One Pot Chicken Rice – Hainanese Chicken Rice

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This one pot chicken rice recipe is inspired by Hainanese chicken rice. To make things simple, juicy chicken thighs are cooked along with a ginger and garlic infused rice all in one pot! Ginger scallion sauce & sweet chili sauce is served with the chicken for super delicious flavor (savory, sweet, slight tang and spice, and overall goodness). When serving the dish, cut up some cucumbers for a a nice crisp and fresh flavor (add some cilantro and peanuts for the ultimate experience). Hainan Chicken rice is my go-to comfort meal when I’m sick or I’m missing home; I hope this dish gives you as much warmth as it gives me. If you love chicken rice, you can try my Easy One Pot Chinese Chicken and Rice, One Pot Coconut Curry Chicken and Rice or Chinese Clay Pot Rice.

What is Hainanese (Hainan) Chicken Rice?

Traditional Hainan chicken rice originates from Singapore and Malaysia, but other countries like China and Thailand (khao man gai) have something very similar! All of these countries makes this dish very similarly. To start, a whole chicken is poached in boiling water and then transferred to an ice bath for tender meat with gelatinous chicken skin. Next, jasmine rice is cooked in the chicken broth that was used to poach the chicken. The chicken rice is served with various sauces: ginger scallion, chili sauce, or soy sauce.

You can see that the original dish is quite laborious (still worth it!), so that is why I created this recipe. My one pot chicken rice has the restaurant quality taste made easy and in a smaller portion.

Serve with Chicken Broth

You can make chicken broth with the leftover thigh bones. Boil bones with water, ginger, and green onions for 20-30 minutes.

Tips to make this dish taste just like the restaurant:

Don’t skip these steps if you want restaurant quality Hainanese chicken rice:

• Trim off fat and excess chicken skin and fry them in the pot. Gently fry the fat and skin until the oil renders out and the skin has become crispy. The rice will be sautéed with chicken fat for a delicious aroma (trust me, the rice will not be oily!).
• Use quality chicken broth like kettle cooked or chicken bone broth. Since the rice is cooked in the broth, each rice grain will absorb the delicious chicken broth!
• Use jasmine rice (not short grain rice) for this dish. Don’t forget to wash the rice in a strainer a few times until the water runs clear. If you don’t wash off the excess starch in the rice, the rice clumps together and tastes a little grainy when cooked. After washing the jasmine rice, the grains separate and cooked with the chicken will make the rice smooth and soft!
• (optional) – Wash the chicken with some salt by rubbing on the skin and on the meat. This cleans the chicken and makes the skin really soft. Make sure to wash off the salt to ensure that the chicken is not too salty.

Hainanese Chicken Sauces

I made two different types of sauces for my Hainan chicken: sweet chili & ginger scallion sauce. If you’re in a time crunch, make one of the sauces. If you make both sauces, you won’t regret it because both of the sauces combined brings phenomenal flavor! You can chop up the sauces by hand or throw them all in a food processor to make things fast ◡̈

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR YOUR ONE POT HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE:

marinate chicken:

• rinse 2 pounds skin-on chicken thighs with running water – very important to use skin on chicken thighs for the chicken fat flavor. It’s hard to find boneless chicken thighs, so I can buy the bone-in version and cut out the bone.
• marinate with 1 teaspoon salt

chicken broth (OPTIONAL):

After trimming the chicken thigh bones, you can place them in 4 cups of boiling water, 3 slices ginger, and 1 green onion. Boil for 20 minutes on medium heat and skim the foam and fat from the top. Season with salt to your preference and you can sip delicious chicken broth while you enjoy your Hainanese chicken rice.

• 3 cups water
• 4 chicken thighs boneless (2 pound)
• 2 slices ginger (peeled)
• 1 green onion
• ½ teaspoon salt (optional) – add more if you like!

one pot chicken rice

• chicken fat from the skin or 3 tablespoons neutral oil (sunflower, canola, or avocado) – the chicken fat should render out to be around 2-3 tablespoons. You don’t need to be too precise here.
• 1 shallot, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 inch ginger (peeled), minced
• 2 cups jasmine rice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chicken broth – I recommend to use low sodium so you can control how much salt goes in your hainanese chicken rice.
• 4 chicken thighs boneless – use boneless chicken thighs for quicker cooking time. If you cook the chicken with bone, you will need to increase the cooking time. Things can get tricky because the rice can burn or overcook. Also, it is more delicious and easy to eat this dish without bones.
• 2 green onions (place on top)

classic ginger scallion sauce

• 2 inch ginger, grated
• 3 green onions
• ½ cup oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch sugar
• pinch msg or chicken bouillon (optional)

sweet and sour sauce (inspired by khao man gai sauce)

• 1 thai chili, finely chopped (add more if you like spicy!)
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 inch ginger, grated – grated ginger makes the flavor less strong
• 1 lime, squeezed
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 garlic, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• ½ tablespoon sriracha or Chili Garlic Sauce

garnish

• cucumbers – fresh and crispy cucumbers mix so well with the savory chicken and rice.
• fried chicken skin (optional, but highly recommended) – the leftover chicken skin you used to render out the oil is so crispy and tastes so fragrant. Mix with your rice for a super nice crunch!
• cilantro (optional)
• peanuts (optional) – for those that love extra crunch

STEPS TO MAKE THE ONE POT HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE:

• Step 1. Wash your chicken with running water and rub salt on the skin and meat. Wash salt off the chicken. Don’t forget to clean your sink and surfaces after. If you have bone-in chicken thighs, trim off the bone with scissors (trying to cut off little meat as possible). Trim the fat and excess skin off the chicken and save for later. Tip: Don’t trim off all the chicken skin, just the skin that is hanging off or skin not covering the meat.
• Step 2. Peel skin off ginger. Mince 1 shallot, 4 garlic cloves and ginger and set aside. Wash 2 cups of rice in a strainer until water runs clear and set aside.
• Step 3. Add excess fat and chicken skin on a cold pot; turn to medium low and fry chicken skin for 10 minutes to make chicken skin crispy and to render oil. Be careful, the skin splatters! After frying them golden, take out skin and save to eat later.

• Step 4. Turn heat to medium. Add minced shallots, garlic, ginger and saute for 1 minute. Add washed rice and saute for 1 minute. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and ½ teaspoon salt. Mix everything together.

• Step 5. Add chicken thighs and add green onions on top of the rice. Cook on high heat for 5 minutes covered. Then turn heat to low and cook for 10-12 more minutes (still covered). Then, turn off heat and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Do not open the lid at all during the rice cooking process!

• Step 6. While the chicken is cooking you can make one or both of the sauces by chopping by hand or food processor:
  • ginger scallion (traditional) – Peel and grate ginger. Slice green onions. Place green onions and ginger in a heat resistant bowl with ½ teaspoon salt, pinch of sugar and pinch of chicken bouillon. Heat pot to high heat. Add ½ cup of oil to pot and heat for 3-4 minutes. Test if the oil is hot enough by adding one small slice of green onion. Once it sizzles, add all the hot oil to the bowl. Mix together and set aside.
  • sweet chili – Slice 1 thai chili very finely. Finely chop 1 shallot and garlic. In a bowl, add shallot, thai chili, and garlic. Grate ginger in the bowl. Squeeze 1 lime and add 1 tablespoon sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce and water. Add ½ tablespoon sriracha and mix everything together until sugar has dissolved.

• Step 8. To serve, fluff up the rice and slice the chicken. Top with ginger scallion and/or sweet chili sauce. Garnish with cilantro and sliced cucumbers. Optional, but highly recommended, add some peanuts and the crispy chicken skin on the rice ◡̈ Enjoy while hot.

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