Classic Veal Piccata in Less Than 30 Minutes

Written by
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Danilo Alfaro
Tested by
Tara Omidvar Reviewed on 06/15/21 by
Tara is a recipe developer and food photographer based in Toronto. She has had a great passion for baking and cooking since a very young age, and her most favorite ingredient of all time is saffron.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Recipe Testing Panel
Tara Omidvar
Updated 06/21/21
Classic veal piccata on a white rimmed plate

The Spruce
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 16 mins
Total: 26 mins
Servings: 4 servings

Veal piccata is such a simple dish, which might be why it's such a classic comfort food—because where's the comfort in toiling away in the kitchen all night?

But its simplicity belies a complex and wonderful blend of flavors and textures: the tangy lemon, briny capers, and a rich, buttery pan sauce that lovingly envelops the golden brown veal cutlets like a warm blanket. A favorite way to serve veal piccata is with fluffy mashed potatoes, so it's like a blanket and a featherbed. Veal goes well with rice and pasta, too, and vegetables such as green beans, mushrooms, and carrots.

Veal cutlets usually come from the rump, and they're sliced about 1/4 inch thick. They're more like 1/8 inch after pounding, which means they cook quickly in a very hot pan. By the time the outside is perfectly golden brown, they're fully cooked.

Veal piccata derives its name from Italian, and the culinary term means "to be pounded flat." You can ask your butcher to flatten the cutlets for you, but you'll be missing all the fun. Just place them between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap and pound gently with a meat mallet (the flat side, if you please) or some other flat, heavy object. The bottom of a skillet is perfect.

"A quick yet very satisfying recipe. I am a big fan of capers and I love how tangy the sauce tasted at the end. It's an easy recipe with almost no chance of anything going wrong with it. I tried it with some mashed potatoes, and it tasted amazing." —Tara Omidvar

Veal Piccata Tester Image
A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • Kosher salt (to taste)
  • Freshly ground white pepper (to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons high-heat vegetable oil (e.g., safflower, sunflower, peanut, grapeseed)
  • 8 (2-ounce) veal cutlets (pounded flat)
  • 1 cup veal stock (or chicken stock)
  • 1/2 cup dry sherry
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons capers
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons Italian parsley (finely chopped)
  • Garnish: lemon slices

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Classic veal piccata ingredients
    The Spruce

  2. Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a plate or in a shallow baking dish.

    Combine the flour, salt, and pepper

    The Spruce

  3. Heat a heavy-bottomed sauté pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes and let your pan get nice and hot. Once it is, add the oil and heat for another 30 seconds or so. 

    Heat a heavy-bottomed sauté pan with oil over medium-high heat

    The Spruce

  4. Now dredge both sides of the veal cutlets in the flour mixture.

    Both sides of veal cutlet dredged in flour

    The Spruce

  5. Shake off any excess flour and cook them in batches, rather than overcrowding the pan.

    Shake off excess flour and put the veal in pan
     The Spruce

  6. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side or until the cutlets are nicely browned.

    Cook the veal cutlets 2 to 3 minutes per side

    The Spruce

  7. Remove them from the pan and set aside on a plate, covered with foil, while you make the sauce. (You can hold them in a very low-temperature oven if you like.)

    Remove from pan and cover with foil

    The Spruce

  8. Add the stock, sherry, lemon juice, and capers to the pan and scrape off any flavorful bits from the bottom of the pan. 

    Cook veal piccata sauce and scrape the bottom of the pan

    The Spruce

  9. Bring the liquid to a boil, then lower it to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes or until the mixture has reduced by about a third.

    Bring the sauce to a boil then simmer and reduce

    The Spruce

  10. Swirl in the butter and chopped parsley just at the end of the cooking. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt and more lemon juice if needed. 

    Swirl in the butter and chopped parsley into the sauce

    The Spruce

  11. Plate the cutlets, 2 per person, and garnish with lemon slices. Sauce generously and serve immediately. Enjoy.

    Classic veal piccata served with lemon slices

    The Spruce

Tip

  • Dredging the cutlets in flour before cooking aids with browning and also helps thicken the sauce. 

How to Store and Freeze

Leftover veal piccata will keep in the refrigerator for three or four days, if well wrapped. To reheat, place it in a low oven (300 F) with the sauce on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Add some more stock to cover, and cover with foil. Reheat for about 15 to 20 minutes until completely hot.


To freeze leftover veal piccata, separate the veal from the sauce if at all possible. Store the sauce in a zip-close bag or a freezer-safe jar, and the veal, well-wrapped, in a zip-close freezer bag.

Why Is Veal So Expensive?

It's a simple issue of supply and demand. Veal comes from calves, and there are fewer of them that are generally grown for their meat versus adult cows.

Recipe Tags: