This is an Italian-American beauty that is never going to leave your rotations. It’s one of those dinners that is quick and easy enough for a weeknight dinner, but still fancy and delicious enough to serve for company. Follow me…
Chicken Francese
Chicken Francese follows the same method as many other sliced chicken breast recipes. The difference here though is the batter.
Chicken Francese Batter
The iconic step in this dish is coating the chicken in flour and then into egg. This gives the chicken the most gorgeous golden coating. To really take things up a notch I love stirring some parmesan through the egg. This not only adds a boost of flavour but also helps the batter crisp up too.
Pan-Frying
I fry the chicken in a combination of oil and butter. The butter adds flavour whilst the oil helps prevent the butter from burning. You want a fair bit of fat in the pan to help prevent the batter from burning. It’s also important to make sure you’re using a non-stick pan so the egg doesn’t stick! Process shots: slice chicken in half (photos 1&2), coat in seasoned flour (photo 3), coat in egg and parmesan (photo 4), add to pan (photo 5), fry (photo 6).
Lemon Butter Sauce for Chicken
There’s a few different ways you can make the sauce, but in general it’s typically a buttery, lemony sauce. Here’s what I use:
Chicken Francese Sauce Ingredients
Lemon – I use the juice and also slice them into thin rounds to garnish the chicken. White Wine – Helps deglaze the pan and adds a gentle background flavour. Butter – Adds richness to balance the sharper flavours in the sauce. Chicken Stock – Creates the base of the sauce. Chives – It’s more traditional to use parsley but I find chives add loads more flavour.
Thickening the sauce
Many recipes use a classic roux to thicken the sauce (stirring flour into melted butter), but I don’t find this necessary. Instead, I coat the butter in the leftover flour and whisk it into the stock. This creates a light, glossy sauce that coats the chicken perfectly. Process shots: fry lemon slices (photo 1), remove (photo 2), reduce wine then stir in stock and lemon juice (photo 3), toss in flour (photo 4), whisk into sauce (photo 5), stir in chives then add chicken (photo 6)
How lemony is this recipe?
I’d say it’s fairly subtle as written, but you can certainly add more. Just work to taste!
Do I have to add the wine?
The wine does add a lovely flavour, but you can sub non-alcoholic wine or leave it out altogether.
How do I thicken the sauce?
The butter will emulsify with the stock and lemon juice and create a light glossy sauce. The flour coating will also help with this. Just keep simmering and whisking away.
Serving Chicken Francese
To serve, I place the lemon slice back on top of the chicken. Do not place this on as it rests, it makes the batter soggy and can turn it slightly bitter from where the lemon has been sat on it. Here I’ve just served with asparagus and crusty bread, but check out my Side Dishes for more inspo! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this chicken francese shall we?!
How to make Chicken Francese (Full Recipe & Video)
For another similar recipe check out my Chicken Piccata! Also check out these beauties:
Classic Chicken Breast Recipes
Chicken Milanese Chicken Marsala Creamy Mushroom Chicken Honey Lemon Chicken Garlic Butter Chicken
