Ultimate Chicken Piccata Meatballs

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My Chicken Piccata meatballs are moist, tender, and coated in a buttery lemon caper sauce. This easy recipe makes the classic chicken piccata weeknight friendly.

chicken piccata meatballs topped with capers on a plate with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots.

Chicken is such a versatile protein. You can bake it in the oven like with my Ritz Chicken, use it in pasta like in my BBQ Chicken Pasta, or use it in soup like in my Buffalo Chicken soup. I also like to use it meatballs like my chicken piccatta meatballs. No pound cutlets required here! This recipe is flavorful, fast, and perfect served with mashed potatoes, noodles, or rice.

Why This Recipe Works: A Sprinkle of Food Science

Use Heavy Cream: This adds some additional fat for moist melt in your mouth meatballs that are never dry.
Add Gelatin: This helps hold water inside, mimics the collagen found in slow cooker meats, and gives them the most lucious texture.
Scrape the Fond: Scraping up those tasty brown bits gives us a restaurant quality sauce in minutes.

Ingredient Notes & Shopping Tips

ingredients including ground chicken, shallot, heavyc ream, parmesan, lemon, panko, gelatin, butter, and capers.

Ground Chicken: I used ground meat that was 92% lean (breast/thigh mixture). Avoid any ground chicken labeled 99% fat free for ths recipe. You can also use ground turkey if desired.
Shallot: I strongly encourage you to grate this as it distrubtes the flavor and avoids any big crunchy pieces.
Lemon Zest/Juice: Fresh is best avoid the bottled stuff which tends to taste artificial.
- When grating be sure to use just the bright yellow peel. The white pith underneath is bitter.
- When juicing I like to roll my fruit on the counter and microwave for 20-30 seconds to get as much juice as possible.
Breadcrumbs: I used unseasoned panko. I find it leads to a light not dense end result.
Gelatin: Don't be scared of this. It makes the texture incredible.
- Have extra envelopes of it? Use in my chocolate panna cotta!
Parmesan: Use freshly grated, you can really taste the difference.
Broth: Grab low sodium to avoid an overly salty sauce. You can also use white wine in the sauce if you'd like.
Lemons: Choose heavy, thin-skinned lemons for juiciness; zest first, then juice.

a collage showing up to brown chicke meatballs and how to make the lemon caper butter sauce.

Krystle's Tips: Steal My Culinary School Secrets

Mix Carefully: Undermixing chicken meatballs can cause them to fall apart. However, overmixing can cause them to be tough and gummy. My Fix: Mix all other ingredients well and then mix chicken until just combined.
Grandma's Trick: Meat sticking to your hands? Dip them in a bowl of cold water to prevent this.
Use a Cookie Scoop: I used a 2 tablespoon (#40) scoop. This ensures they're all the same size and cook at the same rate.
Use a Hot Pan: The meatballs should sizzle when you place them in the pan. Work in batches if you need to ensure they brown well and don't just steam.

Can I Bake Them?

Yes! Bake at 400 for 22-25 minutes. I suggest pouring a bit of hot broth on the sheet pan and scraping the browned bits off so you don't miss out on the flavor!

Can I Air Fry Them?

Yes! Cook at 400 for 8-10 minutes.