Chicken Piccata Meatballs

By Kay Chun

Updated November 17, 2025

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Ready In
45 min
Rating
5(752)
Comments
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Inspired by the flavors of piccata, these chicken meatballs are seasoned with capers, garlic and oregano and pan-roasted until golden. The pan drippings are used to create a quick and tangy lemon-butter pan sauce. The secret to these plump, tender meatballs is the panade, bread crumbs soaked in milk until softened and folded into the meat mixture. Serve the meatballs with pasta and any simply roasted vegetable, like broccoli, green beans or bell peppers.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 meatballs

  • ¾ cup panko bread crumbs

  • ½ cup whole milk 

  • 1 large egg

  • ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan

  • 2 tablespoons chopped capers

  • 1 garlic clove, minced

  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

  • Kosher salt and pepper

  • 1 pound ground chicken (preferably dark meat)

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus wedges for serving (optional)

  • 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

  • Egg noodles, pasta or rice, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

4 grams carbs; 59 milligrams cholesterol; 132 calories; 4 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 9 grams fat; 203 milligrams sodium; 9 grams protein; 1 gram sugar

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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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine panko and milk and mix well; let stand until the milk is absorbed, about 3 minutes. Add egg, cheese, capers, garlic, oregano, ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper and mix until well blended. 

  2. Step 2

    Add chicken to the panko mixture and gently mix just until well incorporated. Using moistened hands, form mixture into 12 equal meatballs. (The uncooked meatballs are very soft, but they can be placed in the freezer for about 10 minutes to firm up and hold their shape better during cooking. The meatball mixture can also be made a few hours ahead and chilled in the refrigerator, which makes the meatballs easier to form. Roll the balls again just before cooking to reshape.)

  3. Step 3

    In a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet, heat oil over medium. Add meatballs and cook, turning occasionally, until mostly lightly golden all over (they will continue to brown in the oven), about 5 minutes. Transfer to the oven and roast, turning meatballs halfway through, until tender and cooked through, about 10 minutes.  

  4. Step 4

    Divide meatballs among 4 plates.

  5. Step 5

    Place the skillet over medium-high heat and add the broth. Bring to a boil, stirring to lift up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet. Cook until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Add butter, lemon juice and parsley and stir until well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

  6. Step 6

    Spoon the pan sauce over the meatballs. Serve warm with noodles or rice and lemon wedges on the side, if desired.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
752 user ratings
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Comments

Kathy

Great recipe! Meatball mixture was indeed very soft so I called into duty a small muffin tin into which (after spraying with nonstick spray) I put a scoop each of meatball mix. I chilled, then cooked for 10 minutes, then turned for another 10 minutes, then turned into the sauce to finish.

Lorraine Fina Stevenski

It is much simpler to make the sauce and return the meatballs into the sauce to continue to cook. The sauce will have more flavor from the meatballs. If you coat the meatballs in flour and then brown, they will help thicken the sauce and make a nice coating on the meatballs.

DB

Delicious. I broiled the meatballs until browned, flipped, browned. Perfect. For the sauce, I sautéed 2 T whole capers and 1T chopped garlic in olive oil, deglazed with white wine. Added 2 cups chicken broth (Better than Bouillon), 2 t lemon juice, 4T butter and cooked 8 oz thin spaghetti in the sauce. If the sauce starts to bind, add 1/2 C hot water. Easily feeds a family of four. YUM

Michele C.

Just bringing together various suggestions from other commenters. I added sour cream to the panko instead of milk, since I usually do that with my chicken burgers to keep them moist. I put the meatballs in the freezer while I got other ingredients ready and pan seared in oil without them falling apart. Browned and finished in the air fryer…they came out perfect. I took advice of another commenter and used white wine in place of broth to deglaze the pan, which gave me the idea to make a sauce to mix with pasta. Added shallots and a whole lemon thanks to another commenter and flour with the butter to thicken. Made angel hair pasta reserving pasta water, and placed pasta in pan with sauce. Adding pasta water produced a glossy sauce that was perfect with the meatballs.

Snohomish Cook

These are good but lack the deep lemon flavor of a true piccata.

Tina

The meatballs were ,as others have said, wet. I think if I did this again, I'd take one commenter's advice and bake the meatballs in a muffin tin. It would save so much mess! mine came out looking more like pucks, which was fine. The flavors were good. It was the clean up I could have done without.

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