This is the foolproof way to make the JUICIEST Poached Chicken of your life. Dead-easy and guaranteed to work every time, this is a cracker of a chicken breast recipe that everyone should know! Use the chicken for any recipe that calls for cooked chicken – sandwiches, salads, pastas, pies, wraps and burritos.
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Poached Chicken
I feel like poached chicken is a life skill that everyone should know. But depending how it’s executed, on the one hand it can be like chewing on chipboard: dismally dry, impossible to swallow and completely flavourless.
On the other hand – the successful hand – it’s unbelievably succulent, with chicken flavour you never dreamt was possible, and so tender and juicy you can literally SEE the chicken juices sparkling on the surface of every slice.
See?
OK, so let’s get straight to the point – how to make this poached chicken in a way that literally cooks itself, has a huge margin for error, and yields the most incredibly succulent poached chicken you will ever have in your life!
How to poach chicken
Use 250g / 8.5 oz chicken breast that’s boneless and skinless
Place in boiling water, cover, then immediately take it off the stove
Leave for 20 minutes (up to 1 hour ok), then remove the chicken and slice/dice/shred
Prepared to be BLOWN AWAY by how juicy the breast is!
Barely cooking right?? *She says, smugly*
It’s not on the stove. You don’t need a thermometer. You literally walk away and just leave it, knowing that it’s fine even for up to 1 hour – which I have done countless times, lulled into a serious state of relaxation because of how much confidence I have in this recipe!
What you need to make poached chicken
Fundamentally, all you need is chicken breast. But if you’re intending to use the chicken without adding lots of other flavours, it’s nice to add some flavourings into the poaching liquid.
You can add other fresh or dried herbs and dried spices.
DO NOT add salt or other salted liquids like Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce etc. Salt will affect the temperature at which the water comes to a boil and cools, which may affect the chicken cooking through completely using this method.
Chicken breast this succulent and juicy is even delicious eaten plain when it’s freshly made. But here are a just a few more suggestions for what to make with Poached Chicken – the list is long, it’s a handy to have a stash!
What to make with Poached Chicken
Sandwiches – use sliced like cold cuts, or diced and used in a mayonnaise based filling (such as diced avocado, egg, mayonnaise, finely sliced celery, chives, red onion or green onion, mustard, salt and pepper);
Make your own Salad – slice, shred or dice and add to salads. Make your own – try it with the Honey Mustard Dressing (pictured above), French Dressing, Balsamic, Italian, Caesar, or a creamy Yogurt Dressing (5 varieties!);
Chicken Salad – Use it in any main course salad calling for cooked chicken, such as Chinese Chicken Salad, Thai Chicken Salad, Lemon Chicken Salad or Mexican Chicken Salad;
Add chicken into one of these salads to transform them into a meal:
Add poached chicken into one of these salads
Add into a pasta or rice salad;
Soups – add protein into soups, or use in place of chicken in the recipes (except recipes where cooking the chicken forms part of the broth flavour). Here are some suggestions:
Soups for poached chicken (shred or dice)
Serve with Sauce – One of my favourite ways to serve it as a meal is with a simple sauce, like this Honey Mustard Sauce pictured below. Either make a salad (the sauce is really just a dressing, so it’s made for salads!), or serve it over mashed potato or rice, or for low carb options, try creamy mashed cauliflower or cauliflower rice!
More sauces for poached chicken – here are some more sauce options for poached chicken. Some of these recipes have another protein in the recipe – just skip that part and make the sauce!
Ginger Shallot Sauce – this uses this poached chicken recipe! Tastes like Hainanese Chicken.
And a few final ideas for other things to make with poached chicken:
Burritos
Toss into stir fried noodles or fried rice
Make a giant Baked Frittata, add into Quiche or make Mini Quiches
Chicken Rice Casserole – stir it in at the end
Pasta! Use in place of cooking chicken in any pasta recipe (like this Creamy Chicken Pasta) or add it into a meat free one for an extra hit of protein
And with that – I’m out! I hope this poached chicken becomes a staple recipe for you like it is for me. 🙂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Poached Chicken – Foolproof, perfect, AMAZINGLY juicy breast
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts , boneless skinless, 250g/8.5 oz each (Note 1)
Optional flavourings (Note 2)
- 1 lemon , quartered
- 1 bay leaf , dried or fresh
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
Instructions
- Take chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
- Fill a saucepan with water so the chicken breast will be well submerged with at least 2" / 5cm of water above it in a single layer (can be snug but do not stack).
- Add Flavourings, if using (squeeze in lemon juice, add used lemon).
- Bring water to boil.
- Place chicken breast in water, place lid on, bring back up to the boil. IMMEDIATELY remove saucepan from stove and set aside for 20 minutes (it's fine up to 45 min to 1 hr, won't overcook).
- Remove chicken from water. Slice and be amazed how perfectly juicy and tender the breast is!! Or chop/shred and use as desired.
- If reserving for later use, cover loosely to cool then refrigerate whole – see Note 6.
Recipe Notes:
- 250g/8.5oz each chicken breast – leave in water 20 minutes
- 300g/10oz each breast – take out of fridge 30 minutes prior, leave in water for 25 to 30 minutes
- Larger than 300g/10oz – are you sure they are CHICKEN breasts?? ?
- 220g / 7oz or smaller – recipe works fine but is not quite as juicy, but still juicier than normal simmering method. Can pull out of water earlier using a thermometer – cooked breast is 66°C / 151°F, check at 16 minutes.
- Up to 45 minutes, and I still do not notice any loss of juiciness in the breast
- Around 1 hour, I notice that it is slightly less juicy – but still way juicier than the usual methods of poaching!
- Frozen chicken – must be fully thawed before using.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
The pool filter is working overtime!
OMG!!
54 years old and just poached my first chicken breast following this recipe. It, honestly, couldn’t have been easier and the breast WAS tender and juicy.
I couldn’t agree more. This was too my first time poaching chicken and it was so easy. not time consuming at all. Just juicy & tender.
Me too! It was perfect!
Good on you Suzanne! N x
Sounds good and easy. Would this work for fajitas and season the poached chicken slices when heating up with onions and peppers?
Hi Nagi, I’ll be using the meat thermometer method. You’ve written to pull them out at 66°C. It’s that right? I thought chicken had to be 75°C. Cheers
Poached chicken breast. Absolutely perfect. Poached as per instructions a few times now and it never fails. Beautifully cooked and tender. Thanks again Nagi for a great recipe
Great! Thanks… N x
I’ll be poaching chicken tenders per recipe today. Should I discard the poaching water or can I use as soup base? Thank you.
I was about to ask the same question. I’m using it a soup today. The flavour is very mild and needs some salt to be like a real stock. Let’s see what Nagi says.
Followed the recipe as written. PERFECT!!!! Juicy, Fast, Flavourful and Healthy!!! Thank You Nagi!!! 😀
Forgot to give a rating! Stars!!!
PULCHRITUDINOUS-love this i followed the recipe to a t , yummo moist and delish .now i use it with my rice paper wraps and must say it helps me shed the kilos off as well,
Healthy and tasty! Great combo! N x
It sure is ,love your recipes ,THANK YOU
Quote: “Larger than 300g/10oz – are you sure they are CHICKEN breasts??”
Over here in the good ol’ USA, our local retail darling Costco sells absolute freaky factory farmed cutlets in bulk packs. I just scaled a typical *single* cutlet and it weighs in at 13 ounces. These un-natural cutlets also have a really weird texture that I hope will be reduced by this poaching method.
Same here – one chicken breast was 14 oz. before I trimmed it. 😳 Also hoping the weird texture disappears.
This is absolutely amazing! I got chicken breast slices from Aldi’s because my cat and dog are both on restricted diets. This has made my meal preparation for them so much easier … and it’s tasty and healthy for me too. Thank you!!!! I’ll be making chicken this way all the time!
Can you brine the chicken breast ahead of time or does that count as putting something salty in the poaching water? Thanks 🙂
Hi Jennifer, there’s no need to here, the chicken breast is juicy following the recipe 🙂 N x
I made this quite some time ago, with excellent results. Plus it couldn’t be easier. I re-checked the recipe just now, because we are making “Chinese chicken salad” for 6-7 people for lunch Wednesday; so I’m going to poach three breasts today..
Hi Navi,
How long would you recommend for this method if the breasts were wrapped in bacon? (bacon makes everything better!)
I then finish them off in a pan to brown (& render) the bacon
You don’t want any salt in there! So, presumably, you don’t want bacon in there.
*Nagi
Shouldn’t type without my glasses on!
Wow. I actually forgot to let the chicken sit out for a full 30 min, but darn if it didn’t come out after about 40 min with a perfect internal temp of 165. Amazing!!!!
Can this method for chicken breasts be used for chicken thighs?
I’m hoping Nagi agrees with me on this question. For chicken thighs, a similar and foolproof method is to braise them in liquid. A nice slow simmer for 20 to 30 minutes will render them fork tender.
Epic! Life changing. And easy. Thank you 🙏
You’re so welcome Emma!! N x
Absolutely the best way to poach chicken ever! Foolproof is the correct adjective and works every time. Thank you!
This is great. So easy & super moist! I wonder if it would work with bonesless/skinless chicken thighs. Like to cook them up once in awhile to make cat food.
Are you kidding me??? Where has this been all my cooking life? Perfect chicken. So juicy, cooked perfectly (had to leave min in for about 30 min because the chicken was a little thick). Thank you – you’ve changed my salads for the better!
You’re converted not Kristin!!! N x
So going to try this with some organic green teabags in the water
OMG! I made this just now, and cant believe how good this came out. The chicken is the most tender breast I’ve ever made. Thanks Nagi!!!!