This delicious sautéed chicken gets its briny bite from olives and capers, and charred lemon slices add a bright and smoky flavor that’s to die for.
Just like how I like my desserts both salty and sweet, I really dig a dinner that combines bright and briny flavors with each and every savory, Mediterranean flavored bite.
My taste buds have a mind of their own. And lemon is usually part of their brainwash. And olives, and capers and anything pickle-ish. We can save the “get pickled” jokes for the weekend.
Making another appearance here on the blog, skinless and boneless chicken thighs are the centerpiece of this dish.
Honey mustard flavored, kicked up Tabasco braised and slow cooker balsamic thighs of the fowl have all found their way to my dinner table. And I’m pretty sure this dish of Sautéed Chicken with Olives, Capers and Lemons won’t be the last thigh I’ll be sharing with you anytime soon.
Let’s save the Angelina Jolie thigh jokes for the next awards show red carpet, okay?
A light dusting of flour creates a subtle crust on these moist members. This time around I used rice flour to keep the coating from becoming gummy, something that sometimes happens if I get too heavy handed in my dredge. It turned out light and thickened the sauce just right, but since I used more of a dusting rather than an all out milk / egg / flour dredge, all-purpose probably would have done the job just fine.
While the poultry might be the heart of this one-pot meal, the light and bright briny olives and capers are it’s essence and flavor punch. And bonus, it’s ready in just over a half an hour.
You could use grocery store, pimento stuffed green olives to add that briny flavor, but I had a jar of super firm and bright, jalapeño stuffed green olives that were destined to dance with the rest of my green ingredients.
Some say pitted olives are sometimes a more mushy than those with the pits still intact, but for me, I go for the pitted because who has the time or the patience to pit those babies? And plus, the jalapeño adds just a little bit of spice.
Not to be outdone, tart lemons whose flavor has been deepened thanks to a bout in a hot pan with extra virgin olive oil creates a perfectly pungent base of caramelized bits to fry the chicken in. It’s just another layer of flavors that makes your mouth pucker and say, “WOW!”
Let’s save the talking lemons jokes for, oh, like…now.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Sautéed Chicken with Olives, Capers and Lemons
PrintIngredients
- 2 lemons , sliced ¼ inch thick
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 6 skinless , boneless chicken thighs, about 1 pound
- 1-2 tablespoons rice flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 fat garlic clove , minced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ¾ cup Sicilian green olives
- ¼ cup capers
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a medium-large, high sided skillet to medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add half of the lemon slices and sear until browned, 3-5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate. Season the chicken thighs with kosher salt and black pepper and dust with rice flour, shaking off the excess. Add 1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil to the hot pan and sear the chicken pieces until golden brown, about 5 minutes each side. Transfer to another plate and finish searing the rest of the chicken pieces, then transfer to the same plate as the rest of the chicken.
- Add the rest of the olive oil to the pan and the minced garlic, and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant, stirring so the garlic doesn’t burn and become bitter. Add the green olives, capers and broth. Add the reserved chicken and any juices that have been released plus the reserved lemons and their juices and cook over high heat until the broth is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the butter and parsley and cook for another minute. Season with more kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Transfer to plates and spoon the olives, capers, lemons and sauce on top.
- Serve with sautéed spinach, kale or swiss chard on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
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Excellent. Loved the flavor profile.
Thanks, Dane, we’re so glad you enjoyed it!
My family asked what’s for dinner and their reaction was, ok. Once on their plate they fought over the last chicken and once that was gone, the sauce. They loved it! The chicken was very tender and the entire dish was flavorful. I served with a salad and sourdough bread. The sourdough was used to soak up every last drop of the sauce. Thank you. I will definitely make again, probably with angel hair pasta.
Thanks for sharing and rating, Mia! We’re so happy to hear you and your family loved this!
chicken Piscata is a great dish it pretty easy to make. The lemon slices gives it a great flavor. And love the olive and capers .
What is the nutrition breakdown of this dish?
Hi Kari, we’ve just updated it!
Oh the luscious yum factor!!! Wow! I opted not to season my chicken and I’m glad that I didn’t because the rest of the sauce had so much flavor that it was just perfect. Then again, I don’t rinse my capers as many do. I love that brineyness! The heat from the jalapeños was perfect. I served this with sauteed chard with lemon juice as well as a leftover orzo salad I made last night that has many of the same ingredients. It was an outstanding meal. Thank you so much!
Not a fan. The lemons left a bitter aftertaste. Made this for my family and they have asked me to promise never to make it again.
So sorry to hear that Elaine. Thanks for trying!
Just made this. It was delicious! Husband loved it.
A great recipe, easily modified, as I used 8 thigh cutlets, 1 cup of white wine, 1 cup of bouillon…..you know, I modified. Delish ~ served with both brown rice & Orichitte as well as string beans.
Sounds so great! Thank you C
This dish was fantastic! Full flavored, easy to make, and beautiful to serve. My husband is extremely picky, and it’s a joy to find another delicious dish to add to my list of “must have” dinners.
Thank you! #FAN
I made this tonight, but we couldn’t find our green olives at the last minute so i used Kalamata instead. And, I didn’t have any parsley but tons of oregano in the garden. I had Meyer lemons – my favorite! I would have been a bit more sparing with the kosher salt, though I greatly enjoyed this dish. It was so fast to prepare, looked beautiful served, and tasted terrific. The browned lemon slices were incredible, though my guy thought eating a slice of lemon was too weird for him and he didn’t really care for it. He also didn’t really ooh and ahhh at his beautiful plate and flavors the way I did. Baby liked it though!
I see that half the lemons are sautéed and removed but I can’t see what happened to the other half of the lemons.
I was wondering the same thing
In part 1 she says “finish searing the rest of the chicken pieces”. It should have read “finish searing the rest of the LEMON SLICES”. I had to hurriedly saute the remaining slices late in the process myself after not catching this. I don’t know why they have not responded to what Bill pointed out previously.
It looks delicious. Very nice post! Thank you so much!
I have blue cheese stuffed olives in the fridge. Do you think those will work? Or will the blue cheese add a weird flavor?
I think it might throw the flavors off. Blue cheese is pretty strong!
Just made this and it was very tasty. Thanks so much! I used a pound of chicken breast and it was great. Looking forward to trying your other recipes.
Great. I made this tonight. Beautiful dish. Exploding flavour.
Sounds fantastic… I would like to make this for a small dinner party. Any suggestions about preparing parts of the dish earlier in the day so I can remain with my guests as much as possible?
I’ve made this twice in the last three days. I want charred lemon on everything now…what a flavor!
Hi Melody, that is great and I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it. I am a sucker for lemon everything.
I tried this tonight and it was delicious!!! I made two alterations: I used almond flour instead of rice flour and also added onions just before the garlic. The taste was fantastic. Thank you for the good recipe.
Pretty pictures for sure. Having followed the recipe closely, we did not obtain the results hoped for. The dish was way too lemony, the chicken and caper flavours disappeared. The olives held up. I would not repeat the experience.
Maybe my taste for lemons is different than yours. I suggest next time you cut the amount of lemon for your taste.
Can we talk about what kind of pan that is?! And where I can get one????
Can we talk about wh
Marvelous article, thank You !!
Made this the other night and we loved it. Didn’t have the Italian olives so used some from Spain. Next time I would slice the lemons a bit thicker as the flesh almost disappeared (maybe my pan was too hot). This is a great dish!
I made this recipe for dinner tonight, and it was absolutely awesome! I’m so glad I found this website!
This looks so good! I will be trying this soon! Lemon is one of my new fave flavors.
Looks mouthwatering good. Chicken goes so well with capers and lemons. Delicious.
I would love this meal. The flavors, the olive the lemons! So good and beautiful!
Gorgeous, love these flavors!
I also love the salty and sweet combo! I was just contemplating that on my walk this morning…looks like I found a recipe that’ll do the trick!
those sauteed lemon slices look positively divine!! springy and healthy, I love this!
Wow, love all of those colors. And the rice flour tip! Need to try that.
Gorgeous!!
This totally made my mouth water…and jalapeno-stuffed are my favorite!!!
OMG this is such a lovely dinner idea. It reminds me of chicken piccata with the lemons and capers but a bit more refined. Nice addition of olives!
I make something similar to this without the olives but I’m game to try something a little different too. My kids love the one I make…it’s a frequent request. They all love olives so I imagine they’ll like this one too!