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Chinese Poached Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce

January 21, 2019 by Jeanette 7 Comments

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Chinese Poached Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce

Chinese Poached Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce is a healthy and delicious way to prepare chicken. Make extra poached chicken and use in salads, soups, and noodle dishes throughout the week. 52 calories/0 Freestyle points per serving.
Chinese Poached Chicken with Soy Ginger Sauce

Poaching is a virtually fat-free way of cooking chicken and fish.  Although seldom used in American kitchens, poaching is a popular way of cooking in China. Growing up, I remember watching Titus Chan’s cooking show, “Cooking the Chanese Way,” (yes, I know, very corny, but the recipes were really good!) and making his Chinese Poached Chicken for dinner.  I was fascinated by how soft and silky the chicken was, using such a simple cooking method.

Today, I decided to poach chicken breasts for a quick and easy dinner. I made a simple soy ginger sauce, stir-fried baby bok choy and brown rice to accompany the poached chicken.  Any leftover poached chicken can be eaten the next day with soba noodles in soup, Asian Slaw with Spicy Peanut Sauce or Chinese Sesame Noodles.

Chinese Poached Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce is a healthy, delicious way to enjoy chicken, and it is virtually fat-free except for the sesame oil in the soy ginger sauce. Serve warm or cold.
Chinese Poached Chicken with Soy Ginger Sauce

Here’s how you poach chicken, using a traditional Chinese approach. The  ginger soy sauce dipping sauce is strong, so use sparingly. Please note the simpler poaching liquid in the headnotes.

Chinese Poached Chicken with Soy Ginger Sauce
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Chinese Poached Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce

For a simpler version of this recipe, poach the chicken with just ginger, scallion, black peppercorns, and salt. If you don't have dark soy sauce, substitute with 1 more teaspoon of regular soy sauce.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword chicken
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Standing time 15 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 52 kcal

Ingredients

Chinese Poached Chicken

  • 2 stalks celery cut into 2" pieces
  • 1/2 cup cilantro cut into 2" pieces
  • 2 shallots peeled, halved
  • 1 piece ginger 1 1/2" long, sliced thinly
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 10 whole coriander seeds
  • 6 white peppercorns
  • 8 Szechuan peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or sherry not cooking sherry
  • 1 whole chicken breast on the bone with skin, or 2 split chicken breasts (~ 2 pounds)

Soy Ginger Sauce

  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger minced
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoons scallion finely julienned
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • pinch white pepper
  • 1/3 cup poaching liquid

Garnish

  • fresh cilantro sprigs

Instructions

Chinese Poached Chicken

  1. In a large saucepan, place celery, coriander, shallots, ginger, scallions, garlic, coriander seeds, white peppercorns, Szechuan peppercorns and salt. Add enough water to cover chicken (I put the chicken in the saucepan to see how much water I need, then remove the chicken). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

  2. Add rice wine. Place chicken breast halves in poaching liquid, skin side up. Bring back to boil; lower heat, cover pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn chicken breasts over, and simmer 10 more minutes. Turn off heat and let stand, covered, for 15 minutes. 

  3. Remove chicken from poaching liquid and let cool, covered with plastic. Reserve 1/3 cup poaching liquid for Ginger Soy Sauce and to make chicken soup afterwards. 

  4. Remove bones and skin from chicken, and add back to remaining poaching liquid in pot. See recipe notes about making chicken broth. 

  5. Shred chicken into bite-size pieces.

Soy Ginger Sauce

  1. To make sauce, combine all Soy Ginger Sauce ingredients in a small bowl. 

To Serve

  1. Serve chicken with Soy Ginger Sauce on the side. Garnish with fresh coriander.

Recipe Notes

Save bones and skin from poached chicken, and cook with remaining  poaching liquid to make chicken broth.  Skim fat from surface.  Freeze broth for future use.

0 Freestyle points per serving.

Nutrition Facts
Chinese Poached Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce
Amount Per Serving
Calories 52 Calories from Fat 9
% Daily Value*
Fat 1g2%
Sodium 938mg41%
Potassium 155mg4%
Carbohydrates 7g2%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 255IU5%
Vitamin C 3.8mg5%
Calcium 37mg4%
Iron 0.8mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Soy Ginger Sauce

Mushroom Soy Sauce and Chinese Rice Wine

Mushroom Soy Sauce and Chinese Rice Wine

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Filed Under: Asian, chicken, dairy-free, Dinner, dips and sauces, gluten-free, healthy choices, main courses Tagged With: poached chicken

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Comments

  1. Maria says

    October 13, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    It was nice meeting you at BlogHer Food. I look forward to reading your blog.

    Reply
  2. Jeanette says

    October 13, 2010 at 11:15 pm

    Great meeting you to Maria. Love all your soup recipes!

    Reply
  3. leaf (the indolent cook) says

    October 14, 2010 at 8:00 am

    That looks nice! I do enjoy a good Chinese poached chicken. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Jeanette says

    October 14, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    Growing up, we had this a lot, and I took it for granted. Now I am reliving that experience with much appreciation. So simple, but delicious.

    Reply
  5. Pretend Chef says

    October 15, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    Poaching the chicken is such a great method for cooking. Great post! The soy ginger sauce sounds delicious.

    Reply
  6. Jeanette says

    October 20, 2010 at 7:09 am

    I hope more people will try poaching, it keeps everything so moist and it's a healthy way to cook. The best part is that you can play around with some wonderful sauces to compliment the dish.

    Reply
  7. angiesrecipes says

    January 22, 2019 at 12:17 am

    Those chicken slices look really tender and juicy!

    Reply

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