Why You’ll Love This this Golden Italian Chicken Francese
This golden, tender chicken gets dipped in a rich egg and parmesan batter that creates the most gorgeous crispy coating when it hits the pan.
The buttery lemon wine sauce is pure magic – it’s tangy, silky, and somehow manages to taste both elegant and comforting at the same time.
Trust me, once you see how that sauce comes together in the same pan where you cooked the chicken, you’ll wonder why you ever bothered with complicated recipes that dirty every dish in your kitchen.
Ingredients List
Let’s gather everything you need to create this restaurant-worthy dish that’ll have your family thinking you’ve been secretly taking cooking classes.
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, filleted thinly to create 2 to 3 breast servings
- 1 cup very condensed chicken broth
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 lemon, juice of
- 3 eggs
- Grated parmesan cheese
- Flour
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Parsley
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (not margarine)
- Linguine
Ingredient Considerations:
- This recipe leans toward the indulgent side with that generous half-cup of butter and egg batter coating, but hey, sometimes comfort food is exactly what we need
- You can lighten things up slightly by using a good quality chicken broth that’s lower in sodium, since you’re already getting plenty of flavor from the parmesan and lemon
- The protein from the chicken and eggs makes this pretty satisfying, so you won’t need huge portions to feel full
- Fresh parsley adds a nice pop of vitamins and color, plus it makes everything look fancy without any extra effort
Step by Step Directions
With tender chicken coated in a rich parmesan batter and finished with a bright lemon butter sauce, this classic Italian-American dish transforms simple ingredients into an elegant meal.
- Prepare the chicken: Dust the thinly filleted chicken breasts with flour, coating all sides evenly.
- Make the batter: In a flat container, whisk together 3 eggs and enough grated parmesan cheese to create a thick batter with pancake-like consistency.
- Cook the chicken: Dip each floured breast into the egg-parmesan batter, then cook in a little olive oil over medium to medium-high heat, browning lightly on both sides until cooked through.
- Keep warm: Remove all chicken to a platter and keep warm while preparing the sauce.
- Start the sauce: In the same skillet, increase heat to medium-high and quickly brown the crushed garlic clove without letting it get too dark.
- Deglaze: Add the white wine to deglaze the pan, letting it boil for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol.
- Build the sauce: Add the condensed chicken broth and butter, cooking until the butter has completely melted.
- Finish the sauce: Whisk in the parsley, then add lemon juice gradually, about 1/4 at a time, tasting until you reach your desired flavor balance.
- Thicken if needed: Adjust consistency by cooking longer to reduce, or thicken with a small amount of flour if desired.
- Serve: Ladle the sauce over the chicken and cooked linguine on individual plates, garnishing with lemon wedges and additional parmesan cheese. For an authentic Italian dining experience, consider making fresh linguine using a premium pasta maker to elevate the texture and flavor of this classic dish.
Substitutions and Variations
- Add some heat: A pinch of red pepper flakes in the sauce transforms this into something with a gentle kick, perfect for those who like their comfort food with a little attitude.
- Herb variations: Fresh thyme or oregano can step in for parsley, and honestly, whatever fresh herbs are languishing in your fridge will probably work just fine.
- Make it richer: Some recipes call for heavy cream stirred in at the end, which turns the sauce into something absolutely decadent – because sometimes you just need that level of indulgence in your life.
Additional Things to Serve With This Dish
This dish practically begs for sides that can soak up that gorgeous, buttery lemon sauce.
- Pasta is the obvious choice – linguine works beautifully, but honestly, any long pasta will do the trick. Angel hair, fettuccine, or even spaghetti all make perfect sauce-catching companions.
- Rice pilaf or risotto turns this into something a bit more elegant, especially if you’re trying to impress someone who thinks you actually know what you’re doing in the kitchen.
- Garlic mashed potatoes might sound heavy, but trust me on this one – they create these little sauce puddles that are basically edible happiness.
- Simple roasted vegetables like asparagus, green beans, or zucchini add some color and crunch without competing with the star of the show.
- Crusty Italian bread is non-negotiable if you ask me, because someone needs to clean up every last drop of that sauce, and it might as well be bread doing the heavy lifting.
- A light salad with lemon vinaigrette keeps things balanced – arugula or mixed greens work perfectly, and the peppery bite cuts through all that richness.
- Roasted broccoli or broccolini adds a nice bitter note that plays beautifully against the lemony sauce, plus it makes you feel like you’re eating vegetables, which counts for something.
Cooking Tips & Tricks (Chef’s Notes)
• Save those brown bits – after you remove the chicken, those little golden pieces stuck to the pan are pure flavor gold.
They’re what makes your sauce taste like it came from a fancy restaurant instead of your Tuesday night kitchen.
- Add lemon juice at the very end – heat destroys that bright, fresh lemon flavor faster than you can say “overcooked,” so wait until the last possible moment.
- Taste as you go – your lemon might be more or less tart than mine, your wine might be drier, and your taste buds are definitely different from everyone else’s, so adjust accordingly.
Nutritional Facts
Based on a typical serving (serves 2-3), this Italian comfort food delivers a satisfying balance of protein and carbs with moderate calories.
- Calories: Approximately 650-750 per serving (including pasta)
- Protein: 35-40g from chicken breast and eggs
- Carbohydrates: 45-55g primarily from linguine and flour coating
- Fat: 25-30g from butter, olive oil, and egg yolks
- Sodium: 800-900mg from chicken broth and parmesan cheese
- Calcium: 15-20% daily value from parmesan cheese and eggs
- Vitamin C: 25-30% daily value from fresh lemon juice
- Iron: 10-15% daily value from chicken and enriched pasta
- Saturated Fat: 12-15g mainly from butter and cheese
- Cholesterol: 180-220mg from chicken and eggs
Fun “Did You Know?”
Did you know that Chicken Francese isn’t actually French despite its name? I find it fascinating that this beloved dish was created by Italian-American immigrants in New York during the early 1900s.
They cleverly adapted traditional Italian cooking techniques, using the French-style egg batter method to create something entirely new.
Here’s another fun fact: the dish is virtually unknown in Italy itself! It’s purely an American creation.
The name “Francese” means “French-style” in Italian, referring to the light, airy egg coating. Most Italian restaurants in Italy won’t have this on their menus – it’s our delicious Italian-American invention.
