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Poached Chicken
Posted by Elise on
Filed under Chicken, Gluten-Free, How To, Low Carb, Main Course, Quick
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As fond as one may be of bacon and butter, sometimes the body just wants something light. What do you make when you want a light meal? I’ve taken to poaching chicken, using a pretty cool method taught to me by Hank Shaw. The method reminds me of sous-vide, but you don’t need any fancy equipment, just plastic wrap and a big pot of hot water. You take a strip of boneless, skinless chicken breast, season it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and then drop it in hot water. That’s it. So easy. The result is tender, moist, perfectly cooked chicken, with no added fat.
The key to the success of this technique is to never put the rolled-up chicken into boiling water; boiling water is too hot and will overcook the meat. Instead, bring the water to a simmer and then turn off the heat. Once the water stops bubbling, you can add the meat. As the water temperature slowly drops, the chicken is gently cooked all the way through. Small chicken breasts will be perfectly cooked in 15 minutes, but you can leave them in the water for 30 minutes with no loss of flavor or texture.
Make sure that your slices of chicken or other meat are not more than 3 inches in diameter. If they are wider, you can still use this method, but you might need to turn the burner on “low” to keep the temperature from falling below 140 degrees.
Wrapping the meat in plastic wrap seals in the juices and helps infuse the meat with the seasonings while it cooks. Make sure you use a good quality plastic wrap; any that say “microwave safe” on the packaging will do.
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Poached Chicken Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
This recipe is designed for chicken breasts, but you can also do this with turkey breast, pork tenderloin or a meaty fish such as halibut.
You can double this recipe, but if you do, use a larger pot and double the amount of poaching water.
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Ingredients
- 1 skinless chicken breast (1/2 pound)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- A couple pinches of salt
- A couple pinches of a dried herb of your choice - tarragon, oregano, basil, rosemary, or thyme, or some other seasoning such as cumin or paprika
- Plastic wrap*
*Use a good quality plastic wrap that can withstand some heat. Look for packaging that indicates you can use the plastic wrap in a microwave oven. If it can handle a microwave oven, it will hold up in boiling water.
Method
1 Trim all the fat from the chicken breast and slice it lengthwise. In a small bowl mix the lemon juice, salt, and herbs. Add the chicken pieces and coat all over with the lemon juice mixture. Let the chicken pieces sit in the lemon juice while you heat the water in the next step.
2 Bring a pot of water (2 1/2 quarts of water, 4 quart pot) to a high simmer.
3 Roll out a long sheet of plastic wrap at least twice as long as the chicken breast slices. Place 1 chicken strip on the plastic wrap, in the middle. Roll up the chicken in the plastic wrap tightly. Compress as much air out of the chicken as you can as you roll it. Once the chicken is rolled up, rotate it on your cutting board or counter several times to tighten the cylinder even more. Tie the loose ends of the plastic wrap together in a double knot. Repeat with the second chicken strip.
4 Once the water has reached a high simmer, turn off the heat (keep the pot on the burner though) and drop the rolled-up chicken cylinders in the pot. Cover the pot and let the chicken steep for 15 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through by then. (If for some reason the chicken is not cooked through, for example if you are using larger than called for breasts, or if you are using frozen chicken that hadn't quite defrosted before starting cooking, you can always put the chicken back in the poaching liquid for a few more minutes.)
5 To serve, snip off the tied ends of the plastic wrap, and unwrap. Note that there will be some juice inside the plastic wrap with the chicken, which has lots of flavor. So you might want to unwrap the chicken pieces over a bowl or something to catch the juice, which you can then pour over the chicken if you want. Or serve the chicken with a sauce of your choice.
Yield: Serves 2.
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76 Comments
looks gorgeous!!! will definitely give this a try at some point. yum! I have an aversion to breast meat but this might be just the trick. Will let you know when I try it out!!! thanks!
This is an intriguing idea that I’m interested in trying, but I have a question. Do the instructions change if cooking on an electric stove and, if so, how, please?
The instructions would be the same on gas or electric. ~Elise
Hi Elise,
This looks something I need after a month in the UK! It reminds me of poaching a whole salmon, I haven’t done it in a while, but you bring the bouillon to the boil and then put the salmon in the fish kettle and turn off the heat and let it poach in the cooling liquid. Have also heard of people poaching a salmon wrapped in plastic wrap in the dish washer, sans soap of course! Never tried it myself, but love the inventiveness. Hope to see you in Provence soon.
What a great way to make chicken, I never would have thought of doing that! Now I need to give this technique a try. It must taste great with all the moisture locked inside the chicken like that.
Oh wow I don’t think I’ve seen a more perfect piece of chicken breast. Will definitely be trying this cool technique soon!
This is simple and brilliant. Will it work if chicken fillet with skin on is used and the skin browned quickly after the cooking process?
No idea, but if you try it that way, please let us know how it turns out for you. ~Elise
Thanks so much Elise! I have been wanting to try poaching and this method seems perfect for a poaching novice!
How wonderfully clever, healthy, and delicious. I often marinate chicken in lemon juice and tarragon, but then it dries out a bit in the oven. I poach chicken frequently, but it’s still not as moist as yours sounds. Thanks!
What a great idea! I’m going to have to try this!
A few months back, I made a balsamic poached chicken (recipe from Real Simple). It was absolutely delightful, perfect for spring.
I can’t wait to try this version. It looks amazing.
That looks so healthy and easy! One of my favorite ways to eat chicken is the Chinese way of poaching a whole chicken (known as “white cut chicken” as a literal translation of name of the dish). Poaching like this really allows the natural flavors of the meat to shine. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
Awesome idea! I’ve always been curious about the sous vide process and have been wanting to try it. This is one simple way to get a little idea of the process and get tasty results – so, THANK YOU! You have made dinnertime a delicious adventure at my house as I’ve tried MANY of your recipes and succeeded (and that’s saying a lot for this “better late than never” cook). As always, thank you, Elise!
How timely! Thanks so much for sharing this delicious-sounding recipe. It will be a great addition for summer when it’s just too hot to turn the oven on much. I’m looking forward to trying this very soon.
Neato! Thank you for sharing this clever idea!
Is there an alternative to chemical-leaching plastic?
If you are concerned about the plastic touching the food under heat, I would try tightly wrapping the chicken in parchment paper first (just enough to cover the meat) and then wrapping it all with plastic wrap as instructed. ~Elise
I think I’ve exhausted all other options of cooking chicken, and yet I’ve never tried poaching. I’ve never so much as poached eggs. This looks surprisingly simple, though, and surprisingly good. I’ll definitely have to give it a shot this week with some lemon juice and tarragon – yum!
And Angela.. the dishwasher? Now that’s inventive! :)
Take care,
-Chelsey
Elise – Any suggestions if I don’t have good quality plastic wrap available? I’m living in India right now and the plastic wrap I can find here is really really thin. Would it work if I wrap it in more layers? This sounds really easy and healthy too! Thanks for your wonderful recipes!
Hi Amanda, if you don’t use good quality plastic wrap it will melt when it gets in the hot water. You might try wrapping the chicken first in parchment paper, just enough to surround the chicken, and then again with aluminum foil. You don’t want the aluminum foil touching the chicken that has been doused in lemon juice because the acid in the lemon juice will react with the aluminum and give you an off taste. ~Elise
What a cool idea! This is just what I was looking for no butter or fat, hot summer ya just don’t want heavy things. Better for you too.
Do you think this would work for the same size pieces of dark meat chicken?
Dark meat takes longer to cook, so you might need to keep it in the poaching liquid longer. ~Elise
I love poached chicken and have used a similar method on a whole (small) chicken. Bring the water to the boil, put the chicken in the pot,then turn off the heat, cover the pot for one hour. (Since you can add veggies to the water which will flavor the chicken, you also have a jump start on a chicken stock.) But this method of yours (well, Hank’s) sounds perfect for when you just want a light meal for one or two, and don’t want a big mess of hot chicken liquid, not to mention a bunch of skin and bones to clear away, not to mention who wants to heat up the kitchen with steamy poaching liquid when its 95 degrees out!
But really what I wanted to say was that my favorite way to serve poached chicken is with a salsa verde, and with so many beautiful herbs in season now, this is a great time to try the recipe.
So, thanks!