Anti-Inflammatory Poached Chicken

Yes, I know, this looks a bit like bong water (not as much as this though). But make some and you’ll have juicy thighs for days.

Poached chicken is a food I try to always have on hand because it makes for a lot of fast meals. I give mine an extra punch of flavor by adding ginger, which also happens to be part of an anti-inflammatory diet. Bonus: the broth you make while poaching the chicken is a meal in itself!

Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup dry sherry

1 1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup chicken or veggie broth

1 yellow onion, quartered

3-6 garlic cloves, smashed

1 2-inch knob of ginger, smashed

1 teaspoon thyme

3 celery stalks, chopped into bite-size pieces*

1 carrot, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces

1 bayleaf

1-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken (I prefer thighs for more flavor)

salt

freshly-ground pepper

Optional: Adding any fresh herbs you might have in the house. Dill pairs particularly well when adding ginger to your broth.

*Note: Feel free to throw in any full-sized stalks with leaves on them, as well—the interior pieces you normally wouldn’t eat are great for broths.

Preparation

Toss and pour all the ingredients—except the chicken—into a medium-sized stockpot or Dutch oven and bring to a low boil. While waiting for your ingredients to come to a boil, season chicken liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Add the chicken to the pot and return to a boil, cooking for four minutes, flipping halfway through. Flip the chicken again, cover the pot with a lid, and turn off the stove. Let the chicken sit in the hot poaching liquid for 7 minutes and then flip again. Recover the chicken and let sit for another 7 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. Remove chicken from the pot, place it onto a cutting board, and let it rest five minutes before eating or storing. 

Using a small hand-held strainer held over a big Ball jar, pour your poaching lid into the jar. Fish out your bite-size pieces of carrot and celery and store with the broth or in a separate container.

I like to enjoy my first round of poached chicken sliced in some of the freshly made broth along with the cooked carrots and celery. Liven it up by adding a squeeze of lime and some sliced jalapeños.