Chicken Francese is a simple recipe with a luscious lemon cream sauce. Delicious served with crusty bread for an easy dinner.
What is Chicken Francese?
Chicken Francese or Chicken Française is an Italian-American dish consisting of chicken breasts or cutlets coated in flour and egg and fried until golden served with a lemon white wine sauce. It’s very similar to chicken piccata with the main difference being the way the chicken is breaded and the addition of capers to chicken piccata.
Ingredients
Full recipe with amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Chicken breasts.
- Flour.
- Salt and pepper.
- Garlic powder.
- Eggs.
- Oil, for frying.
For the sauce:
- Butter.
- Whole lemon.
- White wine.
- Chicken stock.
- Lemon juice.
- Cream. Heavy/whipping cream.
- Parsley, to serve.
How to make chicken Francese
- Prepare the chicken: Place chicken breasts on a board in front of you and with a sharp knife, carefully slice each in half, horizontally, creating two thin chicken cutlets.
- Bread the chicken: Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Beat the eggs into a separate bowl. Coat the chicken first in the flour then in the egg. This might sounds strange to you but trust me, it works.
- Fry the chicken: In a large frying pan, heat the oil then fry the chicken in batches until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the pan.
- Make the sauce: In the same pan, melt the butter then fry the lemon slices until golden on both sides. Remove and set aside. Pour in the wine and allow to reduce for a few minutes then add the stock and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and allow to reduce for 5 minutes then pour in the cream. Add the chicken back to the pan and allow to cook for another 5 minutes until the sauce is velvety and the chicken is cooked through. Scatter over the parsley and serve.
What to serve with chicken Francese?
Easy chicken breast recipes
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- ½ cup flour
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 3 eggs beaten
- ¼ cup oil for frying
For the sauce
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 lemon sliced
- ½ cup white wine
- 1½ cups chicken stock
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup cream
- salt and pepper to serve
- parsley to serve
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts on a board in front of you and with a sharp knife, carefully slice each in half, horizontally, creating two thin chicken cutlets.
- Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Beat the eggs into a separate bowl.
- Coat the chicken first in the flour then in the egg.
- In a large frying pan, heat the oil then fry the chicken in batches until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the pan.
- In the same pan, melt the butter then fry the lemon slices until golden on both sides. Remove and set aside.
- Pour in the wine and allow to reduce for a few minutes then add the stock and lemon juice.
- Bring to a simmer and allow to reduce for 5 minutes then pour in the cream.
- Add the chicken back to the pan and allow to cook for another 5 minutes until the sauce is velvety and the chicken is cooked through.
- Scatter over the parsley and serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 370kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 236mg | Sodium: 1077mg | Potassium: 628mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 529IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 2mg
I just made this tonight. I didn’t use wine but club soda and used Meyer lemons. I served with pasta and poured the yummy sauce over top. Definitely soaked up every last bit of sauce.!
I will figure out how to upload pix too.
Crissy
My family really enjoyed this recipe. I however had little experience with frying chicken and stressed out a bit while preparing. I really wish there was a baked version available and substitute ingredients that were not so full of fat and calories. Otherwise it’s a five star ? all day long.