Hainanese Chicken Rice is a very popular dish in Singapore and Malaysia. In fact, Singapore has claimed this as their national dish! The chicken is served either roasted, poached, or steamed.
The flavor of the rice is out of this world! It's not just plain white rice. Normally, the uncooked rice is stir-fried in ginger and garlic, then cooked in chicken broth. Yumm, right??
For this particular recipe, I toss everything in the rice cooker and let it do its magic!
(ps - If you're looking for the Instant Pot version of this recipe, I have that linked here! I also have a Rice Cooker Claypot Chicken Rice recipe I bet you will love!)
I used to save this dish for weekends because it was a bit of work, but using a rice cooker, I can now enjoy chicken rice even on the busiest weeknights!
First, rub 2 teaspoons of sesame oil on to 6 chicken drumsticks. I like using chicken drumsticks for this, but you can use chicken breast or chicken thighs (skin on). Just make sure that the pieces are small enough so that it's cooked all the way through. Let it marinate for about 20 minutes.
After washing and draining the rice (2 cups), put the uncooked rice straight into the rice cooker
. Instead of filling the rice cooker with water, fill it with chicken stock to the "2-cup" line. It should be approximately 3 cups of chicken stock.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Next, add 3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped), and about 1 inch of ginger (thinly sliced, then cut into thin strips).
Arrange the chicken drumsticks over the rice.
Finally, add 3 pandan leaves, tied into a knot. If you're not able to find pandan leaves, feel free to leave it out. It's optional but it does add a very subtle fragrance to the dish. In the States, I was only able to find pandan leaves in the freezer section at the Asian supermarkets.
Just let the rice cooker do its thing and by the time the rice is cooked, the chicken will be perfectly cooked as well. Tender, flavorful, and juicy.
The rice, of course, extremely flavorful with the chicken stock, ginger and garlic. Garnish with chopped scallions, then serve with your favorite chili sauce on the side.
The best part about this dish is that there's hardly any cleanup since everything was cooked in the rice cooker 🙂
Rice Cooker Hainanese Chicken Rice
Ingredients
- 6 chicken drumsticks approx 1 ½ pounds
- 1 dash ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 cups rice uncooked - use the measuring cup that came with your rice cooker!
- 3 cups chicken stock
- ½ inch of ginger cut into thin strips
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 3 pandan leaves tied into a knot (optional)
- scallions for garnish
- hot sauce recommended: sriracha or sambal oelek for serving
Instructions
- Rub sesame oil on chicken drumsticks. Top with a pinch of black pepper. Let marinade for about 20 minutes.
- Wash and drain rice. Put in rice cooker.
- Add chicken stock, ginger, garlic and pandan leaves (Fill chicken stock to the 2-cup line in your rice cooker).
- Arrange the chicken drumsticks over the rice.
- Turn on the rice cooker and let it cook.
- When rice cooker shuts off, remove the lid and let it sit for about 10 more minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the rice cooker.
- Fluff the rice with a fork or a pair of chopsticks.
- Serve rice with chicken and hot sauce.
- Garnish with scallions.
Nutrition
Sandra Iacampo says
Oh my! This was an easy and delicious dish. I loved it. However, the second time I made it, I added a couple of tablespoons soy sauce to the chicken, along with half the garlic and ginger, and let it marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours. To the chicken broth and rice, I added the white parts of green onions. It turned out great. This recipe is definitely in my list of keepers. Thanks!
Char says
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this comment, Sandra! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I love the marinade idea; brilliant!