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Chicken Piccata with Spaghetti

This twist on traditional chicken piccata cooks in a pressure cooker. Chicken is dredged in flour and sautéed until brown on one side. Then shallots, capers and garlic are sautéed. Next chicken stock and uncooked spaghetti is added to the pot before sealing. After five minutes of pressure cooking fresh spinach, lemon zest and lemon juice are added to the pasta. The sauce sits for five minutes to thicken. Then chicken is served on top of the pasta and sauce.
Course Entree
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp AP flour
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 small (6 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 large shallot thinly sliced
  • 3 tbsp drained capers
  • 5 medium garlic cloves thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
  • 2 ¾ cups chicken stock
  • 8 oz dry uncooked spaghetti, broken in half
  • 2 cups loosely packed baby spinach or chopped chard leaves
  • 1 ½ tsp finely grated lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

  1. On a dinner plate combine the flour with ¾ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour and shake off any excess.
  2. Put oil and butter in the pot, select sauté and adjust to more/high heat. When the oil mixture is hot, brown the chicken in batches on one side only, about 4 minutes per batch. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Add the shallot, capers and garlic to the pot and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the vermouth and cook for 1 minute to burn off some of the alcohol. Press cancel.
  3. Add the stock and pasta to the pot and stir to combine. Place the chicken and any accumulated juices on the plate in the pot on top of the pasta but do not stir them in. Lock the lid, select the pressure cook function and adjust to low press for 5 minutes. Make sure the steam valve is in the “sealing” position and that the “keep warm” button is off.
  4. When the cooking time is up, quick release the pressure. Remove the lid and insert an instant-read thermometer into the center of the thickest part of the chicken; it should register 160 F. If it’s not done, cover the pot with a regular lid and let the mixture stand for a minute; the residual heat will finish cooking the chicken.
  5. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Add the spinach, lemon zest and lemon juice to the pasta mixture and stir with tongs, breaking up any pasta clumps. Let the mixture sit the pot for 5 minutes for the sauce to thicken. Season with salt and pepper. Mound the pasta on four dinner plates and top with chicken and sauce. Serve.