Poached chicken is one of the world’s easiest recipes, fast and foolproof. All you need is water, an onion, spices, two minutes of prep and fifteen minutes of simmering. Once you make poached chicken from scratch you’ll be won over it’s fresh flavors, tenderness and juiciness.
Freshly poached chicken is the key to making great chicken salad and many other delicious dishes.
Texture is everything when it comes to great chicken salad. The best dressing can’t do justice to dry, chewy chicken.
When you poach chicken breasts from scratch, you get fresh tasting, tender, juicy chicken that will elevate your chicken salad to the highest heights of deliciousness.
HOW TO MAKE PERFECT POACHED CHICKEN BREASTS:
The technique is simple. Place raw chicken breasts in a pot; cover them with cold water by an inch or two; add aromatic herbs and spices; and simmer VERY GENTLY for 10-14 minutes, until tender.
You can adjust the flavor of the chicken by selecting herbs and spices that fit with your recipe. If you’re poaching chicken for curried chicken salad, you might want to throw in some aromatic cloves and allspice berries, maybe a slice of ginger root.
If you’re making a vibrant Venezuelan chicken salad, you could toss in a couple of smashed garlic cloves and a few sprigs of cilantro. Or use the simple basic poaching recipe I’ve given you here, and you’ll get great poached chicken that will be delicious in any recipe.
When your poached chicken breasts are cool enough to handle, shred, slice or cube them. I like cubes of poached chicken for my curried chicken salad.
I prefer shredded chicken for my Venezuelan avocado chicken salad.
By the way, if you want to try something amazing, check out these Venezuelan Arepas stuffed with Avocado Chicken Salad.
Keep some chicken breasts in the freezer and you’ll have poached chicken at your fingertips any time you want it. Homemade poached chicken is an excellent choice for any dish that calls for plain sliced, cubed or shredded chicken. Here’s another delicious dish that will be even better with homemade poached chicken, Coconut Curry Chicken Soup.
So will this one – Spicy Sesame Peanut Noodles with Chicken
….and this one – Curried Butternut Squash, Lentil and Chicken Stew
For a healthy lunch or a light dinner, slice your poached chicken breasts, salt and pepper them, and serve them on top of a simple green salad with citrus vinaigrette.
Here’s the recipe for how to make perfect poached chicken. If you try this I hope you’ll come back to leave review and let me know what you think.
PrintHow To Make Perfect Poached Chicken
How to poach chicken: Tender homemade poached chicken is essential for making great chicken salad.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
- Category: Technique
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 4 halves (about 2 pounds)
- ½ small onion, peeled
- 5 whole pepper corns
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- a pinch of salt
- Note: You can add other aromatics to your poaching water. Use whatever you have on hand or tailor the flavors to suit the type of dish your making. Here are some options: smashed garlic cloves, sliced ginger root, parsley stems, cilantro stems, basil stems, a sprig of rosemary, a few sprigs of thyme…
Instructions
- Place chicken in a large deep pot. Add cold water to 1 inch above the chicken. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat. Immediately lower to a very gentle simmer (barely bubbling) and cook, uncovered, for 10-14 minutes. Timing will depend on the thickness of the breasts. Check for doneness after 10 minutes by slicing into the thickest part of the breast. The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 165. If there’s no pink color and no pink juices, that’s a good indication of doneness. Immediately remove chicken from the cooking water and let it cool for a few minutes.
- Transfer chicken to a cutting board and shred it, slice it or cut into bite-size cubes. If you’re not using it right away, store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
This recipe is assuming each whole chicken breast weighs about 1 pound – or 8 ounces per half breast. If your chicken breasts are much smaller than this, check for doneness after 8 minutes of simmering.
This is super useful! Thanks for the instructions and pictures. I have been poaching salmon for my weekly lunch meal-prep for a while but I grew up vegetarian and was unsure how to poach chicken. I plan on making your avocado chicken salad recipe with it for lunch this week!
★★★★★
Hi, what would be the timing to poach chicken thigh fillets (without skin) put in whole?
Thanks
Hi Shelly, you can follow the same recipe for boneless, skinless thighs. If they aren’t fully cooked when you turn off the heat, leave them in the water for 5 minutes or so, until they are.
Hello! I’m wondering if one could poach chicken breasts straight from the freezer. If so, how would that change the timing?
Great question! Yes you can poach frozen chicken. Use the same technique of bringing the water to a boil and turning it down to a simmer. The general rule of thumb is to double the cooking time if the meat is frozen however if you want tender poached chicken I suggest you check for doneness by slicing into the center at ten minutes and again every 3 minutes or so, until the chicken is just cooked through and no longer pink in the center.