How to poach chicken

We all love a traditionally cooked roast chicken. However, there are other ways you can cook one that makes them just as tasty and tender – as well as being better for you. So here, I’ll be talking about how to poach a chicken in water.

Poaching is a great way to cook a chicken because it’s really easy to do and the meat falls of the bone when you take it out the pan. It’s also a really healthy way to cook and the meat stays really tender.

What’s also great, if you add some vegetables in the pan of water as well, you’re left with a really tasty chicken broth/stock.

Poaching a whole chicken

1. Firstly, get yourself a large pan or casserole and fill it about 2/3 full with water.
2. Put the pan on the hob, put the lid on and bring the water up to boiling point.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the chicken by untying any string and spreading the legs so the chicken is left wide open.
4. Once the water has reached boiling point, really carefully place the chicken into the pan – being careful that no hot water overspills from the pan.
5. Bring the pan back up to simmering then put the lid on and leave to poach.

How long to poach the chicken

A small chicken will take about 1 hour to poach, a medium chicken – about 1 hour 20 minutes, and a large chicken about 1 hour 30 minutes.

6. When the chicken has finished poaching, carefully remove it from the pan into a dish. Be really careful as some of the chicken pieces are likely to fall off whilst moving it.
7. As always, check the chicken is cooked through by cutting into it and checking the juices run clear.
8. Then simply tear off all the meat with a folk and sharp knife.

You can use the meat from a poached chicken in loads of different ways, whether you’re using it in a chicken salad or sandwich, or, you’re adding it to a curry. If you’re using the meat in a recipe where the chicken is stewed (e.g. a curry or casserole), simply add the meat to the pan when you start reducing down your sauce. Because the chicken has already been poached, you won’t need to add it when you’re frying your onions and garlic for example.

Check out the video below on how to poach a chicken and be sure to check out some of my chicken recipes where you can use the meat from this method of cooking a chicken.