
Poached Chicken with Everything
I love the versatility of chicken. Poaching a whole chicken opens many meal potential doors as the shredded chicken and the poaching liquid can double up to make different meals.
Ways with poached chicken
- shred the chicken and use in soups, salads and sandwich toppings
- freeze the chicken carcass to use in a stock later
- use the strained poaching liquid as a stock or reduce (with the carcass) to make a flavoursome broth.
Reducing simply means to gently bring a liquid to the boil, as the water evaporates the flavour will intensify, leaving you with a flavoursome broth.
Why I love this way of poaching
I prefer to be gentle with my food especially when a liquid is involved. I never boil anything(!), preferring a gentle simmer. In this recipe the whole chicken is simmered in water filled with flavoursome ingredients for 40 minutes and then left, off the heat, in the cooking liquid for the same amount of time.
Meal-prep star
Poaching a chicken on a Sunday, ensures I have a super quick and easy protein addition to add to my lunches.
The importance of adequate protein
My decision to change my diet from being a vegetarian is complex and rooted in many reasons, one of them being the importance of  adequate protein intake with every meal to support muscle maintenance, repair, and overall health. I knew I was falling short with most meals.
I am not saying you can’t get the adequate amount of protein in when you are vegan or vegetarian, but having been a vegetarian for 7 years, it’s difficult, need managing and its carb heavy, Â which is relevant if you are sensitive to sugars, like I am.
How much protein?
The average recommended protein intake per meal can vary greatly based on individual needs, but general guidelines suggest:
- Women: About 20–30 grams of protein per meal.
- Men: About 25–35 grams of protein per meal.
The older we get the more protein we need to make up for any muscle loss.
What does 30g look like on a plate?Â
A general estimate would that in order to get 30g of protein, you would need 100/120g of cooked chicken which would roughly be about ½ cup.
Vegetarian/Vegan 30g of protein would be:
- tofu – about 150–170g  firm tofu.
- cooked beans – roughly 1.5 cups
- 5 whole eggs

Poached Chicken with Everything
Ingredients
- 1 medium 1,3kg pasture reared chicken
- 2 litres veg stock
- 3 carrots, finely sliced
- 4 celery sticks, finely sliced
- 1 large onion, finely sliced
- 3 large leeks, finely sliced, washed well
- 4 garlic cloves bashed
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon peppercorns
- 3 star anise
- 4 cloves
- 15 g parsley
Instructions
- Add the chicken to a medium casserole, add the stock, and bring to a gentle simmer. Skim the white foam and discard. I tend to skim throughout the cooking process.
- Add all the ingredients to the chicken and gently simmer for 40 minutes, under no circumstances do we want to boil the liquid, we are looking for a gentle simmer, one where you can definitely see bubbles and steam but not a boil.
- After 40minutes, remove from the heat, and leave to cool (& cook) for another 40 minutes off the heat.
- Carefully remove the chicken and drain and reserve the cooking liquid.
- When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken keeping the wings intact.
- For the cooking liquid you have two options here: Option 1 would be to use or freeze the cooking liquid as it is as a fragrant light stock, good for soups. You can freeze the whole carcass too.
- Option 2 would be to simmer the cooking liquid with the carcass (wings attached) to intensify the flavour. You will reduce the liquid to half by then you will be left with a killer stock, great for risottos.