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Hainanese Chicken Rice, Easy 5 Step Recipe

July 30, 2019 by Honest Food Talks

chicken rice

Hainanese Chicken Rice is one of Singapore’s most famous dishes and is a must-order dish when visiting a hawker’s market. Steamed tender chicken served over fragrant rice with sesame oil and soy sauce. Topped with coriander lead and served with ginger and chilli sauce. Surprisingly, this delicious Singaporean dish is very easy to make at home.

Impress friends and family with this quick and easy 5 steps homemade recipe. Cook Hainanese chicken rice in less than 2 hours. This recipe uses chicken thigh, legs or chicken breast and not a whole chicken which significantly reduces the cooking time needed.

hainanese chicken rice close up
A close up of our homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice. Photo Credit: Honest Food Talks

How to Make the Best Hainanese Chicken Rice

The secret to making the best Hainanese chicken rice is in the name of the dish. Traditionally, the dish is made with a whole chicken to feed an entire household. Using a whole piece will allow you to use the stock as a soup and also flavour the rice. However, you can still achieve a flavourful dish with thighs, legs and breast pieces as well as premade chicken stock.

For smoother texture on the chicken skin, make sure to exfoliate the chicken beforehand. You can use a handful of coarse kosher salt or table salt. Rub the salt on the surface of the chicken for 5-10 minutes. Then rinse and pat dry.

hainanese chicken rice recipe
Print Recipe
4.02 from 60 votes

Hainanese Chicken Rice Recipe

Steamed tender chicken served over fragrant rice with sesame oil and soy sauce.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time1 hr 30 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: chicken, rice
Servings: 4
Calories: 600kcal
Author: Honest Food Talks

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 4 pieces chicken (thigh, leg or breast will work with this recipe too)
  • 3 slices ginger
  • 2 stalks spring onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 stalk cilantro

Rice

  • 3 cups rice
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tbsp lemongrass (chopped)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp chicken powder
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • dash tumeric powder

Ginger Sauce

  • 1 whole piece ginger
  • 1/4 cup oil

Chilli Sauce (Optional)

  • 1 lemon medium sized
  • 6 red chili small
  • salt
  • 1/2 tsp chicken powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar

Instructions

  • Boil the Chicken
    Start by pouring 5 cups of cold water into a large stockpot and set aside. Slice 3 thick slices of ginger. Cut the spring onion in half and crush the onion head.
    Place the ginger and spring onion into the water and bring it to a boil. Let this boil for 30 minutes over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl of ice water and set this aside.
    Once the water has boiled, add the chicken. After 1 minute, remove the chicken and add it into the bowl of ice-cold water.
    Repeat this step four to five times. If you’re using chicken breast, repeat this two to three times.
  • Simmer on low heat
    Continue to boil the chicken in the stock on low heat for 30 minutes. After this, remove the chicken from the stock and place it into the ice water with 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of fish sauce. Leave this for 40-60 minutes before slicing into bite-size. Keep the chicken stock for later use.
  • Cook the Rice
    Wash the rice 3-4 times and add 4 cups of chicken stock, pandan leaves, butter, lemongrass, chicken powder, salt and a dash of turmeric powder. The turmeric powder will add a lovely yellow colour to the rice.
    Put this on normal settings in the rice cooker and stir halfway through cooking.
  • Making the Condiments
    For the ginger sauce, start by peeling the ginger skin with a spoon or peeler. Chop finely into the desired size or use a food processor and add salt to taste. Heat the oil in a small pan until the oil begins to smoke. Pour over the ginger and mix well. Leave this to cool slightly before serving.
    For the chilli sauce, finely chop the garlic, ginger and chilli before blending this with a food processor. Once this has turned into a paste, squeeze 1 lemon and add the chicken powder, salt and sugar to the mix.
  • To Serve
    Assemble on a plate, laying the chicken on top or on the side of the rice. Garnish with coriander (or cilantro) and some chili.
chicken rice

The traditional Singaporean hawker dish garnished with coriander, cucumber and chilli.

Delicious Additions and Swaps

This easy Hainanese chicken rice recipe can be dressed up by adding a few additions or made healthier with a few ingredient swaps. For instance, you can steam or lightly fry some leafy greens. This will make a good healthy addition on the side. We recommend trying Chinese cabbage, spinach or Choi sum.

To make the rice more fragrant, add a dash of sesame oil or more pandan leaves. Likewise, you can add cilantro, cucumber, tomato slices or carrots for decoration.

White rice can be substituted with brown rice or quinoa to make a healthy chicken rice dish.

Looking for more tasty recipes? Try this easy Moroccan chicken tagine recipe from UnoCasa now.

Written by Honest Food Talks , July 30, 2019

Previous Post: « Common Man Coffee Roasters in Singapore
Next Post: An Dining, a Farm to Fork Concept Restaurant »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AvatarAline

    November 5, 2020 at 5:03 pm

    4 stars
    Asking questions are truly pleasant thing if you are not understanding something entirely, except this paragraph presents fastidious
    understanding even.

  2. AvatarAlison Lee

    November 5, 2020 at 5:03 pm

    5 stars
    oh wow

  3. AvatarKatharina

    November 6, 2020 at 11:24 am

    4 stars
    Yes! Finally someone writes about this.

  4. AvatarCandida

    November 7, 2020 at 3:24 am

    5 stars
    so geniunie

  5. AvatarPasquale

    November 7, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    5 stars
    thank you for this! I made this with breast fillets and it was so much easier than preparing a whole chicken!

  6. AvatarMathew

    November 8, 2020 at 3:44 am

    5 stars
    🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

  7. AvatarDawna

    November 8, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    2 stars

  8. AvatarKathleen

    November 8, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    3 stars

  9. AvatarShari

    November 9, 2020 at 3:20 am

    3 stars

  10. AvatarCarole

    November 9, 2020 at 4:30 am

    4 stars

  11. AvatarYong

    November 11, 2020 at 2:13 am

    4 stars

  12. AvatarCarmel

    November 12, 2020 at 10:38 am

    5 stars

  13. AvatarJami

    November 12, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    3 stars

  14. AvatarShella

    November 12, 2020 at 12:58 pm

    5 stars

  15. AvatarJanet

    November 12, 2020 at 5:06 pm

    3 stars

  16. AvatarCarolyn

    November 12, 2020 at 8:55 pm

    2 stars

  17. AvatarGabriela

    November 13, 2020 at 9:06 am

    3 stars

  18. AvatarTarah

    November 14, 2020 at 1:34 am

    5 stars

  19. AvatarGrazyna

    November 14, 2020 at 7:14 pm

    3 stars

  20. AvatarMagnolia

    November 15, 2020 at 7:28 am

    3 stars

  21. AvatarEmma

    November 15, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    5 stars

  22. AvatarJoann

    November 15, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    5 stars
    This saved my family dinner plans

  23. AvatarLeticia

    November 17, 2020 at 3:17 am

    5 stars

  24. AvatarTesha

    November 17, 2020 at 11:36 am

    5 stars

  25. AvatarBlythe

    November 19, 2020 at 12:58 am

    5 stars
    thanks for posting this lovely recipe!

  26. AvatarSusanne

    November 19, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    3 stars

  27. AvatarWinston

    November 19, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    4 stars
    This is a real quick way of cooking up dinner thanks!

  28. AvatarJudson

    November 19, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    5 stars

  29. AvatarDamaris

    November 20, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    4 stars
    Spot on

  30. AvatarLelia

    November 21, 2020 at 1:10 am

    4 stars
    Magnificent

  31. AvatarCandice

    November 21, 2020 at 1:17 am

    4 stars
    love street food from singapore

  32. AvatarJeffery

    November 21, 2020 at 2:19 am

    4 stars
    great recipe thanks

  33. AvatarAnna

    November 22, 2020 at 5:54 am

    4 stars

  34. AvatarMia

    November 23, 2020 at 10:06 am

    5 stars

  35. AvatarAllie

    November 24, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    4 stars

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