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Sous Vide Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南雞飯 (低溫慢煮) is a crowd favorite Hawker's dish that is tender, juicy and mildly laborious to make! Compared to the traditional method (poaching method), the sous vide method is the easiest method to nail that succulent meat every time! Work this tender chicken into your family meal prep ideas for the week. Your whole family will love this delicious Hainan chicken rice with fragrant rice served with green onion ginger sauce and spicy chilli sauce.

> In This Post: Everything You'll Need For The Best Hainanese Chicken Rice 

By far, the sous vide cooking method is the easiest method to make Authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice! This crowd-favorite Singaporeans Hawker's recipe is deliciously juicy and bursts with pure chicken flavor!

Tell me, is the star of this dish the chicken or the rice? The rice is always the main event, in my humble opinion!

Check out this quick story summary of our recipe!

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What is Sous Vide?

So what is Sous Vide anyway? This fancy French term you've heard mentioned on competition cooking shows by professional chefs refers to a low-temperature cooking method. 

Sous vide devices are also called immersion circulators. These popular kitchen tools allow the everyday home cook to precisely cook various meals in a temperature-controlled water bath at a specific temperature. 

We like using the Anova Sous Vide machine paired with this Rubbermaid sous vide container!

Do You Need A Vacuum Sealer For Sous Vide?

The basic Sous Vide cooking principle is cooking food in vacuum sealed bags or airtight container. Although we automatically link plastic with the term "sous vide," you can sous vide without plastic! 

The goal is to maintain a consistent temperature that does not fluctuate. We are looking for a vehicle to let the food bathe without touching or mixing with the water.

There are a few ways to minimize plastic use during the sous vide cooking process:

• Use Mason Jars or canning glass jars
• Use Silicone Bags
• Freeze and Sous Vide in the same bag
• Sous Vide food that does not require bags ex. eggs.
• Recycle

Sous Vide vs Slow Cooker and Sous Vide vs Instant Pot

These are three different cooking methods we love to debate.  

• sous vide vs slow cooker - sous vide cooks food precisely at a temperature you set without overcooking. The slow cooker usually has a couple of preset temperatures.
• sous vide vs instant pot - the Instant Pot pressure cooker is great when you want to reduce the cooking time. Sous vide cooking is slow and takes more cooking time.
• slow cooker vs instant pot - Slow cookers cook food at lower temperatures for extended periods and are typically great for stewing, braising or chilis. The Instant Pot has multiple cooking functions using shorter cooking times.

What is Sous Vide Hainan Chicken Rice?

Although considered one of the national Hawker dishes of Singapore, Hainanese Chicken Rice originates from Southern China in Hainan province. The chicken rice uses Wenchang chicken 文昌雞. The Wenchang chicken is poached to preserve its tenderness, known as the 白切 "white cutting method." 

Hainanese chicken rice is a gloriously juicy dish of poached whole chicken with jasmine rice cooked with leftover chicken soup. The meal is served with dipping sauces (ginger, scallion oil, and chilli sauce), cucumber slices and Chinese cabbage.

The trickiest part of cooking Hainanese Chicken is cooking the chicken just right. Even a few minutes of overcooking on the stovetop will result in leathery tough meat and the whole thing ruined! Cooking in the sous vide water bath prevents the chicken from overcooking, and the broth dries out!

Sous vide cooking is the easiest way to cook this family recipe. You will nail these tasty recipes even if it is your first time! It is even easier to make than Instant Pot Hainanese Chicken Rice!

Ingredients and Substitutes

Hainanese Chicken

Whole Chicken - choose a high quality chicken. I prefer to use fresh chicken over frozen chicken whenever possible. Other chicken cuts, such as dark meat (chicken thighs), chicken legs (drumsticks), are also delicious for making Hainan Chicken. For a healthier option, you can use skinless chicken breast. However, there will be less rendered chicken fat from the chicken skin, and the meat will less juicy and tender.

Unsalted Chicken Stock - Instead of relying on slow poaching the chicken to make chicken soup, we jump-start this recipe by using chicken stock. This a great way to capture the chicken taste without being diluted.

Pandan Leaves - are typically found in the frozen aisles since we do not typically have imported fresh pandan leaves here in Vancouver. These tropical leaves are a naturally sweet taste with a soft aroma of grassy, rose and almond flavours.

Fresh Ginger - Ginger is used throughout this recipe to poach the Hainanese chicken, cook the rice, and make the dipping sauces.

Fresh Green Onions - Green scallions are used throughout this recipe to poach the Hainanese chicken, cook the rice, make the dipping sauces, and garnish.

Turmeric Powder -  Turmeric powder adds a lovely golden hue to the chicken skin and cooked rice.

Cold Water - Used cold drinking water to dissolve turmeric powder.

Kaffir Lime Leaves - optional. This aromatic Asian leaf adds a citrusy spiced flavour. It is zestier than bay leaves.

Oily Chicken Rice

Jasmine White Rice - Long grain white rice is used to cook Hainan chicken rice.

Shallot - Wet aromatic to open the wok and make the oils fragrant.

Fresh Ginger - Ginger is used throughout this recipe to poach the Hainanese chicken, cook the rice, and make the dipping sauces.

Fresh Garlic - finely dice to add depth to the rice.

Pandan Leaves - Use to flavour the rice with a naturally sweet taste with a soft aroma of grassy, rose and almond flavours.

Green Onions Stalks - Used to build depth of flavours for the rice.

Leftover Chicken Broth - Chicken soup from cooked Sous Vide Hainanese Chicken replaces water used to cook the rice. Cook rice becomes extra flavourful and seasoned with chicken oil and juices.

Vegetable Oil - Used to heat up and simmer wet aromatics. 

Hainanese Chicken Rice Sauces

Ginger Scallion Sauce

Fresh Ginger - The ginger is the star of this dipping sauce. Whenever possible, finely dice the ginger by hand. The taste is irreplaceable. However, if you are making a big batch or short on time, a food processor is an excellent idea!

Alternatively, if you do not want to hand chop all the simple ingredients, you can also use a good-quality food processor. Here are my picks for the Best Food Processors!

Kosher Salt - To taste

Green Onions - finely chopped green onions are the perfect companion in this Ginger Scallion Sauce. 

Sometimes, I will make one batch of ginger dipping sauce with green onions and one batch of pure finely diced ginger oil sauce.

Cooked Vegetable Oil - Heat the vegetable oil before adding it to the ginger scallion sauce mixture. 

Galangal Powder - Chinese Sand Ginger Powder 沙姜粉, optional but adds a zesty and bright flavour profile.

Red Chili Sauce

Bird’s Eye Chili - depending on your heat tolerance, add or subtract the number of red chillies used. Deseed if necessary.

Fresh Ginger - Instead of dicing, we prefer the ginger finely chopped, minced or grated for the spicy dipping sauce.

Fresh Garlic Cloves - Finely diced

Fresh Lime - Use the juice one whole lime. Depending on how juicy your limes are or how tangy you like your chili dipping sauce, you may reduce to half a lime juiced.

Sugar - to balance the savoury and sour flavours. 

Salt - to taste.

Leftover Chicken Broth - add a spoonful of this flavorful stock to enhance the dipping sauce flavour.

Sweet Soy Sauce

Dark Soy Sauce
Light Soy Sauce
Leftover Chicken Broth from cooked Sous Vide Hainanese Chicken
Fried Garlic Chips
Fresh Ginger

Garnish

Fresh Cucumbers - Sliced cucumbers to be used with the rice dish.

Finely Chopped Green Onions - Garnish on top of rice.

Fresh Cilantro - Garnish on top of rice.

Most dry goods ingredients, tools and supplies can be purchased at your local Asian grocery stores or online at my Amazon Store. I have linked the products for your convenience!

Instructions

Sous Vide Hainanese Chicken

Wash, trim and dry the whole chicken and ensure the inners, especially the lung, is removed. Otherwise, the chicken will remain bloody and uncooked.

Dredge the chicken in boiling water, filling the cavity with water. You may need to bring it in and out of the water several times. Then take the whole chicken out and put it into a large bowl of ice water for an ice bath to tighten the skin. The ice bath tightens and gives the chicken skin a springy-fresh texture. 

This step is optional if you plan to sous vide chicken.

Generously salt the chicken both on the inside and outside of the cavity. 

Stuff green onions, pandan leaves, kaffir leaves, and ginger into the chicken cavity.

Dissolve turmeric with cold drinking water in a small bowl. Mix well. Turmeric powder dissolves better in cold water without clumping together than in hot water. 

Add dissolved turmeric water and leftover broth into the sous vide bag or ziplock bag. 

Depending on the size of the chicken, ensure enough liquid to fill the cavity of the chicken.

Squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the sous vide bag with a vacuum sealer machine.

Set the sous vide device to 160F (71C) for 3 hours. I love my bluetooth capable Anova Sous Vide that connects to my mobile phone!

Remove the vacuum-sealed chicken pack from the Sous Vide after 3 hours.

Remove the chicken from the bag. Discard aromatics. Let rest.

Strain Hainanese Chicken Broth through a sieve and reserve the delicious chicken broth! Do not discard. This flavorful soup is where all the chicken essence is! It is liquid gold!

Oily Chicken Rice

When you order Hainan Chicken for takeout at a restaurant or food court, they refer to this chicken rice as "oily rice," because the rice is cooked with chicken oil.

Wash and drain the jasmine rice. Set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a non-stick pan or wok at medium high heat.

Once the oil is hot, add garlic, ginger and shallots to the non-stick pan. Stir fry until fragrant. Ensure it does not burn.

Add rice to the wok and stir fry. Ensure the oil evenly coats the rice.

Remove the rice from the heat and add it to the rice cooker.

Next, add in the leftover Hainanese chicken broth, pandan leaves, green onions, and ginger.

Set to white rice mode and cook the Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Ginger Scallion Sauce

I love fresh ginger in this raw ginger green onion oil. This classic Cantonese dipping sauce is the epitome of natural flavours in Chinese cooking. This minced ginger sauce is so addictive. It goes perfectly with poached chicken. But I love to add this to everything! 

The ginger is the star of this dipping sauce. Whenever possible, finely dice the ginger by hand. The taste is irreplaceable. However, if you are making a big batch or short on time, a food processor is an excellent idea!

Alternatively, if you do not want to hand chop all the simple ingredients, you can also use a good-quality food processor. Here are my picks for the Best Food Processors!

Add minced ginger, scallions and salt to a small sauce bowl.

Heat oil over low-medium heat.

Pour cooked oil on top of the mixture. Mix well. Set aside.

Red Chili Sauce

This refreshing Red Chili Sauce is spicy, tangy and slightly sweet. Add all the ingredients (minced Bird's Eye Chili, diced garlic cloves, grated ginger, fresh lime juice, sugar, salt and a spoonful of the flavorful stock) in a small sauce bowl. Mix well and set aside.

Sweet Soy Sauce

Sometimes served on the side is easy to make.

To make fried garlic chips, shallow fry diced garlic in vegetable oil over low-medium heat in a non-stick pan. Simmer until golden brown and remove from heat.

Add dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, leftover chicken broth, fried garlic chips and slices of ginger into a small bowl. Mix well to incorporate.

Assembly

De-bone and section the sous vide gently poached chicken. Brush the chicken with a dash of sesame oil if desired. Add a dash of salt and plate. 

Serve with chicken-broth-cooked rice with cucumbers and garnish with fresh cilantro and finely chopped green onions. Serve with dipping sauces on the side.

What To Serve With 

Hainanese Chicken Rice can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

How To Meal Prep

You can work Hainan Chicken efficiently into your family meal prep ideas for the week. Simply double batch this recipe with the chicken, aromatics and broth and portion it into vacuum sealed bags. Once the sous vide bags are vacuum sealed, place them into the freezer.

Just reheat it directly in the Rubbermaid sous vide container and set the sous vide machine to the right temperature whenever you need a quick Hainanese Chicken Rice fix. It is so easy you do not even need to rely on an Asian meal prep delivery service for takeout!

This great recipe is delicious umami-rich comfort food in Chinese cooking. It is perfect as a make-ahead-of-time meal prep dish. Enjoy this flavourful chicken rice alone, as a one-pot meal, as lunch meal prep for the week, or as sous vide shredded chicken to complete the meal with the following delicious dishes.

• Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts and Chives 爆炒豆芽菜韭菜
• Fish Maw Crab Meat Soup 蟹肉魚肚羹 (鱼膘羹)
• Instant Pot Braised Chinese Mushrooms 髮菜炆冬菇食譜
• Microwave Soy Sauce Chicken Wings 豉油雞翅微波爐
• Chinese Tomato Egg Stir-fry 番茄炒蛋

Other Sous Vide Dishes We Love

• Sous Vide Whole Fish
• Sous Vide Korean Beef Chuck Roast

After eating lots of heavy and rich, and deep-fried foods, a great way to reduce heat is with a bowl of this liver-detoxing Chinese Sweet Mung Bean Soup 綠豆沙 or Hawthorn Goji Berry Tea Digestion Tea 山楂杞子茶 that aids digestion.

I'd love to see how you went with my recipes! Leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @INSTANOMSS #INSTANOMSS.

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