Veal Piccata is a classic Italian comfort food recipe. Browned veal cutlets are coated with a rich and delicious, lemon flavored, buttery pan sauce.
Piccata means, “cooked in a sauce of lemon, parsley and butter.” Be sure to try our recipes for chicken piccata and tilapia piccata too. They both will have that same tangy, buttery sauce.
Veal Piccata
If you’re like me, you probably don’t really think about cooking veal all that often. It’s not an “everyday” meat. But veal deserves its time in the spotlight every once in a while. If you’re looking for an extremely easy recipe to make for dinner that is a little bit impressive too, try making this Veal Piccata. It’s a recipe that’s easy enough for a weeknight dinner, but it’s elegant enough for a dinner party too! This is the best veal piccata recipe. It literally only takes about 10 minutes to cook.
Why is Veal so expensive?
Veal is the meat from calves. Male dairy calves are used in the veal industry. Dairy cows must give birth to continue producing milk, so male dairy calves don’t have much value to a dairy farmer. Because calves are not as plentiful to source meat from as cows are, veal is a more expensive cut of meat. Regardless, the cost of making veal piccata at home will be much more affordable than ordering it in a restaurant.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
- Flour: Use all purpose flour. This will be used for dredging the veal, which will help with browning. It will also thicken the sauce. If cooking this as gluten free, use almond, tapioca or quinoa flour.
- Veal: What kind of veal do you use? Look for veal cutlets. If you get lucky, you might be able to spot thin veal cutlets that have already been pounded down and are ready for making veal piccata. If you just find regular cutlets, then put them between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them down until they are quite thin (about 1/8″)
- Oil: The recipe calls for using vegetable or canola oil. Olive oil or avocado oil may be used as well.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter since capers are fairly salty.
- Lemon: Look for a lemon with thin peel. It will yield more juice.
- Wine: Use a dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. Chicken broth may be used instead if you don’t cook with wine.
- Capers: Look for jarred capers in the same area of your market where you’d find pickles and olives.
- Parsley: Fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley is what you need for the sauce.
How to make Veal Piccata:
The cutlets are tossed in a simple mix of flour, salt and pepper– just to coat them.
The coated veal cutlets are sauteed in a mixture of olive oil and butter, until browned. Then the veal is removed from the pan and kept warm on a foil-covered plate while you make the sauce.
Preparation of the sauce begins by adding lemon juice and white wine to the pan. There isn’t really a good alternative to using wine in this recipe… so stick with wine! I recommend using pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. Salt, pepper, capers and fresh parsley are added in next. Then the veal is added back to the pan to soak up some of that wonderful sauce.
What to serve with Veal Piccata:
Individual servings are topped with the velvety butter sauce. Veal piccata is really good served with fresh cooked pasta. The pasta will benefit from mixing with the lemony caper sauce too. It’s also delicious served with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans.
Here are a few more veal recipes you might like to try:
Veal Piccata
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour (sprinkled with salt and pepper)
- 1 pound veal cutlets (pounded thin)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large lemon, juiced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
Instructions
- Place the seasoned flour in a large plastic zip baggie and add the veal cutlets. Shake until they are well coated. Set aside.
- In a large sauté pan, heat the oil and butter until melted and hot. Add the coated veal cutlets and cook just until golden brown, about one minute or so per side. Remove the veal to a plate and keep warm (wrap in foil).
- Add the lemon juice to the pan. Then add the wine and cook until the sauce has reduced and thickened. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed. Stir in the capers and parsley. Return the veal cutlets to the pan and cook briefly in the sauce to coat.
- Serve the veal topped with the sauce.
Notes
- The cutlets should be pounded to about ⅛-inch thick.
- A bit of pasta on the side is a good addition to soak up the extra sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Most recipes are rather simple. Thanks!