Authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice
This post has been through a number of revisions of the years. A few little changes to the recipe as my style of making it changes, as well as additional information added for those who want to know a little bit more about the dish. You can jump ahead to the recipe and video below, but if you want to read on I’ve now included a bit of background on one of Southeast Asia’s most influential dishes.
For those new to it, Hainanese Chicken Rice is a dish primarily attributed to Malaysia and Singapore although versions exist in Thailand (khao man gai) Vietnam (com ga) and Indonesia as well. It was created by migrants from the island of Hainan in China’s far south who arrived in Southeast Asia around the turn of the 20th century. My family is Hainanese, and my grandfather arrived in Malaysia from Hainan in around 1915.
The dish itself is based on a traditional Hainanese delicacy called Wenchang chicken. Specific free-roaming chickens from the Hainanese town of Wenchang are fed on peanut bran, coconut and various other things and they are famed for their generous fat, flavourful meat and tender skin. The most prized birds are the capons, huge 3-4 kilogram castrated roosters with incredible flavour. On Hainan, the Wenchang chickens are usually boiled just in salted water with the pure flavour of the bird itself. It’s then served with a sauce of some kind, which can vary from establishment to establishment. One popular sauce is made from salt-fermented crushed yellow chillies. The orange-coloured ginger and chilli sauce served with Hainanese chicken rice in Southeast Asia is an adaptation of this.
Of course, the dish is Hainanese chicken rice is very different from its origins in Wenchang chicken. The elements are generally (1) free-range or kampong chicken poached in a broth This recipe is my own, a combination of what I learned from my Hainanese grandmother (my grandfather passed away before I was born), my Singaporean-English mother, and my elderly cousin who ran a very popular chicken rice stall in Singapore for more than 40 years (it’s now closed).
I’ve written about Hainanese Chicken Rice for the Wall Street Journal (Chicken Rice for the Soul) and published versions of this recipe in two of my six cookbooks (my grandmother’s “Original Recipe” in Two Asian Kitchens) as well as this updated and version which appears in my latest book Destination Flavour: People and Places, which is a combination of recipes from my SBS television series of the same name.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
1 large whole chicken (about 1.7 kg), at room temperature
5cm fresh unpeeled ginger
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp monosodium glutamate, or 1 tsp chicken stock powder (optional)
1 tbsp sesame oil
coriander, to serve
sliced cucumber, to serve
Ginger and spring onion oil
2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
½ tsp salt flakes
4 spring onions, thinly sliced, green tops reserved
¼ cup peanut oil
Chicken Rice
3 1/3 cups (675g) jasmine rice
1/4 cup (approx.) vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves
2 eschallots, roughly sliced (or 1 brown onion, roughly sliced)
2-3 pandan leaves (optional)
Dressing
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 cup chicken stock from poaching chicken
Chilli Sauce for Chicken
4-6 red birds-eye chillies
6 thick slices of peeled fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 – 1 cup chicken stock from poaching chicken
2 tbsp calamansi lime juice (or other tart citrus juice)
2 tbsp rendered chicken fat (or other oil)
Method
For the ginger and spring onion oil, pound the ginger and salt to a rough paste with a heatproof mortar and pestle. Add the spring onion and pound lightly to combine. Heat the peanut oil in a small frypan until it is smoking then pour the hot oil over the ginger mixture. Stir, then set aside until ready to serve.
For the chilli sauce, pound the chilli, ginger, garlic, sugar and salt together in a mortar and pestle until very smooth. Pounding chilli can take some time so to speed up the process you can start it in a blender or food processor and pound to finish, or grate the ingredients into the mortar using a rasp grater. Add the boiling stock to the pounded mixture. You can vary the amount of stock depending on the consistency of the chilli sauce you’re after. Stir in the juice, then adjust the seasoning if necessary so that the balance of sweet, sour and salty tastes is pleasant. Heat the chicken oil in a small saucepan until hot, the pour over the chilli mixture and stir to combine.
Remove the fat deposits from inside the cavity of the chicken, near the tail. Roughly chop the fat and place in a small frying pan over very low heat to render. Render the chicken fat, stirring occasionally for about an hour until you all the fat is rendered and the solids are crisp. Remove the solids and use them for another purpose. Reserve the chicken oil.
To begin poaching the chicken, pound the unpeeled ginger in a mortar and pestle and add to a large pot containing about 4 litres of water, along with the tops of the spring onions used for the ginger and spring onion oil. Add the salt and MSG or chicken stock powder (if using) and bring to the boil over high heat. Taste the water and adjust the amount of salt so that it tastes savoury and a little salty. Reduce the heat to very low and add the chicken to the pot. There should be enough water in the pot so that the chicken doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot, as that will cause the skin to tear. Lift the chicken in and out of the water a couple of times to change the liquid in the chicken’s cavity. If you have poultry hooks, use them to hang the chickens in the pot (see video below). The water should now be steaming but not bubbling. Keep the heat low at this level and cook the chicken for 45 minutes.
Using the poultry hook (or slotted ladle), carefully lift the chicken out of the pan, ensuring you don’t break the skin, and plunge into a large bowl or sink of salted iced water. Reserve the stock and stand the chicken in the iced water for at least 10 minutes, turning once. This will stop the cooking and give the skin its delicious gelatinous texture. Remove from the iced water and hang over a bowl or the sink to drain well. Rub the skin all over with the sesame oil. The chicken should be cooked very lightly, pink inside the bones and with a gelatinous skin.
To make the chicken rice, pound the garlic and eschallot (or onion) to roughly bruise with a mortar and pestle. Combine the rendered chicken oil with vegetable oil to make ½ a cup of oil. Heat in a wok over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger stir until starting to brown, then strain through a sieve. Reserve the oil and discard the solids. Place the rice in a rice cooker or heavy-based saucepan. Add about 1.2L of the reserved stock from the chicken (strained) and the reserved flavoured chicken oil (or use the proportions as indicated on your rice cooker). Tie the pandan leaves in a knot (if using) and add to the rice. If cooking in a pot, bring to the boil over high heat and continue to boil for about 5 minutes until the level of the liquid reaches the top of the rice, then reduce the heat to very low, cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and cook for 12 minutes, then remove from the heat and stand for another 10 minutes.
For the dressing, combine the ingredients with about half a cup of the stock from cooking the chicken. When the rice is ready, use a cleaver to slice and debone the chicken Chinese-style and pour the dressing over it. Scatter with the coriander sprigs, and serve with sliced cucumber, tomato and serve with the rice and sauces.
Key Tips for Hainanese Chicken Rice
- The key to this whole dish is seasoning the stock. If you find the stock, chicken, rice or sauces taste a little insipid, it is because the stock is not correctly seasoned. Taste the stock after cooking the chicken, it should taste like a strongly savoury chicken stock. If it tastes weak, add a little more salt. You can also boost it with a dash of fish sauce if you like, or some MSG if you are not opposed to it. Alternatively, do as I mention in the video and cook 2 chickens at once.
- Please don’t overcook the chicken. A slow, gentle simmer for 45 minutes will produce chicken with a very pale pink blush to the meat and the inside of the thigh bones should be bright pink. If they are brown or grey the chicken is over cooked. That’s OK, but the texture will not quite be right.
- Often in Singapore this will be served with thick black cooking caramel or kecap manis over the chicken, but I prefer the sesame dressing included here.
- When making the chilli sauce, look for the colour of the sauce, rather than following the recipe exactly. It should be a bright orange, and that colour will give you a good indication of the proportion of chilli to ginger and garlic. The heat of the sauce should depend on the kind of chillies used, not the amount. The flavour of chilli in this sauce is more important than the heat.
This recipe appears in my new cookbook, Destination Flavour: People and Places (2018) which follows my travels across my SBS television series of the same name. The book covers Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Singapore and China.
This is so authentic Chicken Rice – much like the one in Ipoh, Malaysia! Good job in spreading the good taste!
My wife loves chicken and rice, she used to visit me in Singapore, and when you’re in Singapore you eat our all the time. Now that we’re in Australia, I’ll have to create this dish for her, and surprise it to her on a roadside!
My cousin and I really enjoyed this recipe though the flavour could probably have been slightly stronger (ie. i thought it was a tad mild). I followed the measurements pretty closely – is there some way to make the flavour of the chicken stock a little more intense? Would boiling it longer or letting some liquid boil off do the trick? Or perhaps adding more garlic/ginger? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Sophia,
There should be enough flavour in the recipe as it is, but generally if you find that the flavour of a dish needs a bit more punch just check to make sure you’ve seasoned it correctly – that it’s salty enough. Salt intensifies flavours so that may be your problem.
If you want a stronger flavoured stock (again, it should be fine just as it is if it’s correctly seasoned), I’d suggest adding more chicken to deepen the flavour. My grandma sometimes makes a “double boiled” stock, which is to say that she will cook one chicken in water to produce the first stock, then remove the first chicken and cook another one in the same stock. Of course, with this you end up with twice as much chicken too.
A lot of the strong flavour of Hainanese chicken rice comes from the condiments – the sesame/soy dressing, the chilli sauce and the ginger spring onion sauce. The chicken and rice should be very fragrant and tasty, but not overpoweringly strong with flavour themselves.
Hope this helps!
Adam
Hi Adam,
I have the same issue as well with the stock being very weak tasting. Not at all what i am used to getting from the local Malaysian hawker.
Can i suggest that the perhaps the recipe needs to give the exact amount of water needed to cook the chicken in to make the stock.
Every kitchen will have different sized pots, so the amount of water needed to cover a chicken would vary substantially which therefore would affect the intensity of the stock. Luke Nguyen for all of his stocks for Pho and any of the other noodle soups gives exact measurements for all ingredients used including the amount of water added to make up the stock. His recipes are fool-proof.
The other components of this recipe work out wonderfully. I would love and appreciate it if you could test this recipe again to ensure that it works out for all kitchens.
Thanks, Van. xx
Hi Van,
Thanks for the feedback and really sorry it didn’t work out for you!
Most of the Malaysian hawker places will use quite a bit of MSG in their stock (ajinomoto, vetsin or chicken powder) to strengthen the flavour. You can add a teaspoon of that to the stock while cooking if you like, but I prefer not to. There’s nothing wrong with it, but that’s just my personal preference in terms of flavour.
The recipe has been tested literally hundreds of times and is fine for almost any amount of water in any domestic pot, although obviously the stock will be stronger the less you use. I use about 2L of water in a 5L pot generally and most domestic pots will be around the same size. The recipe would even be fine in a 10L pot (although a little weak in the stock) which is really about the limit for domestic pots.
If you’re finding the stock weak for your taste, my suggestions would be (in order of preference):
1. Make sure the stock is seasoned correctly. (I’m almost certain this is your problem.)
2. Use an older chicken, which will give more flavour to the stock.
3. Double boil. (i.e. cook 2 chickens one after the other.)
4. Add MSG.
Let me know how you go!
Adam
I have yet to try your recipe but I have made chicken rice (with roasted chicken) numerous times.
With the stock, my trick is to get a chicken carcass from my local butcher (only cost 50 cents or sometimes nothing at all) and slowly simmer it for at least an hour. A dash of white pepper will also give the stock a lovely boost.
A good amount of salt for both the stock and chicken is definitely paramount!
Thanks for the tips Adam! You’re right – it’s probably salt I’m after. I tried the rest of it today and it was awesome. Maybe my taste buds were mucked up last night.
Also, have to admit I didnt make the condiments. Will try that some time. Thanks again!
Hi Adam,
Bit behind but only now getting into this recipe and looking forward to trying it soon. Where did you get the stand for cooling the chicken? Keen to get one as well!
Cheers
Nancy
It’s a woodworking trestle from a hardware store.
Congratulations :D!!!!! Delicious recipe! I saw this in your cookbook and its next on my list of things to make. YUM!
Awesome, I tried your recipe and loved it..will definately use the recipe again!
hi Adam…
gee, thanks for the amazing recipes….I’ve been cooking Hainan chicken rice for quite sometimes, and usually *following my mum’s* we only fry the soy sauce as dressing for the chicken, and wow it’s way too salty…now I got the correct dressing taste from you..thank you very much, as I love chicken rice so much, I always ask for extra dressing and ginger oil, now I can make those my own… 😀 tho my hubby doesn’t really dig into ginger, but I still can serve the dressing than just plain chicken..Thank you again… 😀
A friend gave me your recipe book two nights ago and I was inspired to cook this recipe last night… SO YUMMY… And my 7 year old son loved it too!
This is seriously good! My all time favourite chicken rice.
Want a more intense tasting soup? Try adding a little “Tianjin Preserved Radish” (these come in a brown stoneware crock) and shredded wombok. I especially recommend the wombok as this balances an otherwise rather meat-and-rice heavy meal.
I have tried many chicken rice recipes and your recipe (grandmas) is by far the best I have ever made. When my parents visit me in WA they bug me to make it for them, my parents rarely go for seconds but when I make this dish they eat till there is nothing left. Haha. Thank god for Adam!
I made this yesterday – amazing!!!!
I made some chicken stock beforehand and used that to poach the chicken, condiments were so good & the rice was fantastic. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you, Adam for your recipe. My family loves Hainanese chicken rice and I have tried various recipes from different websites and also had different tips from friends and family. However, the timing and the way you poach the chicken is spot on in your recipe! I tried plastic wrapping the chicken after poaching but that didn’t work too well for me as it ended up “cooking” the chicken further as it was still hot. I combined another popular tip of leaving the chicken in iced water for about 10 minutes. It was near perfect! The skin ended up firm and gelatinous.. the breast meat was so tender! I never had so much compliments from my family! It’s definitely a 10/10 from us!
I made this for some girlfriends for lunch today. They all said it was delicious. I think I overlooked it slightly but it was still lovely. The ginger and spring onion oil made it I thought.
Adam, if I make a huge batch of this chilli sauce, how long will it keep for in the fridge? Thanks heaps!
Hi Angel, I would say about 3 months… but you’ll eat it all before then 🙂
I love your recipe Adam! It’s so simple but so satisfying. Just wondering would there be a difference in flavour if I cooked a corn fed chicken?
Thanks Adam 😀
Hi Nessy,
Yes, there would be a difference in flavour with a corn-fed chicken, but actually I wouldn’t recommend it for this dish.
Corn-fed hens usually have very yellow fat and because the fat is used in this dish it will leave the skin and also the rice with a yellowish tinge. It won’t taste bad, but it might just look a bit funny.
Cheers,
Adam
Finally made this after having your cookbook for almost two years! It’s fantastic, as are the other recipes I’ve tried.
I’m just wondering if you could give me a quick rundown of how to slice the chicken Chinese style. I had a look around the web and found conflicting methods.
Hi Luke,
Thanks for your comment and sorry for the late reply.
It’s always hard to explain in print, but this is a great video showing it being done. The secret is a sharp and heavy cleaver, as you need to get through bone cleanly with almost every cut.
Watch the video and try and read along. One day I might film a video of my own explaining it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFwb26y5o74
All using a heavy cleaver.
1. Place bird breast up and halve along the cartilage and spine.
2. Removing wing and trim and discard any neck.
3. Remove Maryland (drumstick and thigh) from crown (breast on bone) at the joint.
4. Split crown to remove breast meat and cartilage from spine.
5. Chop spine portion into even pieces.
6. Remove tenderloin from breast and chop tenderloin into even pieces.
7. Chop breast into even pieces.
8. Chop wings into even pieces (or segment at the joints).
9. Chop thigh and leg into even pieces.
You don’t need to be too fussy about whether or not you’re doing it right. In fact, after a few times you’ll probably develop your own style that leads to the types of pieces you like to eat.
I remember the first time I asked my grandma how to cut a cooked chicken she just looked at me and said, “You just cut it! What’s the big deal?!” 🙂
Cheers,
Adam
Adam. This. Dish. Is. Superb. I made it last night. And, although I skipped the fat rendering part, I managed to produce some pretty killer flavours. The condiments are a must. Can’t believe how simple but effective the spring onion and ginger oil component is?! Your grandma certainly knows her stuff.
I second your call on the double-boiled stock option. I used some leftover homemade chicken stock to cook the chicken in this time around and the flavour was primo. And I love the resting method. It makes for some very succulent meat.
A further tip: for those who might think making chicken stock at home is too much fuss to bother with, I recommend the following cost-effective method. We rarely buy chicken in parts these days. Mostly we buy a whole free range chicken and then butcher it ourselves. It’s just the two of us at home, so we’ll often use the Marylands and wings for mini roasts or dishes like this one, then we freeze the breasts for cooking another night (or vice versa). The carcass is boiled up while cooking the first chicken dish, then cooled and frozen for a later date. I’m constantly finding containers of stock in the freezer! On nights when we’re short on time, my husband will often poach the breasts in a bit of gingered water and soy, with some fresh spring onion and beans, silken tofu and rice with our favourite chilli oil served on the side. Super fast and delicious. Then you STILL have another night to use the original stock in whatever dish you fancy! Three meals and counting. Not bad for a $10 chook! (Probably learned that from MY grandmother!)
Thanks for your comment, Jo.
I never buy chicken pieces either. You get more variety and quality from breaking down a whole bird and it’s much cheaper to boot.
I also debone the legs into leg/thigh fillets (in a lot of Chinese cooking the drumstick meat and thigh fillet is kept together as one cut off the bone) and throw the thigh and leg bones into the stock.
I think you and I are on the same page! 😉
I made this dish tonight and it was a hit with the hubby. My only query was in regards to the way the chicken was cooked. When i cooked it as suggested by you, when i pierced the skin after removing from the water for 30 mins, it still seemed fairly under cooked. I’m under the impression that you shouldn’t eat poultry unless it is fully cooked…what is your thought on this? I cooked the chicken for a little longer with a meat thermometer but found the breast too tough.
Hi Alice,
The key to cooking the chicken is to cook it gently. If it’s overcooked or cooked too quickly it is likely to be tough, so you really need to allow it to rest well. As the chicken rests, first in the hot stock and also when it’s wrapped in cling film later, it will continue to cook so you need to give it time for that to happen.
I don’t mind my chicken slightly pink in the flesh, but I understand a lot of people for cultural reasons want the chicken to be completely cooked through, so that’s what I’ve tried to provide in this recipe.
With proper boiling, waiting and resting the ideal result for this chicken is that it is cooked but pink inside the bones, and perhaps with the very slightest, almost imperceptible blush of pink at the thickest part of the breast.
With differences in birds, pots and stoves there will always be some slight variations in cooking times, but that just-barely-cooked chicken is definitely what you should be looking for with this dish.
Thanks,
Adam
Dear Adam,
Thank you very much for this classic recipe. Made it tonight and it was excellent! My Hainanese (Malaysian) husband was a happy man.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, do you wash the rice before frying it up and cooking it?
(BTW we are so glad about your success. My parents are friends with Aunty Tee Lee and I clerked at Kelly & Co when you were there. Please open your Sydney restaurant soon so we can all come and visit it!)
Cheryl
Hi Adam, what a great recipe. I’ve cooked the SBS version for a couple of years now but this kicks it out of the park.
Just reading through some of the comments I thought I’d add my two cents – for those who find the flavour kick not strong enough I’d recommend using fresh free range chicken and I season the water with salt when poaching the chicken. My mum also taught me to rinse the chicken with cold water once you take it out of the water or to put it straight into the freezer. It tightens the skin and makes it easier to cut up.
Thanks again for my new favourite recipe!
Chicken necks are good for making stock too, very cheap and no fat !
hi Adam, i love your tv program on SBS. My son is a sushi chef. will show ur video to him. thank you
hi Adam! your recipe looks yummy,, anyway how to make a roasted hainanese chicken ?? thanks
I’ve attempted hainanese chicken rice quite a few times but none has turned out as nice as this recipe. Recipe is also very easy to follow.
I’ve attempted hainanese chicken rice quite a few times but none has turned out as nice as this recipe. Recipe is also very easy to follow.
Dear Adam,
I just wanted to say “thank you, thank you and thank you to you and your gramda for this great recipe”. Hainanese chicken has always been a favourite of mine – which, up to the time I bought your book, I had to resort to the bought kind. While good enough to get me hooked – it always contained MSG – not good for me. Now, armed with your book, I always make Hainanese chicken when we go to our holiday house – you are responsible for a new tradition. Today I happen to have forgotten the book, so searched the internet hoping to find your recipe to confirm a couple of details. Having found it, and seen all these comments, I felt compelled to say thank you. We follow your career with great interest and we loved your show too. Congratulations on your success, you deserve it and more, Anita
Just another happy customer checking in to say what a great recipe this is – thanks for sharing – you’ve definitely immortalised your grand mother in a great way.
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Cooked your Grandma’s recipe last night! Fabulous and very authentic, took my husband and I back to Singapore and Malaysia where we had this dish the first time.. Just a question though: Do you rinse the rice before cooking it in the chicken fat?
Thanks for your reply
from very happy consumers 😀
I followed this recipe almost to a T and it was truly amazing, and comparable with Hainanese Chicken Rice I’ve had in Singapore and at my usual favourite South East Asian eateries here in NZ. Actually, it was waaaay better than comparable: it was AWESOME. It took me around 2 hours from start to finish, but it was totally worth it. The chilli sauce and spring onion garlic oil work so well with the chicken and the rice. I found the amount of salt perfect. I can’t understand why restaurants bother with msg when this recipe can produce something with such tasty flavours. My boyfriend and I look forward to eating this for lunch again tomorrow :D. Thanks Adam for this epic recipe. Am so glad I found it – I might have to buy your cookbook: for me and my mum and maybe some friends too.
Wow. I bookmarked your page. I could almost taste SCR at this very moment! Thanks a lot,
Must not forget that the beauty of this dish is it’s delicate flavours. The broth was perfect, and a little soy and sesame rubbed over the chicken before serving more than enough flavour. Best Hainanese chicken recipe.
I tried this recipe out for the 1st time about 2 years ago and served it to my friends – Malaysians and Australians all loved it and I had nothing left by the end! This is a fantastic recipe that I keep coming back to and prompted me to buy your recipe books (which are filled with more amazing recipes!). Keep up the great work!
I’ve just made the Chicken Rice and follow every step of this recipes from the beginning to the last. It’s taste fantastic, the whole family really enjoy it, rice, ginger chilli sauce, dressing oil, chicken especially soup. Unforgettable meal, thanks for the recipes.
Thanks Adam, I have made your recipe numerous times and it is perfect the way it is. IT IS THE MOST AUTHENTIC CHICKEN RICE RECIPE OUT THERE! 🙂
Hi 🙂 how long should I leave the chicken wrapped for?
Hi Adam
I started cooking this dish after I saw you make it on Masterchef years ago now. It is one of my family’s absolute favourites, so I just wanted to say thanks for introducing this dish to us!
Best regards
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Thank you for sharing this recipe Adam. I’ve tried this recipe so many times and has always been our fav so far! ❤❤
Lived in Malaysia for 3 years and I have a high expectation when it comes to chicken rice.Im not Malaysian Im not Chinese either,Im Filipino.Luckily I tried this last Saturday and it was great,well yeah minus the MSG they use back in Malaysia the chicken is a little bland but it is not hard to put a little bit of salt while poaching the chicken.And also the sauces brings out the taste in the chicken.Rice taste great.Chilli sauce to die for.Over all Im very satisfied and happy.Thank you for the recipe.My Australian husband was impressed.
Hi Adam, I grew up in Malaysia and this is one of my all time favourites!! Really looking forward to trying it out. I was just wondering if you have any advice about poaching the chicken in a slow cooker?
Sorry but I’ve never done it in a slow cooker so I can’t really comment.
Thank you for this recipe! Am overseas in Japan and missing home so badly. This was a perfect cure for homesickness, and beats some hawker stores as well. Cheers.
Made this tonight and it was amazing!!! So tasty, much better than what I have tasted from restaurants!!
Thank you for this amazing recipe. I undercooked the chicken but already brushed it with sesame oil, so I just put it back in the pot and it actually turned out so flavourful and tender. The family love it!
Thanks for the tips, i like chicken rice
I’m of Malaysian Chinese decent living in Australia, and literally grew up with this dish. Whenever home sickness sets in, this dish was the cure. Over ten years I’ve been cooking this dish with countless renditions that came close, but not quite the real deal I remember from home.
Tried out your instructions and recipe today and FINALLY… Home!
I understand some may have commented about blandness and lack of punch, but I like to share the hidden brilliance I’ve found in this recipe that made the world of difference between the past ten years and what this recipe helped put up today.
1. No ounce of salt added to the chicken until right befor serving-
For fear of lacking punch, ive always added salt to the stock while poaching, and for reasons unknown, the delicate natural flavour of the chicken gets lost in the stock. While counter intuitively without any salt, the chicken retained its sweetness and texture after poaching. I may never know why…
2. Below boiling 20mins, off heat, cover and poach 30.
This process not only ensured a perfectly cooked chook, but also prevented the skin from breaking apart from overheating in boiling water! Brilliant.
3. Brushed sesame oil and PLASTIC wrapped resting/cooldown!!!
I have never done this in the past, but can now understand why it is such a crucial kung fu secret in that it kept the skin of the chicken as smoooth as silk rather than drying out through its own steam during resting.
4. Ginger and spring onion condiment.
Folowed this to the T and OMG… how is this recipe so different from the many microprocessed versions Ive done in the past? I even used spring onion that was on the verge of sprouting and it still kicked ass! Grandma sure knows the value in “slow work producing delicate results”.. i think the coase grind and infusing hit the perfect balance. Unreal. And oh yes, the condiment is to this chicken as what oxygen is to breathing. Its really the final hit of flavour that seals this dish.
In closing, I’m truly appreciative that Adam has disclosed such closely guarded secrets to a great Hainanese chicken rice to people like me. Many Hainanese Chicken rice hawkers will not be too thrilled to learn that their dish can now be easily recreated at home thanks to Adam.
This dish is simple yet extremely complex to master. A fitting peasant dish that had once made it to the grand finals of Masterchef Australia, and continue to thwart the most seasoned of home cooks out there! No longer!
This was delicious! I have moved recently to USA and have had to start learning the malaysian street food so I don’t get depressed! The dish was so easy to make and tasted authentic the only problem I had was I felt everything could have used a little more salt but that could just be me 🙂 will definitely be printing out this recipe!
I used to live in Singapore and spent a lot of time searching for the best Hainanese Chicken rice. It was a labour of love because even the worst would have some redeeming quality, and the best was more comforting than a mother’s hug.
Now I live in country Victoria and it might as well be Mars when it comes to finding authentic Asian dining, so I’ve had to satisfy the craving by trialling numerous recipes in search of the elusive subtlety which characterises this dish.
This recipe nails it. The seasoning is perfect, but do not skimp on the condiments – they are as essential to the dish as chicken is.
Profound thanks 🙂
Best Chicken rice for mine…Chinatown Cafe…Central Market Adelaide.
I’m going to try your recipe it sounds great Mr Liaw.
Soul chicken!
I saw Guy Sebastian and entourage there one time in 06.
He got the Hainan
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The condiments make this dish, and I’ve used this recipe many times & it’s worked well. However the broth was somewhat disappointing, but Adam’s hints above made all the difference! Well-seasoned, the both is delicious! no need for msg or other flavour enhancers. I poured a little of the seasoned juices back into the pot with the broth. Leftover carcass and condiments added to the leftover broth means I’ll have a tasty soup tomorrow as well 🙂
Thank you so so much for sharing this very authentic recipe, which has become my go-to recipe whenever we crave for this dish. To address what other commenters said about the broth being “weak”, I simply make a separate chicken broth (with leftover bones or supermarket-bought necks or wings) and add this to the stock from the poached chicken. Such a simple, flavorful and satisfying chicken dish!
I cooked hainan chicken rice based on your recipe and it’s great. Thing is I cooked too much. Is it safe to keep overnight in the refrigerator for consumption the next day?
Sooooooo gooooood!!! I had no issues with flavour, it was by far one of the best dishes I’ve made this year. Love your work!
Hi Adam, I’m going to try your version of Hainanese Chicken Rice, I’ve always tried my mums version, will let you know how it goes. One question i do have is where can i get those poultry hooks from? I’ve looked online but can’t find them anywhere.
Thanks
Hi Adam, can you please tell me where i can find the poultry hooks that you use in this recipe?
Thank you
Stephanie.
Maybe google can tell you?
https://www.butcherathome.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=hooks
Good luck!
Love the video that you suggested. I have to play and pause it and re-play it while chopping the chicken in the same time. My chicken looks so messy LOL. I’m using cleaver however i guess it’s not sharp and heavy enough to make a clean cut.
Thanks for the recipe. It’s amazing !!!! I added 0.5 kg chicken feet to enhance the flavour while simmering the chicken. Turn out cheaper then using 2 whole chickens.
Hi Adam,
Thank you for this recipe. I followed the measurements pretty closely and it was a success. I used young ginger instead and it was so delicious and extremely fragrant. I also added glutinous rice (soaked overnight) on the jasmine rice. Thanks again.
Hi Adam, I just made the dish to my family and my kids absolutely loved it. I used 3/4 tsp msg and got the most fantastic stock. Thanks
Tried the chicken and love it!! Thx Adam. Love your you tube video too.
I didn’t buy scallions and used one (white) onion instead, and added carrots to boil in the stock as I love carrot.
After chicken is cooked, dissected and some stock added to rice, I place the chicken frame back to the stock to boil further. We had flavoursome soup to go with our chic and rice. No MSG at all.
awesome recipe! added carrots and onion to my soup to add flavor to it
Hi Adam,
Thank you so much for your recipe. I made it for potluck tonight. I followed your instruction exactly. It came out perfect chicken’s so tender and juicy. The rice’s aromatic. The condiments are savory. Everyone loves it. No left over. I can’t thank you enough.
Hi Adam,
Thank you so much for your recipe. I made it for potluck tonight. I followed your instruction exactly. It came out perfect chicken’s so tender and juicy. The rice’s aromatic. The condiments are savory. Everyone loves it. No left over. I can’t thank you enough.
That was a great recipe! Thank you!
Hi Adam, thanks for the great recipe! Made it this weekend and it was great but…there is a but, not as great as what I’ve had in Singapore and I think the secret may lie in what you said in one of your earlier comment. You like slightly pinker chicken but, for cultural reasons, many prefer chicken cooked through and this recipe provides for that.
So, real talk, when you make this for your family, how long do you actually leave it in and/or what temperature do you cook at? I think there are two issues at play, temperature and length of time. Given my first time I left it at just below a normal (by western standards) simmer with barely a bubble here or there for exactly 45minutes then plunged in ice water etc. I stuck my thermometer in a few times during just to make sure it wasnt approaching boiling and registered 180-190ish degrees every now and then. But in my quest for great chicken rice I found another recipe that suggests keeping the chicken between 165-170 degrees for 35-40 and that the water should be completely still but steaming. Chicken is taken out when it registers at 165 degrees.
I plan on trying that next time but was wondering what you do given your clear love of chicken rice, rich chicken rice heritage and awesome instructions.
Thanks again, this was by far the best and clearest recipe I’ve found in my quest and I’ve since subscribed to your channel and discovered lots of other great recipes in the process. (I highly recommend the Mulligatawny soup to anyone reading this)
Hi Adam, thanks for the great recipe! Made it this weekend and it was great but…there is a but, not as great as what I’ve had in Singapore and I think the secret may lie in what you said in one of your earlier comment. You like slightly pinker chicken but, for cultural reasons, many prefer chicken cooked through and this recipe provides for that.
So, real talk, when you make this for your family, how long do you actually leave it in and/or what temperature do you cook at? I think there are two issues at play, temperature and length of time. Given my first time I left it at just below a normal (by western standards) simmer with barely a bubble here or there for exactly 45minutes then plunged in ice water etc. I stuck my thermometer in a few times during just to make sure it wasnt approaching boiling and registered 190ish degrees every now and then. But in my quest for great chicken rice I found another recipe that suggests keeping the chicken between 165-170 degrees for 35-40 min and that the water should be completely still but steaming. Chicken is taken out when it registers at 165 degrees.
I plan on trying that next time but was wondering what you do given your clear love of chicken rice, rich chicken rice heritage and awesome instructions.
Thanks again, this was by far the best and clearest recipe I’ve found in my quest and I’ve since subscribed to your channel and discovered lots of other great recipes in the process. (I highly recommend the Mulligatawny soup to anyone reading this)
Exactly what i’ved learn when i was in singapore…….very authentic and the way how it was done! cheers!
Thank u so much for this recipe! Ive been meaning to cook hainanese chicken for the longest time but was to scared to do it, im glad to say my first try was a complete success
Hi Adam, I have been following your Destination Flavour China and am looking to try the dip with the calamansi lime preserved in salt, calamansi juice and chilli. Do you have a written recipe for this and also the one with the fish sauce and rice wine?
Hi Adam,
Might be a simple question however I am a amateur.
Hainanese chicken rice is usually served with a bowl of soup. How can I make this soup to go with my dish?
Where do you buy the wooden chicken hanger that you have in your video??? What is it called??
Hello,
Where did you buy the wooden chicken hanger in your video???
Thanks,
Stephanie
It’s called a trestle , you can buy it at the hardware store 😉
This recipe is incredibly good. as for the seasoning some are talking about my advice is just season it how you like it! Im an ang moh expat here in singapore and i made this for locals and they were calling their friends to tell them how good the ang moh chx rice was. they loved the spring onion ginger oil (me too). only thing i did different was bring to boil, put chicken in and turn heat off completely. seemed to work well. thank you so much for this recipe, it rocks!
I am looking forward to trying this. I have a question. If you plunge the chicken in ice water to arrest the cooking and get that nice skin, what do you do to serve the chicken not cold? Or is it meant to be served cold/cool? Or does the ice water not chill down the temperature that severely?
I made this and the wife loved it! Thanks Adam!
Hi Adam!
I would just like to express my gratitude to you for sharing this recipe. It’s been 10 weeks since the lockdown started in my country (PH), and I haven’t been out of the house. All groceries and produce are just delivered to me and my elderly parents. We love eating at our local Singaporean restaurant, and Hainanese Chicken Rice is a family favorite. Cooking this for them made me feel a sense of comfort and normalcy. 🙂 The folks also loved them, and said they taste better than the one we get at the restaurant! Thank you also for sharing your family secrets and sharing your stories. Hope you are safe.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRECISE INSTRUCTIONS AND YOUR INSIGHT!
I’m of Latin descent and I have never been able to cook rice perfectly to save my life. It was a bit of a downer, given my heritage – but your easy step by step guide helped me make my first perfect rice in 20 years!
Thank you again!
Tried the recipe yesterday. The missus and my four boys loved it, They said tasted almost like the Chinese restaurant. I take it as a compliment. Thank you Adam!
Yum! To me this is Probably the best chicken dish in the world. I discovered in Singapore. Its amazing how simple it is yet how flavorful. The tenderness of the poached chicken is phenomenal. There is variation where they fry the chicken , but I think the poached is just perfect.
hello there! would like to ask, what cooking oil did you use?
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I made it today and it tastes great!
I have made two different batches of Hainanese Chicken Rice this week. I followed this recipe for the first batch (which was really yummy!). Some modifications were made to the second batch according to my personal preference. So, for the second batch, I made the broth from chicken bones and leftover broth from the first batch. I poached 5 large pieces of skin-on chicken thighs. Chicken thighs are more tender and juicy. If you want a richer stock but don’t want to end up with too much chicken, consider using chicken frames 😉
I also added some crushed garlic, ginger and spring onions to the rendered chicken fats for more depth – this was stirred into the rice when about 80% of the liquid has been absorbed. It makes the rice really tasty without adding MSG.
Thank you for inspiring me to make my own Hainanese Chicken Rice. I can finally enjoy MSG-free chicken rice at home!
21 January 2021. I just saw Adam Liaw and Family, in Discovery Asia. Adam Liaw prepared Wenchang Chicken. Awesome.
Tried this today, really good. I found the stock/broth to be a bit on the weak side as far as chicken flavor goes. I added about 3.5 quarts of water to submerge my chicken. I also went a bit light on the salt, but I will fix that next time (oh, there will be a next time). Great Recipe, thanks.
Amazing website and Delicious recipes
Hi Adam,
I must say your version of Hainanese Chicken Rice is absolutely tasty. I am very familiar with various HCR recipes. Your’s is among my top rank ones in terms of taste and ‘user friendly’ way of preparation and cooking method. I’ve read some comments about taste and salt level. It’s simply a matter of how you want to paint a portrait. In my opinion it boils down to improvisation and relying on aroma and taste buds. I used to fry the basmathi rice that I used with the standard condiments before putting into the rice pot. Your method produced very similar results. Like I mentioned earlier – user friendly. In addition, the chilli dip can be seriously hot & spicy with Thai chilli padi. (a must for a chilli freak like me) Simply love the burning sensation that goes superbly with the fusion of every ingredient in a delicious Hainanese Chicken Rice. Thanks for the great video, and not forgetting the well-informed recipe
Thank you Adam for sharing this recipe. I made a tasty stock as you have emphasized and got my chicken and rice very, very yummy (and cooked just right) in my first try. I’m so glad that I can do this dish at home and feel like I’m in Singapore/ Malaysia. Simply delicious!
I appreciate the video and the work you put in to teach others (like me)… Thank you again.
I have used your old version of poaching the chicken, which is putting the chicken into cold water and then only bringing it to heat. It has never failed me yet. I just made it again last night and it turn out beautifully.
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Thank you Adam for sharing your recipe. Really authentic!!!.. the rice, sauces and chicken!!!! My family and friends love it!
I’ve made this 3x following this recipe and have always been so happy! Thanks Adam Liaw!
Hi
When u render the chicken fat, do you just cook the fat alone or u add in water/oil to render?