How to Poach Chicken
Once you know how to poach chicken, the possibilities are endless. Poaching (a moist-heat cooking method) means to cook something in barely simmering liquid (perfect for delicate foods, like eggs and fish), and it is, sadly, almost a forgotten way of cooking -- sad because it's an incredibly simple technique, it can yield the most tender, juicy meat without the fat and calories from frying or sauteing, and keeps your kitchen cooler than baking or roasting. Some poaching recipes, like the one below, use the poaching liquid itself as a sauce; it only needs only be reduced and thickened to provide the perfect accompaniment for your poached chicken dish.Transcript
Hey, everyone. I'm Judith with Recipe.com. Today, I'm gonna be
showing you how to make Poached Chicken Breasts with Apple,
a really healthy, delicious chicken dinner. So what you're gonna
need for this is four boneless and skinless chicken breasts,
half a cup of apple juice, one tablespoon of water,
a quarter cup of sliced green onions, one apple which
we've cored and thinly sliced, half a teaspoon of instant
chicken bouillon granules, one clove of garlic which we've minced,
a quarter teaspoon of tarragon, a dash of pepper, and
1-1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch. So, we have a large skillet
right here and what we're gonna do is put it
to a medium heat and we're gonna get in our
apple juice and this is gonna be the juices we're
gonna poach our chicken in. So, in goes the apple
juice, the minced garlic goes in here, too. The tarragon
flavor, one of my favorite, favorite herbs. Used a lot
in french cooking. It smells a little bit like anise.
That pepper is going in there, too, and our instant
granules, too. So, let's just bring that all to a
boil for about a minute. So now that it's brought
to the boil, we'll just turn down the heat a
little bit and we're gonna add in our chicken breasts.
So, as I said, this is a really healthy alternative
to cooking chicken. You know, we often bake it, fry
it, drizzle it in oil, but this one is just
poached with that really sweet flavor of the apple which
is just gonna taste delicious. So, we'll put in our
chicken breast there. So we're gonna reduce the heat now
and let that simmer, covered, for about 7 minutes. Well,
it's been about 7 minutes. Our chicken is poaching nicely,
and we're just gonna give them a nice flip on
the other side and that is looking good, really smelling
amazing. You can smell that tarragon in there. There we
go, and as we flip those, we're gonna add in
our apple slices as well, and our green onions, so
we'll just put them around in the-- in the skillet.
We wanna get them nice and soft, bring out the
sweetness. It's gonna go great with the chicken, really great
flavor. And the green onions go in, too. So we're
gonna poach them in there for another 5 minutes with
the lid on. Our chicken and apples are done now.
They're nice and tender and if you wanna check if
your chicken's done, just stick a knife and fork in
it and see that it's no longer pink inside. So
what we're gonna do is transfer our chicken and apples,
get a slotted spoon, and transfer them onto a platter,
leaving the remaining liquid in the skillet. There we go.
That is smelling gorgeous. If there was Smell-O-Vision, you would
love it. Okay. So we can set that aside now
and just keep it nice and warm. So we're gonna
make a nice sauce to drizzle over our chicken. So,
we'll leave that remaining liquid in the pan, put it
on a very low heat, and let's get a bowl
and mix in our cornstarch... with that water we had
at the beginning. So we'll just mix that in together,
get it nice and thick. There we go. And that
is just gonna go into our pan. So just gonna
make a little bit of a thicker sauce to put
on top of that, so we'll give it a few
whirls, so just infuse all our flavors from the skillet
there and that's gonna be a nice, healthy sauce to
drizzle over our chicken, and we can do like so.
Scraping all that...remaining tarragon there, and that looks gorgeous. A
really healthy dinner for you and your family. That's how
you make Poached Chicken Breast with Apples.
What You'll Need
- 1/2 cup apple juice or apple cider
- 1/2 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon granules
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon, crushed
- Dash pepper
- 4 small (12 ounces total) boneless skinless chicken breast halves
- 1 medium apple, cored and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
Step By Step
1
In a 10-inch skillet combine apple juice, bouillon granules, garlic, tarragon, and pepper. Bring to boiling. Add chicken breasts; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 7 minutes.
2
Turn chicken over; add apple slices and green onions. Cover and simmer 4 to 5 minutes more or until chicken is tender and no longer pink.
3
With a slotted spoon remove chicken and apples; keep warm. Reserve cooking liquid.
4
In a small bowl stir together the water and cornstarch. Stir into liquid in skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Spoon over chicken and apples. Makes 4 servings.
Poached chicken really is ideal for those who are counting calories or watching their diet. Knowing how to poach chicken allows you to have lots of flavor without adding a drop of extra fat. Serve this dish with whole grain rice or roasted red potatoes and a green salad for a full meal.
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