for many people and it’s not helpful if you criticize the chicken broth YOU made. Forgive me.

Virginia Cook

Am I reading this right: you do NOT dip the cutlets back into the flour after dipping in the egg batter? Just want to be sure I know before making this.

Jim G

Hint: Add 1 packet of unflavored gelatin to chicken stock and allow to bloom for 30 minutes. You'll get the sauce thick this way without adding starch. (This is why restaurant sauces are generally thicker; the stock used in restaurants is made in house and has gelatin in it from the bones. Canned broth doesn't so it won't thicken properly).

Mike Bee

Am I the only one who almost always pounds out chicken breasts? Would this be better pounded?

DMW

Love this recipe. Followed it exactly. I only take some issue with the "35 minute" estimate. In my humble, this is a weekend recipe (i.e. you have time to spare) and it is really a bit closer to 90 minutes for full prep, cooking, reduction...et al.

Carl Cargill

Prepared this last night. Omitted the lemon slices, but other than that followed the recipe. It was a keeper - my one daughter declared the remaining piece of chicken "hers" for her lunch at school the next day. It was easier to prepare than the recipe would lead you to believe, and the dish came out as pictured. My wife decided that this will be one of the recipes we use when we have guests; my daughters protested that they were "guests" and we should have it regularly. Made me feel good...

Edith

This is a go to recipe in my house. I also make "Francese" using whatever skinless white fish filets are freshest at the market. I sometimes substitute dry vermouth instead of white wine, and/or vegetable stock instead of chicken stock if that is what's handy.

Karen sklar

You guys are going to give chicken a bad name. I can state unequivocally, a chicken breast even served with butter and flour cannot have 1100 calories or 30 grams of carbohydrate. Divide by 4?

Dal

The milk thins the batter. It’s personal preference whether you want thin or thick coating. The restaurant versions I’ve had are the latter.Wiping out the pan after frying the chicken removes residual flour that helps thicken the end sauce.A buerre manie (paste of equal parts flour/butter) is a fix to get a glossy, thicker sauce.

Jennie

If you find that the sauce doesn't have quite enough body at the end, use an old French cooking trick to make it perfect: turn off the heat and stir slivers of cold butter into the sauce between the cutlets until the sauce becomes fully thickened and glossy. A touch of Kerrygold (grassfed butter tastes so good) and the dish was velvety, lemony and lovely!

Raje Wolf

This is an excellent and easy recipe. The chicken is tender and the lemony flavor is great. I served it with steamed green beans and a green salad with apples. Our guests ate every bite.

Amy

There is something wrong with this recipe! Sauce neither turns to syrup (where’s the sugar?) nor thickens (what is there to thicken it?) nor reduces much in the time given. Marcella Hazan’s piccata recipe is surefire, I’m sticking with that.

Charles B.

I looked at several recipes for Chicken Francese, and so many were much more complicated. I cooked per exact instructions and it came out beautifully. In fact, I would say that if one follows the recipe, it would be hard to not achieve success. It's simple, the flavors compliment each other (no need for garlic or other embellishments that so many people do). Just follow the recipe!

kmh

Timing: Add pasta to water when we add chicken stock

Paulette

Add hot paprika to the flour. Drain capers and add to lemon sauce. Voila chicken piccata!

Sandi B

The recipe I got from my mother in law, used Wondra flour in the batter. I have used it for 50 years with great success.

Ctusamom

I thought the sauce could of been thicker. Always use a wine that you would drink. Added Parmesan to the egg.

JohnK in CT

Laughed when I found out that "Francese" is an Italian word for French. Evidently I cooked an Italian recipe while thinking it a French one (Lol. I only speak 4 languages: English, American, Canadian, and am conversant in Australian. Not helpful)Cooked per the recipe - my norm for first times (I'll fool around with it in later iterations). Got really good reviews from myself and the other 4 at the table.

Jess

Taste was ok but sauce was too watery and breading turned soggy.

my notes

Absolutely delicious. Printed off and in my book.

Ant'ney

Excellent recipe. A family favorite. Steam some broccoli and throw in with the chicken in the pan last minute. And do not skip the lemons - chewy, salty, sweet, sour! I make no real changes, except sometimes I throw in a handful of capers for the finish, especially if serving over pasta.

coleen

I am not a great cook, but alas I must learn. This chicken came out tender and yummy. Big back pat for me. I probably overdid the lemon juice at the end, but overall it was great. The sauce reduced fine for me with 2 cups of broth. I used half the butter but the oil is necessary to get it to fry correctly. It did take closer to an hour to make it, but I would happily make this as a guest meal. And no it’s not piccata. It’s French not Italian. Different yummy but still yummy!

dylan

This came out pretty smoothly for me! Lemon taste certainly came through, I perhaps would have cut down on the lemon the next time (someone noted here to also add lemon to the batter, I maybe would not have done that).I had to make some substitutes:Instead of whole milk, I added greek yogurt.Instead of 1/3 cup of white wine, I added 2 tablespoons. Instead of

dylan

came out pretty smoothly! Strong lemon taste came through , will prob add less lemon next time to taste broth more. substitutes I had to make:Greek yogurt instead of whole milk2 tbs white vinegar instead of white wineRecs:Add a tablespoon of flour to the sauce when boiling the lemon juice vinegar. add one cup of chicken stock, not two! My sauce definitely came out to a good consistency by doing this

David

turned out very good but I would add a small amount of corn starch to thicken up the sauce otherwise was delicious. Also cooking time was more than 35 min

amanda

A favorite dish destroyed. If you want soup use 2 cups of broth, and it will taste like broth.

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Chicken Francese Recipe (2024)
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