Poaching is a low-fat, hands-free cooking technique for making shredded chicken, make this recipe for all-purpose poached chicken breasts with garlic, onion and oregano.
Poached chicken may not be the most appetizing looking dish in the world, but everyone knows that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Even though I totally judge books by their covers. Shh! But when it comes to food, as much as we do eat with our eyes, sometimes we have to forget this and make a recipe that doesn’t look like the most delicious, but that yields something spectacular. Like this recipe, this is poached chicken, so just don’t judge it. Even though it’s not a book and doesn’t have a cover.
Poaching is just another low fat and easy way to cook chicken. For some reason, I never think to poach chicken unless I’m making a chicken stock, but it does make a nice and basic meal. If you’re just starting to get comfortable in the kitchen I think poaching chicken is a relatively simple technique to make chicken that won’t hinder your confidence. Plus, you’ll end up with some chicken stock in the end, it’s basically a two-for-one kind of meal.
Plus it makes your kitchen smell yummy, and can be used in hundreds of dishes. I like to shred the chicken once it’s done poaching to use in other recipes, here are a few of my favourite recipes that use poached shredded chicken:
Chicken Caesar salad sandwiches
Poached Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 5 cups water
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Bring water, onion, garlic and salt to a bowl.
- Add chicken breasts and oregano.
- Turn down the heat and simmer, partially covered for 35-40 minutes.
- When finished cooking, remove chicken with a slotted spoon, if using in another dish shred with two forks, if not, serve. Strain liquid and reserve for stock.
Soon, I’ll be posting a favourite recipe of mine to use this poached chicken in.
Charlene
I poached chicken last night and when I went to take it out of the water the chicken had this grey layer. I was able to rinse some of it off. It was fresh chicken. Why would it turn grey?
Lou
Hi Charlene,
I’m thinking that what this might have been is the “scum” from the chicken that always appears when you poach it. Did your chicken perhaps have some bones in it? Usually it will float to the top of the pot. That’s all I can think of!
Julia
Ok, I won’t judge. I’ll just try it. Since I can’t poach an egg to save my life, maybe I’ll be more successful with chicken :)