Scaloppine al Limone Recipe - Maplewood Road (2024)

Scaloppine al limone is a classic Italian dish. It’s easy to make, easy to adjust to your liking, and easy on the budget.

This basic recipe uses simple ingredients that you most likely already have in your pantry and fridge. No special kitchen equipment and no special cooking techniques required.

Learn how to make this Italian signature dish as outlined below and then tweak a little here and there to make it your signature dish. Your family and friends will be delighted.

Scaloppine al limone is a traditional Italian dish that can be served any weeknight but will hold up easily for a festive weekend dinner with friends. Any time of the year.

Maybe you like a quick Italian flavor fix. Make this scaloppine al limone and serve over some pasta or simply with a nice crusty bread to soak up the pan sauce.

Or maybe you’re having friends over for a nice dinner. Make this scaloppine al limone and serve over a nice arugula and tomato salad with a little balsamic vinaigrette and a nice glass of red wine on the side.

🧾 Ingredients

• Boneless chicken thighs
• Olive oil
• Flour
• Butter
• Lemon
• Kosher salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Flat-leaf Italian parsley (optional)
• Capers (optional)

See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and their measurements.

📋 Equipment

All you need are kitchen essentials. A cutting board, a chef's knife, and a frying pan.

Great meals are not made with fancy equipment. Great meals come together by using the right ingredients, ratios, and techniques. And tasting is the number one technique to be wildly successful in the kitchen.

Don’t get distracted by all the “must-have'' kitchen gadgets. Less is more. Your senses are better than the best equipment. The less equipment you use, the better you’ll know the benefits and shortcomings of each.

🔪 Prepping the chicken

Pat the boneless chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Place in a ziploc bag and pound thin with a rolling pin or empty wine bottle to about ⅛” thick. Make sure each thigh is evenly thin, to ensure even cooking.

Place the cutlets on a cutting board and season with about ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons flour, making sure to cover both sides. Use your hands to evenly distribute the flour on the cutlets.

🥘 Cooking

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large frying pan. Turn the heat to medium-high until the oil starts to slightly sizzle.

Add the cutlets and adjust the heat. The oil should bubble along the edge of the meat. That’s the perfect temperature. You can also stick the end of a wooden spoon into the oil and see how it forms little bubbles around the spoon handle to know that the oil has reached the perfect temperature.

Make sure the cutlets don’t touch each other. You want them to fry and not steam. Depending on the size of the pan and the number of cutlets you’re cooking, you might have to make them in batches. If so, add a little more olive oil between batches as needed.

Brown one side for about 4 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for another 3 minutes. The first time you make them, it’s okay to remove a cutlet at this point, cut it in half, and check for doneness (cooked all the way through, with no pink meat inside).

Use your senses when cooking. Recipe instructions such as “cook for 5 minutes,” “over medium heat,” etc, are guidelines. No recipe author knows exactly how hot your pan is or how thin your meat is. You are the chef. I’m only providing you with the ingredients, amounts, steps, and techniques. The details are in your hands.

Once all your cutlets are perfectly browned, add the butter and lemon juice to the pan and let it sizzle for another 3 minutes. During this time, use a spoon to baste the meat a couple times with the cooking liquid.

🥄 Tasting

Now it’s a good time to taste. With a spoon, scoop up a little cooking liquid. Wait a second before trying, it’s hot. Taste, add a little more salt and/or black pepper, as needed. Taste again. Remember, you can always add more salt, but it’s pretty challenging to remove it.

When the sauce tastes the way you like it, place the cutlets on a plate, drizzle the pan juices over, and sprinkle with freshly chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley. Maybe add a slice of lemon on top.

It doesn’t get easier and tastier than this.

⭐ Tip: When life gives you a lemon, squeeze it. To get the most juice out of a lemon, put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, then let cool. Then roll the lemon on a cutting board with the palm of your hand, cut in half, stick a fork in, squeeze, and turn. Pretty amazing how much juice you can extract. No fancy juicer required.

🍽 Serving suggestions

No problem. I love chicken thighs for their flavor and juiciness. But they do require a little trimming before cooking and not everybody likes doing that.

Use chicken breasts instead. Or pork cutlets. Italians often use veal cutlets. It’s up to you. Just make sure that after you pound them thin, they all have an even thickness to ensure even cooking.

Serving suggestions

If you have a strong craving for a butter-lemon pan sauce, make yourself some extra cutlets, add some extra butter and lemon juice, and simply pour everything over egg noodles. Topped off with some parsley.

Even better, if you have some nice crusty bread left that’s just about to go stale, forget about the noodles, dunk the bread in the sauce instead, and you’ll thank me.

But what about if friends are coming over and you’re having some wine with dinner? One suggestion: get some baby arugula and cherry tomatoes for a nice side dish. And because scaloppine al limone is an Italian dish, an Italian salad dressing is a must. So here’s my 5-minute balsamic vinaigrette recipe that yields 4 servings:

Put 2 tablespoons of good (preferably aged) balsamic vinegar in a mason jar. Add ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon honey, and ½ teaspoon freshly minced garlic. Add a pinch of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Close the jar and give it a good shake. This stuff is dynamite. If you want to make more than 4 servings, just double or triple the ingredients. The vinaigrette stays good for up to three weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.

❓ FAQ

All you need are kitchen essentials. A cutting board, a chef's knife, and a frying pan.

Great meals are not made with fancy equipment. Great meals come together by using the right ingredients, ratios, and techniques. And tasting is the number one technique to be wildly successful in the kitchen.

Don’t get distracted by all the “must-have'' kitchen gadgets. Less is more. Your senses are better than the best equipment. The less equipment you use, the better you’ll know the benefits and shortcomings of each.

A few words about food safety

Don’t rinse raw chicken with water. It's a misconception that rinsing poultry helps reduce the spread of harmful bacteria. It's the opposite. Any bacteria in and on the meat will be eliminated by cooking the chicken to an internal temperature of 165°F. Washing the chicken first will only splatter water droplets around the sink after hitting the chicken. Instead, all you need to do is pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.

Use different cutting boards for meats and vegetables. If you use plastic cutting boards, add some colored tape around the handle to distinguish them from each other. The article linked above goes into much deeper detail about different types of cutting boards, their uses, and care.

No problem. I love chicken thighs for their flavor and juiciness. But they do require a little trimming before cooking and not everybody likes doing that.

Use chicken breasts instead. Or pork cutlets. Italians often use veal cutlets. It’s up to you. Just make sure that after you pound them thin, they all have an even thickness to ensure even cooking.

What does scaloppine mean?

Thanks for asking. I thought you never would 😅 Scaloppine is the plural and diminutive of scaloppa - a thinly sliced cut of meat. Italians mostly use beef, veal, or chicken that’s dredged in flour and cooked in a reduction sauce. Pretty vague but pretty tasty.

Looking for more delicious meals? Check out a few more of our recipes now:

• Garlic Lemon Chicken
• Creamy Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms and Fresh Parsley
• Salt and Pepper Chicken
• Easy Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
• Creamy One Pan Chicken and Beans
• Crispy Chicken Burger
• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Charcoal Grilled Chicken Wings

Did you make my Scaloppine al Limone? Let us know in the comments below!

📝 Recipe