You Don't Need Chicken For Piccata: Try This Canned Ingredient Swap

Chicken piccata is a dish that needs no introduction — an irresistible Italian-American staple of pan-fried chicken bathed in a lemon, butter, parsley, and caper sauce. But did you know you don't actually need chicken for a piccata? That's right — you can leave the chicken in the fridge and put a fresh spin on this classic by substituting it with, of all things, canned tuna. The best part? You don't even need to cook! If you're craving the buttery, lemony taste of piccata but have had a long day at work — or just can't be bothered to do the dishes — put the pan away, because this dish has you covered.

If you're a piccata traditionalist, you might be shocked at the prospect of swapping out the chicken at all, but this is nothing new. When Italian-Americans brought over piccata in the 1930s, it was more common to see it made with veal than chicken — as back in the day, veal fetched a lower price (hard to believe, right?). Today, most restaurants in the United States opt for chicken, but even now, back in Italy, it's still more common to use veal. The true heart of this comfort dish is its delicious sauce base, and at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what meat you use: If you've got the sauce, you've got a piccata.

All you need to do to create a delicious, easy piccata using canned tuna is make the sauce. Just combine lemon juice, capers, chopped parsley, and melted butter. Mix this with the tuna and finish things off with salt and pepper — it's really that simple! If you want to make this dish as quickly as possible, you could avoid melting the butter by substituting it with olive oil. In under a minute, you will have a delicious tuna piccata brimming with protein, omega-3 fats, and vitamins B and D12.

Okay, so you've got the canned tuna piccata — now let's spice it up a bit. If you want to add a side dish to the party, you could go with the classics: pasta, vegetables, or rice. If you're feeling more adventurous, though, why not take your toast game to the next level and top it with your tuna piccata instead of, say, avocado? You could also elevate a simple canned tuna pasta salad with the piccata twist. Pair this with a complementary cocktail, such as a French 75 or an Aperol spritz, and you've got breakfast, lunch, and dinner sorted.