My poached chicken recipe makes the juiciest, most tender chicken ever. Poaching is one of the easiest ways to guarantee foolproof, juicy chicken breasts.
I love this easy recipe for poached chicken, and I use it all the time to make chicken for amazing salads, sandwiches, and really any recipe that calls for cooked chicken.
This is definitely one of those recipes you’ll want to keep in your back pocket. I use it for everything from green enchiladas and my favorite chicken salad to adding to this classic Caesar. I love poaching so much that I even have recipes for poached shrimp and poached salmon.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: This recipe is perfect for chicken breasts, but you can absolutely use chicken thighs. For poaching a whole chicken, see our chicken broth recipe, where we make an incredible broth and perfectly cooked chicken in 1 hour.
- Water, stock, or broth: I typically use water when poaching chicken, but for more flavor, chicken stock or vegetable broth works nicely.
- Garlic, shallot, bay leaf, and thyme: These aromatics add flavor to our poaching liquid. The combination of aromatics is up to you and can be adapted based on how you plan to use your chicken. For example, if you plan to add it to a Mexican-inspired rice bowl, combine garlic, cilantro, and some cumin. Adding ginger would be excellent for more Asian-inspired dishes.
- Salt: A must! By adding salt to your poaching liquid, you make sure that the chicken is ultra-flavorful and perfectly seasoned.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
Tips for How to Poach Chicken
Tip 1: Add aromatics and cover by one inch. Poaching chicken is super simple. Start by adding your chicken breasts, aromatics, and salt to a pot, and then add enough water to cover the chicken by one inch.
Tip 2: Bring to very low simmer. Place the pot over medium heat and wait, without increasing the heat, until the cooking liquid comes to a very low simmer. This takes a few minutes and keeps the chicken soft and tender. Increasing the heat at this point to speed up the simmer will make your chicken tough.
Tip 3: Reduce the heat to poach. We don’t want to simmer the chicken, so once you see the liquid has come to a low simmer, lower your heat and allow the chicken to gently poach until the chicken is cooked through (about 10 to 15 more minutes). Then transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for a few minutes. Slice and serve.
Ways to Use Poached Chicken
Use your chicken in salads and sandwiches, or add to recipes at the end of cooking to warm through. I love using it to make our creamy chicken salad. I also add the tender chicken to rice and grain bowls. See this buffalo chicken bowl as one example. You can also use it any time a recipe calls for cooked chicken, so add it to soups, enchiladas, and quesadillas.
More Chicken Recipes
- Roast Chicken
- Crispy Chicken Milanese
- Shredded Chicken
- Teriyaki Chicken
- Browse all of our chicken recipes
Perfect Juicy Poached Chicken
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Poached chicken is tender, soft, juicy, and so flavorful. Use our easy recipe for chicken breasts or chicken thighs. You can use skin-on chicken and remove the skin before serving. The aromatics suggested in the recipe are a guide. Ginger, chili peppers, additional herbs, onion, fennel, and carrots are all excellent options.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 ½ pounds (680g) skinless, boneless chicken breast or chicken thighs
3 garlic cloves, smashed with the flat side of a knife
1 shallot, peeled and quartered
1 bay leaf
2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
Water, or substitute with chicken or vegetable stock or broth
Optional for serving: fresh cracked black pepper, lemon slices, fresh herbs, and olive oil
Directions
1Add chicken, garlic, shallot, bay leaf, thyme, and the salt to a medium pot. Cover with water by an inch or two, 5 to 6 cups.
2Place the pot over medium heat and heat until the liquid comes to a low simmer. This will take a few minutes. For the most tender poached chicken, don’t try to rush this step.
3When the liquid is at a low simmer, turn down the heat to low and cook until the chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. To check for doneness, an internal thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken should read 165°F, and the juices will run clear when you pierce the chicken with a knife.
4Transfer to a cutting board. Slice and serve. If you do not plan on eating the chicken straightaway, skip the slicing and store tightly covered in the refrigerator. The chicken will keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Poached chicken lasts up to 4 days if stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Before storing it, add some poaching liquid to the container to keep it extra juicy.
- Freezing: To freeze, cool and drain it, then store it in a freezer-safe airtight container or bag for up to 3 months. Thaw the chicken thoroughly in the refrigerator overnight before using.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
A winner! I must admit, I’m such an uber-fan of your poached salmon recipe that I could not help myself; I had to put some vegetables in the cooking broth here, most especially a big handful of fennel fronds. A spectacular result!
Yay! We love adding fennel 🙂
Very good recipe. I used this with enchiladas. Tender, not dry and accepting of other ingredients.
This was so easy. I love having cooked chicken on hand for protein options.
Yes! It’s such a great thing to have in the fridge!
I did not think this would work, but it did and I was so happy! Thank you for being specific on the temperature. It’s not easy believing that such a low temp can produce this result, but it does. 😀
I love this recipe! My best results came with a slightly different technique. I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut the thiner end of the breast from the thicker part, placed frozen breasts into cold seasoned broth, and cooked them at the lowest possible setting on my gas stove top. Obviously the thinner pieces reached 165 degrees more quickly; every piece was tender and delicious.
Hi Joanne, great site and very helpful tips. I like bone in chicken thighs. How
much longer to poach them? Thanks !
Hi Jada, I’d expect bon-in chicken thighs to take a little longer, maybe 5 to 10 more minutes. You can check doneness using a thermometer, look for it to read 165F in the thickest part.
Been poaching chicken for years w the lid on. This way is so much better!
I can’t believe I’ve waited this long tom poach chicken – going to try it now – looks amazing!! thanks
Poaching chicken sounds like a no-brainer… but I have never made a truly tender and tasty poached chicken till I followed your recipe (and I mean RTFM-type following, ha ha)
Thanks, its unlocked a whole heap of dishes that I can make without having to vandalize a supermarket roast chicken just for the breast meat. That’s a win 🙏
Made this last night and will definitely be making it again! Easy and so tender! Using this for your chicken salad! Thank you!
Can I freeze the broth to use for a soup base later? On the way to the kitchen to poach my boneless skinless chicken breasts!
Yes, definitely!
I like the idea of poached chicken but need to make a much larger quantity. Is there any reason to NOT double or even triple the amount of chicken to make a big batch? For example, heating a larger volume of water will take longer. Will being in water longer effect the chicken?
Hi Carol, I’d use a wide pan with a lid and try to fit as many in as I can without them being on top of each other. The water may take a bit longer to come to a simmer, but once it is there, the poaching time should be pretty similar.
I love this recipe and I can’t believe I waited so long to try poaching chicken. I won’t waste my time checking out any other recipes. So juicy, so healthy, it’s perfect as is or for soup…love it for soup!
This is the most tender poached chicken I have ever eaten..easy to do.I cut the skinless boneless breasts into medallions then fry for 5 min after poaching ,in mixture of lemon juice and hot sauce for about 10 min then freeze in baggies to use in salads…wonderful!
Amazing. So moist! I have been trying to poach chicken breast for almost as long as I’ve been alive…(61) thank you. Making this for soup.
Thanks for this recipe – I live at altitude and not all recipes are successful as written, but this was perfect!
Tarragon is a wonderful herb! Fresh herbs just…make me feel like a domestic queen of my low income castle! Poaching thighs today with fresh sage and a bit of fresh rosemary, thin straps of lemon peel and onion, a few pepper corns and garlic for Risotto tonight. Using a mix of ckn stock and water. Will shared carrot, onion, celery root and garlic to Sautee before beginning the rice part. Life is good. Thanks for reminding me of Tarragon.
AMAZING!!
Making chicken tonight.
I see from an earlier comment that the simmering is to be done uncovered. What about this part: “place over medium heat and heat until the liquid comes to a low simmer”. Is this part uncovered as well? Thank you
Yes, we poach the chicken without a lid.
If using chicken broth instead of water, what happens to the liquid after chicken is removed?
You can enjoy it as a soup.
Can I use drumsticks? Does the time need to change? Thank you
Hi Lorelei, Yes, you can poach drumsticks. The cook time will be similar, but use our tips for checking on doneness in the recipe as your guide.
I have never been able to poach chicken. I am trying your method.
Delicious. I added tarragon as my herb as well as one-half lemon sliced. The chicken is yummy but the broth is amazing. Will add some sesame oil to the broth and make wonton soup.
About how many minutes should it take to get to a low simmer? Thanks!
It should take 3 to 5 minutes, but it will depend on how cold the chicken is at the time of placing it into the poaching liquid.
This recipe produced tender, juicy, delicious chicken. Question: Can I reserve the poaching liquid to add to soup base?
Definitely.
Excellent recipe. So simple and quick. Great for making cooked chicken for quick chicken chile. Many thanks.
Absolutely love this quick and easy recipe. I used it with your chicken black bean sweet potato saute and as a guide for time in soups. I can see this being the recipe for tacos, enchiladas, bbq spiced sandwishes you name it. I thries this three times, twice with chicken breasts and once with tights. I love that 1 tablespoon of salt makes this not too salty but perfectly flavored chicken through and through.
Excellent recipe! Chicken breasts come out moist and flavorful!!! Highly recommended.
Besides the chicken, I used none of the ingredients in the recipe but I followed the instructions to a T and my poached chicken turned out amazing! I am intolerant to garlic so I often have to tweak recipes if I want a punch of flavour. I sliced up an orange, used cloves, peppercorn, sea salt and sprigs of fresh rosemary and poached the chicken in that. It smelled and tasted delicious! Thank you!
This recipe is terrific! Easy and actually works. The chicken was tender and flavorful. It took all of 25 minutes to make it. Last time I tried poaching chicken it was like rubber but not this one. I used Cold water and didnt let it boil. Perfect!
Do you leave the poached chicken in the cooking water until cool?
We remove the chicken when it is cooked.
Taste sooo good. I even make an egg drop soup to the remaining chicken stock because it taste so good.
This recipe for poached chicken is, indeed, perfect. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. It’s a keeper and a ‘no fail’ kind of recipe. I will use it all the time. Thank you!
Do you simmer it covered or uncovered? Thanks :-).
Uncovered