Poached Chicken Breasts

With this recipe, I will give you my tips for preparing tender, juicy Poached Chicken Breasts. When properly prepared, they are gloriously succulent. There are many ways in which you will use them; you can add them to soups, salads, sandwiches or as the primary main course ingredient. Poached Chicken Breast really is a blank canvas, allowing you to use a wide variety of flavours and textures to accompany it. With this recipe, we have used a simple Lemon and Parsley Sauce, but the sky is the limit. This is a recipe that is worthy of a regular place in your meal plans.

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine International

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings chicken breasts

Calories 388kcal

Author Alexandra Cook - It's Not Complicated Recipes

Ingredients

For the Poached Chicken:

2 chicken breasts – boneless/skinless – about 500 g/1.1 lb See Note 1
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt/cooking salt See Note 2
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
6 parsley stems
½ medium lemon – cut into four pieces
3 cloves garlic – peeled and gently smashed
4-5 cups (1.25 L) filtered water

For the Lemon Parsley Sauce:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter See Note 3
1 tablespoon plain/all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 ml) chicken stock
2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon flat leaf parsley – finely chopped
¼ teaspoon black pepper - or to taste

Instructions

For the Poached Chicken:

Remove the chicken from the fridge 20 minutes prior to cooking.
To a deep, wide frying pan, add the chicken and other ingredients. Ensure the chicken is covered by about 1 cm (½ inch) of water and is throughout the cooking process.
Turn the heat on to medium low and place a lid on the pan. Bring to a gentle simmer.
Once it comes to a simmer, tilt the lid on the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes on the gentle simmer – until the chicken registers at 74 degrees C (165 F) and is cooked through. The exact cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken breasts (See Note 1.)
Remove the chicken and place on a chopping board for 5 minutes to rest briefly.
Using a sharp knife, slice on the diagonal (clean slices, do not saw through it with a knife). Or, shred for another use.

For the Lemon Parsley Sauce:

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add in the flour and whisk to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add in the stock and stir well. Bring to a simmer and add in the lemon juice.
Simmer for 2 minutes.
Add in the parsley and season with black pepper.
Check that the seasoning is to your liking, and adjust accordingly. The level of seasoning will depend on your stock.

Notes

Chicken breasts: because this is such a simple dish, I recommend using the best quality boneless and skinless chicken breasts you can. The exact cooking time will depend on the size of the chicken breasts you are using. On this occasion, I have used chicken breasts that are each approximately 250 g (8.8 oz) and found they cooked in about 10-12 minutes.
Salt: use coarse cooking salt or sea salt, not table salt.
Tablespoon: we use a standard Australian tablespoon which is 20 ml (4 teaspoons).
Storage: the cooked chicken can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days. Ideally, leave the breasts whole as shredded chicken may dry out slightly.
Freezing: after the chicken has cooled, add to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Be sure to label and date the container as frozen dishes can be difficult to identify.
Top tip: it is very important to cook the chicken slowly; don’t be tempted to increase the heat to cook it a minute or two quicker, it may result in a disappointing outcome.

Nutrition