The Easiest Hainanese Chicken Rice At Home?

After my trip to Singapore, I think I’ve learnt what it takes to make a great Hainanese chicken rice at home. So in this episode, I’m going to take you through the steps to master this iconic dish. Get ready for juicy chicken, epic rice and some iconic sauces.

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Director, Chef and Host: Andy
Videographer, Editor: Mitch Henderson
Production Manager: Dazz Braeckmans
Editor: Caleb Dawkins

Ingredients for Chicken:

- 1 large whole chicken (about 1.7 kg)
- 5cm fresh unpeeled ginger, crushed
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 bunch spring onion greens
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp MSG
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 chicken carcass or 4 chicken wings
- Extra chicken fat to render (you'll need around 1/2 a cup of rendered fat in total)
- 1 tsp salt

Method:
1. To begin, prepare the chicken by trimming off any extra fat, reserving it for the rice. Rub the chicken in salt and leave it at room temperature whilst the poaching pot heats up.
2. Place all the chicken fat in a pot with some added peanut oil if needed, and render on low heat for 20 mins. Retain this as it will be used for both the green sauce and rice.
3. In a large pot, bring water to a light simmer and add the ginger, garlic, spring onion greens, salt, and MSG.
4. Add the chicken to the pot. Dunk the chicken 3 times to replace the water in the cavity so it heats evenly. Ensure it's fully submerged in the broth. Let it simmer for 45 minutes, flipping halfway through. Make sure the water is simmering, not boiling.
5. Once cooked, have a large bowl of ice-cold water ready. Dunk the cooked chicken into it to halt the cooking and develop the gelatinous layer under the skin. Leave for 10 minutes.
6. Remove the chicken from the cold water and hang it to dry.
7. Gently brush the skin with sesame oil to prevent it from drying out.
8. Retain the broth for the rice and sauces.
9. Carve the chicken and serve with the sauces and rice.

Ingredients for Chilli Sauce:
- thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated
- 4 cloves garlic, grated
- 6 bird's eye chillies, sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- juice of a lime
- 100ml chicken broth from the pot (adjust quantity to desired consistency)

Method:
1. Combine garlic, ginger, chilli, salt, and sugar in a mortar and pestle, grinding until smooth.
2. Add the lime juice followed by the chicken stock, stirring continuously. Adjust seasoning as necessary.

Ingredients for Spring Onion Sauce:
- 2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 4 spring onions (white end only), finely diced
- 2 tbsp chicken fat

Method:
1. Add the grated ginger, spring onions, salt, and sugar into a mortar and pestle. Pound until it reaches a smooth consistency, then drizzle with the hot chicken fat.

Ingredients for Rice:
- 600g jasmine rice
- 3 shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 6 tbsp chicken fat
- optional: 2 pandan leaves (add if available)

Method:
1. Pour chicken fat into a pot over medium heat and sauté the shallots and garlic for 4-5 minutes or until fragrant.
2. Rinse the rice multiple times.
3. Once the onions and garlic are prepared, combine with the washed rice in the pot, stirring well. Transfer the mixture to a rice cooker.
4. Top up with chicken broth so that it's about 1 knuckle deep above the rice level. If using pandan leaves, introduce them now.
5. Cook as per the rice cooker's instructions.
6. Serve the rice alongside the carved chicken and sauces. Enjoy!

[vaibmalu]

Prepared this last night and was an absolute banger. Girlfriend and her mum couldn’t stop eating. Although as a beginner and limited equipments it did take me 2-3 hours to fully prepare. Thank you Andy for this amazing recipe!

[MeleeClaw]

Before you comment "bland" or "no seasoning" etc. Please try the dish before you say anything, Hainanese chicken rice is one of the most flavorful dishes and is one of my favorite dishes of all time. Boiled chicken may look gross but when you have it with the flavored rice and condiments its fucking delicious.

[talliechua]

I'm Singaporean and this video made me drool. One of the best parts of the video was the plate used for the serving the chicken! Thoroughly authentic!! 🤣

[jwolim]

We cook this at least once a month and Andy's method is bang on. This chef just understands the science of food. Loads of respect and thanks for sharing.

[bergerman]

Congrats Andy! Now you're officially an Uncle!

[wolfman]

The missus use to work at an asian resturant and she says at her place they would add Honor chicken powder to the broth rather than add salt and msg powder seperately as it contains salt, msg but also chicken fat and dehydrated chicken etc to boost flavour. It was also common to add large garlic granules as well as fresh garlic to dishes to add that different multi layered garlic flavour. Thanks for the video the missus now wants to make some for us. Take care, God bless one and all.

[jayleyy]

You can tell how much effort Andy and his team has poured into this dish. Its really a beloved and wonderful cuisine. Just by looking at it, no shortcut like what Lincoln said, the chicken was so succulent and tender just by looking at it and how easily he cut it. The important part of chicken rice is really done right in this entire video!❤

[anchoimaimai]

10:58 usually add a little turmeric powder to the oil to give a little yellow color to the skin. Makes it look more appetizing

[AppleMacGeek]

The ginger scallion sauce comes from the Hong Kong version of poached chicken. It got added to the Hainan Chicken Rice only relatively recently. There is a pure ginger sauce that was used as an alternative to the ginger scallion sauce in more traditional versions of Hainanese Chicken Rice. FYI. And the Chili Garlic sauce is unique to the Hainanese Chicken Rice dish.

[ChefDavidSazz]

We chefs devote our time and basically our lives to our job and the food we make only to end up under-appreciated and some even under paid haha. The efforts you put into your videos are second to none, definitely worth my time . Nice to see cooking can be educative and informative this was so wholesome to watch

[ThursdayDog]

I am of Hainanese descent, and you did a great job! Should have added the pandan leaves to the rice! Nevertheless, it looks So good and mouth watering. When we were young, how my Hainanese grandmother made her chicken rice was that after the rice has been cooked, she made it into a rice ball. Apparently some parts of Hainan, that is how they eat Chicken rice.

[cpmc]

Looks great! The reason the mortar and pestle is better than a blender for chilli/other aromatics is because of how it breaks down the cells. It crushes them, rather than splitting them, so it releases more of the oils!

As Kenji taught with pesto, if I recall correctly

[georgemullens]

So much respect for the amount of time and effort that goes into researching this and delivering an authentic version, not some Westernised imitation. Cheers Andy!

[waynelau]

Thank you for respecting the culture! Was quite sad when I watched an instagram reel full of haters saying chicken rice is bland and tasteless

[NomenNescio]

I'm used to eating the dish in Thailand, it's called "Khao man gai" in Thai. One of the best meals I ever had was this dish, bought from a old lady on the side of the street for breakfast an early and beautiful morning in Buriram, it was just so delicious.

Chicken feet makes the stock even better, sold for next to nothing in the Asian groceries store.

[NickyKnickerson]

Andy and The Squad are coming to the US! Hopefully we do you proud. Have been loving the series and these recipes.

My family has a love affair with Chinese food that started way back in the late 80s when we lived in Wichita, KS. We were blessed to have an absolutely incredible Cantonese place there that was owned and operated by a lovely couple, Tom and Cathay Chang.

We spent every birthday, graduation and a lot of holidays there for nearly twenty years until Mr. and Mrs. Chang retired and closed shop. A sad day to be sure, but their retirement was well earned. They gave us tons of good memories and even more good food. Every time we went there Mr. Chang would come talk to us to catch up and share a beer, it was like eating at your friend's place.

After it was gone we could never really find another place that satisfied in the same way, so I slowly started learning to make the things we loved. Eventually I moved to Chicago where I fell in love with food from other Asian countries. I started learning how to make some of the things I discovered there like Peking duck, Dim Sum, Chili Crab, Laab, Pho, Ramen and, particularly, Sichuan food. Oh, I love that spice.

A few years back I moved home (now in central Arkansas, miles from any good Asian food) to help my aging folks, and now that the family is back together, I've been introducing my parents to all the wonderful dishes I've learned along the way. Hainanese chicken rice is on my To Eat list and you've done so much of the heavy lifting for me here. Thanks for being a part of my cooking journey and a midwestern family's obsession with Eastern food. And a big thank you for putting in the work to maintain authenticity and honoring the cultures that gave us these wonderful dishes, that's a big deal to me when I cook and one of the reasons I love what you're doing on this channel is it's a big deal to you too. Respect.

Much love to you all from the heartland of America.

[BenLordofwater]

I used to live in Singapore, i haven't eaten this in years, I can confirm this was amazing & very reminiscent of my time there (store bought crispy chilli also)

[hyejipark]

Just made this dish and I can not stop eating it. I might finish the whole chicken myself!!

[MrTjandra]

Thank you so much Andy! Your channel is the best and your work is greatly appreciated! Much love!

[kennethwu]

A very delicious dish. A version of this won Masterchef the Professionals in the UK a few years ago. Great recipe Chef.