Instant Pot Chinese Poached Chicken (with video)

Name: Instant Pot Chinese Style Poached Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 5 chicken drumsticks; 1 chicken thigh, cut in half; 1 chicken breast, cut in half; 1 ginger, about 1 x 3 inches, skin on, cut into 4 pieces; 2 scallions, white and green parts, cut in half; 9 ½ cups of water, have more handy

Start making poached chicken!

Learn to make Chinese style poached chicken cooked in the Instant Pot. It’s easy as it cooks quickly and results in a juicy chicken. As I write my first blog post of the year, I am sad to say that we are in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. On a happy note, I hope to share home-cooked recipes with ingredients you will likely have in your fridge, freezer or pantry, as we all want to limit our grocery store visits.

Chinese style poached chicken is typically eaten with a ginger and scallion sauce (sauce recipe here). The chicken also makes great leftovers for other dishes including sandwiches, pies, soups, and salads.

What is Chinese style poached chicken?

Poaching chicken requires chicken pieces cooked in water or broth with some aromatics and herbs. The Chinese version I grew up eating, known as “white cut chicken or poached chicken”, typically uses free-range chicken cooked whole with the skin on, in chicken broth and aromatics. Then, the chicken is cut into pieces with the bones intact.

My recipe will use water instead of broth with the addition of ginger and scallions to flavour the liquid. I used chicken drum sticks with the skin on, skinless chicken breast and thighs, as that was what was available at my local grocery store.

What chicken cuts should I use?

Use what you have at home, or what you can get at this time at the store!

This recipe works for any type of chicken cut, skin on or off, or even using a whole chicken. The trick is to add enough water to cover the entire chicken. With chicken pieces, you can do a quick release after waiting about a minute after the timer is up. For a whole chicken, continue to turn off the timer at 4 minutes but wait about 10 minutes before releasing the air in the knob. The main reason is there is much more liquid in the Instant Pot with a whole chicken vs. pieces.

Having the chicken into pieces will ensure more even cooking rather than a whole chicken. If using a whole chicken, and you find that any parts are undercooked, cut out the undercooked piece. Then, simmer (using the “saute” button on the Instant Pot) the undercooked piece in the poaching liquid for a few minutes until the colour is no longer pink.

Why you will love the easy recipe?

The best part of this recipe is that the chicken cooks in 5 minutes in the Instant Pot and can be adapted for the stove top. The timing seems quick but it really does cook that quickly. For the stove top. cook the chicken in a pot with enough liquid to cover the chicken, and let the chicken boil in the liquid for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep the lid on the pot for about 20 minutes. This will cook the chicken thoroughly without overcooking it.

Also, the water that the chicken is cooked in becomes a light broth. You can reserve the broth to poach the chicken in the future, freeze or add more ingredients to make a soup. Yeah to no waste!

Rinsing the chicken under cold water is best for chicken pieces with the skin on. The cold water helps tighten the skin after it is cooked and helps to cool off the chicken more quickly for cutting.

Poached chicken is healthy, tastes good, and makes great leftovers!

Chinese Poached Chicken preparation

Chinese Poached Chicken

RECIPE

Instant Pot Chinese Style Poached Chicken

Course Main Course

Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Mary Tang

Ingredients

5 chicken drumsticks
1 chicken thigh, cut in half
1 chicken breast, cut in half
1 ginger, about 1 x 3 inches, skin on, cut into 4 pieces
2 scallions, white and green parts, cut in half
9 ½ cups of water, have more handy

Instructions

In an Instant Pot, place the chicken pieces evenly at the base of the pot. Add the scallions and ginger on the top.
Add water into the pot until it reaches the 9.5 cup mark on the Instant pot, or enough to cover all the chicken pieces.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot, and make sure the knob is on “sealing”. Press the manual button, and change the time to 4 minutes at high pressure. When the timer is up on the clock, turn the Instant Pot off. Wait 1 minute, turn the knob to “venting” and do a quick release.
Remove the chicken into a pan or colander to cool off. If there is skin on the chicken, run the chicken under cold water and pat the skin dry with paper towel.
When the chicken is cool enough to handle, cut into desired pieces.
Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.