Poach Chicken
Poached chicken is delicious, easy to make, and (most exciting of all) very healthy. Serve it as a main course or add it to homemade soups. Here are three ways to make tasty poached chicken.
Contents
Ingredients
Basic Poached Chicken
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (8 oz. each)
- ½ of a medium-sized yellow onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 lemon, (optional)
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 3 sprigs thyme or parsley
Plastic Wrap Poached Chicken
- 1 skinless chicken breast (1/2 pound)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- A couple pinches of salt
- A couple pinches of a dried herb (tarragon, oregano, basil, rosemary, or thyme, cumin or paprika)
Milk or Cream Poached Chicken
- A chicken breast
- 2 tablespoons of melted butter
- 2 cups of cream or 2% milk
- For a low-fat alternative, use cooking spray (such as Pam), and skim milk instead of cream or 2% milk.
Steps
Basic Poached Chicken
- Cut up the vegetables and chicken. Use a chopping board and a sharp knife. Be careful when handling the knife. Cut the chicken after you have cut everything else. Make sure that the raw chicken or its juices do not touch any of the other ingredients before cooking.
- Cut the onion in half. You will only be using ½ of the onion.
- Cut the carrot into thirds.
- Cut the celery stalk into thirds.
- Peel the garlic cloves.
- Slice the lemon into thin slices. Adding the lemon is optional.
- Combine all of the ingredients except for the chicken in the skillet or pot. Pour water in so that it covers all of the ingredients by ½ an inch.
- Bring the water and ingredients to a boil. Put the lid on the skillet or pot.
- Remove the lid and add the chicken breasts. Bring the skillet back to a boil but do not put the lid back on. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Place the lid back on the skillet and remove it from the heat. Let the skillet stand for 15 to 18 but remember to flip the chicken at around 8 minutes. During this time, the chicken will be cooking all the way through.
- Check to make sure the chicken is cooked through. The meat should be whitish. Remove from the broth and serve.
Plastic Wrap Poached Chicken
- Purchase good quality plastic wrap. Look for plastic wrap that can withstand some heat. If a box of plastic wrap says it can be used in a microwave, you’re good to go. It just needs to be able to heat since it will be placed in boiling water.
- Trim all the fat from the chicken. If you buy lean chicken, this will most likely not be necessary. Cut the chicken lengthwise.
- Mix the lemon juice, salt, and herbs in a bowl. Stir it thoroughly so that the salt and herbs are evenly spread around the bowl. Add the chicken breast pieces to the bowl. Make sure that they are coated evenly in the lemon juice mixture. Let the pieces sit in the mixture for several minutes.
- Bring 2 ½ quarts of water to a high simmer in a pot.
- Tear a long sheet of plastic wrap. It should be at least twice as long as the chicken breast pieces. Remove the chicken from the lemon juice mixture and place it in the middle of the plastic wrap sheet.
- Roll the chicken tightly in the plastic wrap. As you roll it, compress as much air out of the plastic wrap and chicken as possible. You want the plastic to be as tightly wrapped around the chicken as possible so that the chicken poaches properly.
- Hold the plastic ends of both chicken like you would a rolling pin. Roll the wrapped chicken along a flat surface (like a cutting board) just like you would roll a rolling pin. This will wrap the plastic evenly more tightly around the chicken.
- Tie the loose ends of the plastic wrap together into a double knot. Repeat this wrapping process with the other chicken breast.
- Turn off the heat once your pot has reached a high simmer. Do not take the pot off of the hot burner. Drop the plastic-wrapped chicken pieces into the water. Be careful not to splash yourself with the very hot water.
- Cover the pot with the lid. Let the chicken steep in the water for 15 minutes. If you are using very large chicken breast pieces, or are using defrosted chicken that had not defrosted all the way, you may want to let it steep for several minutes more.
- Remove the chicken from the water with a ladle or other utensil. To remove the chicken from the plastic, hold the chicken over a bowl using oven mitts.
- Snip the ends of the plastic with a pair of scissors. There are tasty juices inside the plastic wrap so make sure to hold the chicken well over the bowl in order to catch those juices.
- Place the chicken on a plate. You can pour the saved juices on top of the chicken to add extra flavor.
Milk or Cream Poached Chicken
- Turn the stove on high. Place {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of butter into the pan, or spray the cooking spray on the pan. Let the butter melt.
- Place the chicken breast(s) in the pan. Pour 2 cups of milk or cream into the pan so that most of the chicken breast is covered. Let the milk or cream begin to boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Only do this once the milk or cream has reach a boil. Let the breast(s)s poach, or boil, for an additional 20 minutes.
- If there is a meat thermometer handy, poach until the internal temperature of the chicken is at 165 degrees.
- Cut into a thick piece of the chicken to see if it is done. Make sure the juices are clear and the meat is whitish-gray.
- Remove the chicken from the pan when it is cooked through. For a balanced meal, serve with a carb or starch (like pasta or potatoes) and a vegetable (like green beans).
- Finished.
Things You'll Need
- Large skillet
- Plastic wrap
- Large {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} saucepan, at least {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} deep
- Sizable cover for saucepan
- Meat thermometer (optional)
- Knife
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