An Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice Recipe to Cook at Home

Make Restaurant Quality Chicken Rice at Home.

Chicken rice is one of Asia’s top comfort meals. And Hainanese Chicken Rice is a standout among them. Learn to make this easy Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe:

Learning How to Cook Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainanese Chicken Rice originated in Singapore with influences from Hainan and Cantonese cuisines. Today, there are a number of notable Michelin-rated chicken rice stalls in Singapore that locals and travelers line up for hours just to eat a plate.

And admittedly, these plates of chicken rice are more difficult to recreate as they require more steps, like dunking in an ice bath after simmering, or deboning and handling the chicken to cut it like in the restaurants.

This recipe below simplifies an authentic Hainanese chicken rice inspired by the Mandarin Oriental Sanya cooking class recipe, and it is more approachable and even easier to cook at home.

An Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice Recipe to Cook at Home

Serves 3-4 persons

The Chicken

1 whole chicken, 3lbs+ or 1.3kg+
2-inch knob of ginger, peeled
5 cloves of garlic, whole and peeled
1 small bundle of spring onion, cleaned and loosely tied into a knot
2 pieces of pandan leaves, cleaned and loosely tied into a knot
3 Tablespoons of sesame oil
1 Tablespoons salt
10 cups chicken stock

1. Put all ingredients except for the chicken into a big soup pot. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat.

Note: For the chicken stock, you can boil another chicken beforehand in a pot of 10 cups of water flavored 1 Tablespoon of salt and with a whole onion cut into quarters, 5 garlic cloves peeled, and a big knob of ginger peeled and sliced.

2. When the aromatics and the chicken stock begin to boil, carefully carry the chicken by its legs over the pot of stock. Dunk the bird (while holding onto its legs) slowly about 8 times. This technique ensures that the chicken retains its natural juices and the skin keeps its color.

3. Reduce the heat to a simmer and partially cover the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat for 10 minutes. Repeat this for 1 hour. As you come back to the pot every 10 minutes, check to see if you need to skim off the scum that rises to the top of the liquid.

4. After one hour, turn off the heat and keep the pot on the stove. Taste the broth if you need to add more salt. Gently take out the chicken and place it into a serving platter. Cover the chicken with a damp cloth and leave it at room temperature to prevent it from drying out until it is time to serve.

Note: Other recipes require you to dunk the whole chicken into an ice bath after cooking. This creates the extra tenderness of the meat and the jelly-like skin. You can do that, but this 10 minutes simmer, 10 minutes off technique also provides a similar moist, tender result.

The Rice

4 cups white rice, cleaned and uncooked
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons chicken oil from the pot
1 Tablespoon canola oil
Chicken broth from the soup pot
3 pieces pandan leaf
1 small onion, peeled
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 knob of ginger, peeled

1. Put the onion, garlic, and ginger into a food processor. Pulse and run it on high until everything is finely chopped into a mash. This is a secret technique that really brings out the flavors of the aromatics and ensures you don’t see the big chopped chunks when you eat.

Note: You can start the rice after the chicken starts to simmer. Make sure you have a timer going to keep track of the chicken’s simmering and turning off.

2. Heat a big pan on high heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of chicken oil that is floating at the top of the pot of simmering chicken. On top of that, add 1 tablespoon of canola oil (or rice bran oil).

3. Add the aromatic mash from the food processor. Set aside the food processor because you will use that for the sauce. Sauté the aromatics with 1 generous teaspoon of salt for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat.

4. Add the 4 cups of uncooked, cleaned rice to the pan. Add 1 generous teaspoon of salt. Sauté for a couple of minutes while stirring and incorporating the oil and all the aromatics into the grains of rice.

5. Transfer the rice mixture to your rice cooker. With a ladle, scoop the chicken broth until it goes the broth goes slightly over the number 4. Place in the pandan leaves. Cook the rice.

6. When the rice is cooked, open the lid and gently fluff it using a rice scooper. When serving the rice, make sure you don’t include the pandan leaf as that is just an aromatic.

The Sauces

Lee Kum Kee Chilli Garlic Sauce
ABC Sweet Soy Sauce
1 big piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/4 of a small bundle of spring onion, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon chicken oil from the pot of simmering chicken
2 Tablespoons good quality sesame oil
1 pinch of salt

1. While the rice cooks and the chicken continues to simmer on and off, you can now make the sauce. In the same manner that you used the food processor for the rice’s aromatics, blend all the ingredients in the food processor until finely blended.

2. Serve the sauces in little bowls. Note that this recipe only creates the ginger sauce. For ease and practicality, the chili sauce and sweet soy sauce from these specific brands are as delicious as the restaurant and easy to get. There’s no shame at all in using store-bought condiments.

Plating

1. You can choose to cut the chicken and debone it. Or, save yourself the effort and serve it in a big platter for a family-style presentation. Rather than plunking the whole chicken on the plate, the chicken is so tender it falls off the bone. So you can cut up the parts of the chicken, such as the legs, thighs, wings, and breasts.

2. For eating, you can have bowls for the rice, bowls for the soup, sauce containers for the sauces, and a plate for the chicken. If you like to eat the sauced up chicken with rice in the same bite, you can also opt not to use rice bowls and plate it on the chicken plate. It’s all up to your preferences.