Poached chicken is fantastic to have on hand for salads, pastas and sandwiches. Use it right away or freeze the extras for later. This tutorial will show you how to poach chicken breasts in minutes! 106 calories and 0 Weight Watchers Freestyle SP
When I first started cooking, my idea of poaching chicken breasts was to throw them into a pot of boiling water and cook the heck out of them. Efficient? Yep. But turned the chicken breasts into rubbery frisbees of poultry. Not exactly what I had in mind for a perfect summer salad.
The beauty of poaching several chicken breasts at once is that you’ll have meat for several meals. Either slice or shred the cooked chicken and store it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Alternatively, divide the chicken into meal-sized portions, wrap in plastic wrap and freezer bags, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just defrost the packages as you need them and serve the chicken in pasta dishes, on salads or in sandwiches. Easy meal prep!
So, what’s the right way to poach chicken breasts?
If you read various cookbooks or cruise around on the internet, you’ll find as many ways to poach chicken as there are cooking websites. Some require putting the saucepan in the water while others suggest you remove the saucepan from the heat altogether.
My favorite method is placing the boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a large saucepan with a variety of seasoning and aromatics, such as lemon slices, fresh or dried herbs and a dash of salt and pepper. Cover the chicken breasts with cold water, bring to a boil, then gently simmer for about 15 minutes.
You’ll be rewarded with tender, juicy and flavorful chicken breasts that are perfect for tossing into a variety of dishes. Perfect for summertime entertaining or quick weeknight meals!
Recipes with cooked chicken:
Cookin’ Canuck’s Light Chicken & Corn Chowder
Cookin’ Canuck’s Low-Fat Chicken Salad with Curry & Apricots
Eat. Drink. Love.’s Chicken, Tomato & Mozzarella Panini with Basil Mayo
Pastabilities’ Thai Chicken Pasta
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see it on Instagram! Just use the hashtag #COOKINCANUCK and I’ll be sure to find it.
How to: Poach Chicken Breasts
Poached chicken is fantastic to have on hand for salads, pastas and sandwiches. This tutorial will show you how to poach chicken breasts in minutes!
Ingredients
- 4 (6 oz. each) skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 4 lemon slices
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- Water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
Directions
- Place the chicken breasts in a single layer in the bottom of a large saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. Top with lemon slices and fresh thyme and rosemary sprigs.
- Fill the saucepan with cold water until it reaches 1 to 1 ½ inches above the chicken breasts. Stir in the soy sauce.
- Bring the water to a boil, then cover the saucepan and reduce the heat to low.
- Lightly simmer until the chicken breasts are just cooked through, about 15 minutes. The cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the chicken breasts.
- Remove the chicken from the saucepan and let the chicken cool. Slice or shred the chicken. Serve right away or refrigerate, covered, for 2 to 3 days.
Recipe Notes
Disclosure: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Liz says
Apr 17, 2015 at 1:15 pmThanks Dara for this recipe. Have a wonderful weekend!
Lauren Kelly Nutrition says
Apr 17, 2015 at 2:47 pmMy mother used to poach chicken and I have never tried it before! I bet this one taste delicious with all of these fresh herbs!
The Food Hunter says
Apr 17, 2015 at 4:20 pmI’ve never made poached chicken…thanks for sharing
Renee - Kudos Kitchen says
Apr 17, 2015 at 4:21 pmI just poached chicken breasts the other day in order to have light lunches through the week. As always, I cooked them too long and they came out dry. I really need to set a timer and only cook them for 15 minutes as you suggest. I also made the error of putting them in boiling water instead of letting the water come to a simmer with the chicken already in it. It still tasted good (because of all the ingredients I put in the water) but next time I’ll take a page from your book and not cook the things to death. LOL
Martha @ A Family Feast says
Apr 17, 2015 at 5:34 pmGreat tutorial and an essential skill that everyone should master! (Not to mention cooked chicken is so versatile and great to have on hand!)
Bill says
Apr 18, 2015 at 11:28 amThank you for the recipe…….I noticed in the ingredients you have soy sauce, but no mention of the sauce in the directions…do you recommend the soy sauce?
Dara says
Apr 18, 2015 at 1:21 pmHi Bill, I’m sorry about that omission. Yes, I do recommend adding the soy sauce for an extra layer of flavorful and touch of salt. The directions are now edited to include the soy sauce. Thanks for stopping by!
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
Apr 19, 2015 at 12:13 pmThank you so much for posting this!! I’m really bad about throwing chicken into a pot of boiling water and cooking it to death! Doing it this way next time!
Kirsten/ComfortablyDomestic says
Apr 19, 2015 at 4:37 pmI roast chicken breasts to have on hand every week. I’ve never poached chicken because I envision bland looking, flavorless boiled chicken. Your method of simmering the chicken with aromatics is a total game changer.
Nutmeg Nanny says
Apr 19, 2015 at 9:11 pmI LOVE poaching chicken breasts to shred them up and keep them on hand for easy meal additions. I have never thought to add lemon or herbs to my poaching liquid so I’m totally trying this next time.
Brett says
Apr 21, 2015 at 3:48 amPoached chicken is the best to have on hand. I look at your recipes every couple weeks and in joy your ideas. I want to make a suggestion on your poached instructions though. I notice that you have the chicken breast in the pot before bringing them to a boil. I see this being different stove to stove. Some stoves it takes longer to boil then others. I have found that bringing to a boil and putting the chicken breasts in after it reached a boil for 3 minutes boiling, then putting a lid on and removing pot from heat and leave the chix breasts in for 15 minutes while pot is off burner. This decreases the variance and has yet to fail me. For added moistened chix, I brine my chix breasts in a light salt water solution for 6 or so hours when I can.
Abby says
Aug 1, 2016 at 9:34 amThis turned out excellent, delicious and moist. I never had much luck poaching chicken breasts prior to this recipe. This was easy. I made chicken salad and it was delish!
Susan Bonney says
Oct 12, 2016 at 3:33 pmI am making this now. I suggest, if you agree, edit the instructions to include strain and keep the cooking liquid for another purpose, to use as chicken broth. Thank you for this recipe!
Linda Seidler says
Nov 12, 2016 at 5:07 pmThanks I just asked about this…
Claire says
Oct 25, 2016 at 11:02 amBest poached chicken I’ve ever made! I used to boil the chicken til it was dry and rubbery. Knew there had to be a better way. Glad I found this recipe. Followed exactly (except only 1 tblspoon soy sauce, was a little nervous about that). Cooked perfectly and tasted delicious. Ate half of it by itself! Thanks for sharing!
Linda Seidler says
Nov 12, 2016 at 5:03 pmCan you use the left over water as chicken broth? And can you use it right away.
Fran says
May 23, 2017 at 10:24 amBravo! This recipe is fantastic! Thank you.
Shay says
Jan 14, 2018 at 7:55 amThis is my go to way of making chicken now…. ive always boiled mine! Glad I ran into this recipe! Thx u
Tayler Ross says
Feb 21, 2019 at 7:23 pmI have never tried poaching chicken until I tried this recipe. It was delicious! Thank you!