This lovely summer is (almost) coming to an end. Before another summer leaves us behind, I want to squeeze in this super easy summer poached chicken recipe.
It requires only 7 simple ingredients (chicken, ginger, scallions, light soy sauce, oil, sugar, and water) that you probably already have in your kitchen, and minimal time on the stove. It can also be made ahead and served at room temperature on warm nights.
So while the day is still long and patience in the kitchen remains short, let this new tasty chicken dish carry you through the rest of the season!
Recipe Origins
I came up with the idea for this dish when thinking of my favorite dipping sauce for poached chicken, or bai qie ji (白切鸡).
The Cantonese traditionally serve poached chicken with a sauce made of ginger, scallion whites, oil, and salt. Truthfully, as a Shanghainese person, I never really got into it. I do like it as a sauce base, but I always add light soy sauce to it (the Shanghainese put soy sauce in everything, as Bill likes to say). The combination is just perfect for my palate, and even Sarah and Kaitlin love it, which makes sense, since they’re half Shanghainese!
The resulting sauce for this poached chicken is actually very similar to a traditional scallion ginger sweet soy sauce mixture usually served over Cantonese steamed fish (see our recipe for steamed whole fish here), so I like to think it pleases the Cantonese palate as well.
When Sarah was little, she wasn’t a big fan of fish, but she LOVED the sauce it came with. We would just spoon the sweet gingery sauce onto her rice, and she was a happy girl. I wish I’d come up with this dish made with chicken back then, as she would’ve gobbled it up!
A Quick Note On Poaching Chicken!
In order to make the poached chicken juicy and silky, it is important to follow the cooking instructions laid out here.
Using high heat and over-boiling the chicken will cause the meat to dry out, especially if you decide to use chicken breast (though I highly recommend using dark meat for this recipe––drumsticks, thighs, or chicken leg quarters).
If you really want this dish to turn out great, we recommend buying an organic, kosher, or pasture raised chicken for this recipe. Poached chicken is all about the texture of the meat, and factory farmed chickens just don’t taste nearly as good.
Ok, on to the recipe!
Poached Chicken with Ginger Scallion Sauce: Recipe Instructions
In a medium pot, bring 4 cups water to a boil along with 3 slices ginger and 1 scallion.
Lower the chicken into the pot, and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. The heat level should be just high enough so the water is moving, without any big bubbles or rolling water.
After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, leave the lid on and let the chicken continue cooking in the warm pot for another 15 minutes.
If you use boneless, skinless chicken breast, you can reduce the cooking time to 5 minutes, but still keep the chicken in the pot for 15 minutes after turning off the heat. To test if the chicken is cooked, pierce the thickest part of the chicken to make sure the juices run clear.
Remove the chicken from the pot and place in ice water for 5 minutes to stop the cooking process and firm up the meat.
Shred the meat onto a serving plate.
To make the sauce, heat 3 tablespoons oil in a saucepan over medium/low heat, and cook the julienned scallion whites until crisp and lightly brown.
Remove and place the scallion whites on top of the shredded chicken.
Now add 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sugar and ½ cup of the water you used to cook the chicken. Stir and bring it to boil.
Now add in the ginger and chopped scallion greens.
Taste for seasoning and add more soy sauce or salt if desired. Bring to a boil again and pour it over the chicken.
Serve! You can serve immediately or at room temperature.
Poached Chicken with Scallion Ginger Sauce
Ingredients
For the chicken:
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 scallions (white and green separated, with the green parts chopped)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup water (the water you cooked the chicken in)
- 15 grams ginger (about 1 1/2 tablespoons, minced)
Instructions
- In a medium pot, bring about 4 cups water to a boil along with 3 slices ginger and 1 scallion. Lower the chicken into the pot, and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. The heat level should be just high enough so the water is moving, without any big bubbles or rolling water.
- After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, leave the lid on and let the chicken continue cooking in the warm pot for another 15 minutes.
- If you use boneless, skinless chicken breast, you can reduce the cooking time to 5 minutes, but still keep the chicken in the pot for 15 minutes after turning off the heat. To test if the chicken is cooked, pierce the thickest part of the chicken to make sure the juices run clear.
- Remove the chicken from the pot and place in ice water for 5 minutes to stop the cooking process and firm up the meat. Shred the meat onto a serving plate.
- To make the sauce, heat 3 tablespoons oil in a saucepan over medium/low heat, and cook the scallion whites until crisp and lightly brown. Remove and place the scallion whites on top of the shredded chicken. Add 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sugar and ½ cup of the water you used to cook the chicken to the remaining oil in the pan. Stir and bring it to boil. Add in the ginger and chopped scallion greens. Taste for seasoning and add more soy sauce or salt if desired. Bring to a boil again and pour it over the chicken.
I made it this week and loved it. Can hardly wait to make it again. It’s one of the dishes we always used to order when we went to NY Noodletown. Happily, we don’t need to wait until we go again (if that’s ever even possible).
That’s wonderful, Michael, glad that this recipe comes in handy.
So delicious and super easy to make! Made it twice the same day! Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
You are very welcome.
This is so delicious!
And forgive me if this is blasphemous, but it’s also crazy good when added to your Yang Chun Mian! I made the soup for my husband when he was ill last week, and I had just enough chicken left over, so I added it for some extra protein for the sick hubs. It was dynamite!
Thank you so much for sharing!
I will have to give it a try, Shanda. Glad your husband liked it.
I made the recipe for dinner tonight! It was delicious 😋 it was also my first time poaching chicken
Thank you, Lizzie, poached chicken is one of the most popular Chinese chicken recipes. You should give it a try! :-)
I’m confused when you say “bring to a boil again”. Is there a supposed to be a break before lowering the chicken into the pot? I’m new to cooking.
Hi Kelly, here are the steps: boil the water – add the drumsticks in (which cools down the water temperature) – bring the water to boil again – reduce heat to simmer.
Thank you for the clarification!
Sooooo delicious and easy to make! This is almost like a simplified version of hainan chicken….
Hehehe…I agree :-)
This was delicious and a hit with the whole family! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
You are so welcome.
Soooooo yummy! Thank you for such a tasty recipe. Followed exactly using chicken thighs and it turned out amazing.
Happy dance!!! Thank you for trying our recipes :-)
Outstanding taste for such simple ingredients. Thank you for the detailed instructions on how to poach the chicken. Timing is spot on. Kids have requested for this dish to be put into regular rotation. Happy kids, happy mum. 😁
You are so right, happy kids, happy mum :-)
This is absolutely delicious. If I ordered this at a restaurant, I would be happy. Thank you for the recipe!
You are very welcome, Elaine.
This is delicious! However, I don’t understand why you put the chicken in an ice bath. I have poached chicken before and I never seen directions that say to put it in an ice bath after it’s done cooking. Cooling down the chicken this much makes it much harder to shred. Is this an Asian thing? It’s delicious anyways. I’m just really curious about the reason for it.
Hi Brooke, the ice bath shocks the skin and turns it crunchy. Did you notice the texture of the skin? It’s snappy :-)
If using boneless, skinless chicken thighs do we still need this step then since there’s no skin? Also assume cooking time reduces to 5 mins (in line with your comment re chicken breasts).
Hi Joie, you can just follow my how to poach chicken breast recipe.