This Lemon Caper Butter Sauce is a classic piccata sauce made from butter, lemon juice, wine, capers, and parsley. It’s quick and easy to make and enhances any dish with its bright Mediterranean flavors. Once you taste it, you’ll understand why it’s one of my wife’s favorites.
I always serve meat with sauces. It doesn’t matter if it’s lamb, meatballs, or salmon—it just wouldn’t be as moist, flavorful, or balanced without my Dijon Cream Sauce or this refreshing Mint Sauce drizzled on top. This step-by-step guide will show you how to make a lemon caper butter sauce that elevates every protein it touches.
Lemon and Caper Butter Sauce
This lemon caper butter sauce is actually one of the first sauces I ever learned to make. I mastered it as a line cook at a place called Gerard’s in St. Louis. It’s essentially a piccata sauce made from white wine, lemon juice, capers, and cold butter.
The sauce is nothing short of an Italian classic, traditionally served with veal piccata. Capers (small flower buds picked from the caper bush) are the star of the sauce. These tiny green flavor bombs are floral, briny, and salty, bringing bright Mediterranean flavors to every spoonful.
I’d like to say I make this lemon caper sauce every time we have chicken piccata for dinner, but it’s really whenever my wife requests it (it’s one of her favorites). I can’t blame her… The blend of briny and buttery flavors is ridiculously good. It’s a perfect sauce for chicken, fish, steak, and vegetables, and it only takes 10 minutes to make.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter in my cooking because it gives me more control over the salty flavors. Make sure the butter is cold before you get started as well (it helps with emulsification).
- Aromatics – I finely diced a shallot and grated one garlic clove to help them melt right into the sauce.
- Wine – I use a crisp, dry white wine for some acidity. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio are all great options.
- Capers – A must in this caper lemon sauce. You could use green olives as a substitute, but they won’t have the same pop of flavor.
- Lemon – I used the juice and zest from half of a lemon.
- Herbs – Fresh parsley rounds out the fresh flavors. Some fresh dill would also be nice here.
- Seasonings – Just salt and pepper to taste.
How to Make Lemon Caper Butter Sauce
Melt the butter: I add some of the cold butter to a large skillet over low to medium heat and let it melt. Once it’s melted, I add the shallots and garlic to the pan.
Sauté: I stir and sauté the aromatics in the butter until their edges start to brown.
Deglaze the pan: Next, I deglaze the pan with the white wine, then add the capers. I cook the capers until most of the liquid has reduced.
Add the lemon: I add the lemon zest to the pan, then transfer it to a heat-safe surface. I add the remaining cold butter and swirl the pan slowly in a circular motion to melt the butter and emulsify the sauce.
Finish: To finish the sauce, I whisk in the lemon juice, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Chef Tip + Notes
The most important part of making lemon butter piccata sauce is to always start with cold butter. Slowly melting pats of cold butter into the sauce is the best way to prevent it from breaking or separating. I usually slice the butter and keep it in a bowl in the fridge right up until I’m ready to swirl it into the skillet.
- What pan to use: I made the sauce in a large stainless steel skillet, but any saucepan or non-stick skillet will do.
- Rinse the capers: The capers and added salt make this sauce naturally salty. I always taste my capers ahead of time to get a feel for how briny or salty they are. If they taste a little too intense, I’ll rinse them under running water before adding them to the pan.
- Control the heat: I keep it on low to medium heat when making this sauce. If the heat is too high or too low, the butter may separate.
- Wine-free: The alcohol in the wine does cook off as it reduces, but I’ll sometimes replace the wine with an equal amount of homemade chicken stock. An extra squeeze of lemon juice does a great job of replacing the missing acidity, too.
- Make it creamy: I love this simple sauce as-is, but whisking in a splash of heavy cream after the white wine has reduced will give it a richer consistency. Gently heat the creamy sauce until it thickens, then add the lemon zest and juice as normal.
Serving Suggestions
This sauce is absolutely perfect for fish, chicken, and so much more. It’s a classic piccata sauce we like to pour over crispy chicken or veal cutlets. It’s even great with my buttery salmon piccata recipe.
Thanks to my wife, we enjoy this sauce with more than just piccata. I’ll sometimes toss it with angel hair pasta topped with pan-seared scallops for a light and bright pasta dinner. When I need a side dish, I’ll pour any leftover sauce over blanched broccolini or oven-roasted potatoes. It adds so much flavor that I rarely need to add extra seasonings.
Make Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: Lemon caper sauce is best served as soon as it is made.
How to Store: Technically, you can store the leftover sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, but it will likely break as it sits.
How to Reheat: Warm the leftover sauce in a skillet over low heat, whisking continuously, until it’s emulsified again. Add an extra splash of lemon juice or chicken broth if needed.
More Sauce Recipes
Lemon Caper Butter Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons cold unsalted butter + 6 tablespoons
- ½ peeled shallot, small diced
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced
- ¼ cup dry white wine, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, etc.
- 3 tablespoons capers, ok with some brine
- zest of ½ lemon
- juice of ½ lemon, about 1 to ½ tablespoons
- 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the 2 teaspoons of butter to a large frying pan over low to medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add in the shallots and garlic.
- Cook while stirring for 1 ½ to 2 minutes or just until the edges start to turn light brown.
- Deglaze with the wine and capers and cook over medium heat until on 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid remain.
- Add the zest and then remove the pan from the cooktop. Place on a heat-safe surface or a kitchen towel. Then add in the remaining 6 tablespoons of cold butter and swirl the pan in a circular motion to slowly emulsify the butter. You can alternatively whisk the butter in.
- Finish by whisking or stirring in the lemon juice, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Lemon Caper Butter Sauce Recipe