You Can Make This Easy Italian Chicken Saltimbocca Recipe in Just 30 Minutes
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Saltimbocca means “jump in the mouth,” and it’s a nostalgic staple of the Italian-American restaurant experience. The combination of prosciutto and sage is savory and comforting, and just complicated enough that it seems like a special restaurant treat — not something you could make at home. But oh is that wrong! With some chicken cutlets and half an hour, you really can make chicken saltimbocca at home, and it’s the perfect cure for boring chicken breasts or perfunctory weeknight dinners.
This version features chicken cutlets with fresh sage and prosciutto in a bright, savory sauce made with white wine and lemon. It tastes like a special event, but it also takes less than 30 minutes to make, and you can toss a sheet pan full of vegetables into the oven while the chicken cooks, and you’ll have a full meal by the time the timer goes off.
Slice your chicken breasts through the middle so you have thin chicken cutlets. You could also pound them to an even consistency if you’d like. It’s a good way to tenderize the meat and make sure the chicken cooks evenly. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, then sprinkle the top side of each cutlet with minced fresh sage and place a slice of prosciutto on top. (The author says the fresh sage is what makes this chicken recipe so delicious, but covering the chicken in prosciutto certainly doesn’t hurt.)
Cook the cutlets, prosciutto-side down, in olive oil for about three minutes, then flip them over and cook them until the chicken is cooked through. Set the chicken aside and use the remaining oil and pan drippings as the base for the sauce.
If you have more than about a teaspoon of oil left in the pan, pour the excess off and then add minced shallot and cook until it’s translucent. Stir some flour into the oil and let it cook for a minute before pouring chicken broth and white wine into the pan and scraping up any leftover browned bits with a spatula. Let the sauce simmer until it’s thickened and reduced by about half, then lower the heat and stir some butter into the sauce along with fresh lemon juice and parsley. Put the chicken back in the pan, prosciutto-side up this time, and let it simmer until the chicken is warmed back up again, and then you’re ready to serve it.
You can serve this with vegetables, potatoes, rice, or pasta. Whatever you do, make sure to serve it with something that will soak up that great sauce, because you’re not going to want to leave any of that deliciousness behind on the plate.
Get the recipe: Easy Chicken Saltimbocca from Food with Feeling
