How to Make Comforting Khao Man Gai (Thai-Style Chicken and Rice)
After feasting on the deservedly famous chicken and rice at Nong’s Khao Man Gai in Portland, Oregon, we came back to the test kitchen to create a recipe for home cooks.
Get our Khao Man Gai recipe:
Buy our winning Dutch oven:
Buy our best-buy Dutch oven:
Buy our winning large saucepan:
Buy our winning chefs knife:
Buy our winning chefs knife in the ATK Shop:
Buy our winning tongs:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
Yes, she is on it! 💖
He did not comment on the hole in the lid on his rice, which is something that needs to be discussed, I feel. Thanks
What type of rice does it use?
Virtually all recipes for this dish on YouTube will not produce the dish that will taste like in SE Asia, because of the unjustified aversion to MSG. This dish is ALWAYS made with liberal amounts of MSG in Asia. It isn't cheating to use MSG. Can you make nice khao man gai without MSG? Sure you can, it just won't taste authentic.
As a lazy home chef, I cook chicken and rice together in the rice cooker. It appears cross contamination at first, but they both cooked through at the same time, and still tastes amazing.
You can't really claim to be making khao man gai if you don't skim the mun gai ffom thr stock and coat the rice in it. This was missing a lot of things I feel.
Don’t forget to use the chicken skin for cracklings! Dry and fry, or microwave at 30 second bursts if you are pressed for time
EXCELLENT!
Looks great. As a Thai who never cooked this dish myself, I wonder what's the "Thai soy bean paste" 😂
In restaurants you'll see maybe two differrent mixtures (and textures dpending on the place) of sauces. The ginger and the red chilli really brings the punch for me. Can be blended up like other traditionally pounded/mixed sauces I think.
What I love about this dish is how absolutely simple it is. A couple of ingredients take a trip to an Asian market, which is well worth the effort, but the actual cooking just poaching a chicken which is very easy and cooking rice, which can be done in a rice cooker if you are at all nervous about your ability to get it right.
🌺🌺
Why do you use the aluminum foil AND a lid? Wouldn't just the lid serve the same purpose?
she's the kind of leader i want to be.
She competed on Chopped I believe
One of my favorite comfort foods! In houston, we have a special place, Angry Mom’s Kitchen. They make only this dish, bitter melon soup, and dusty soft boiled eggs (also, a tofu version). Perfection.👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💐💐💐💐💐🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻💋💋🇺🇸🌸That sauce is more complex than what I am accustomed to. Also, here, the dish is served with a cup of the bitter melon soup, no chicken stock/broth soup served. Similar, but different…
Khao Man Gai is “chicken fat rice”, of which “chicken fat” doesn’t play a role in your version. My mom taught me to make the rice using finely diced bits of the fat from the chicken and some fat from the broth, cooking it into the rice. So decadent and delicious. Serve with lots of cucumber slices and cilantro for a boost of freshness.
'Khao Man Gai' is also known as 'Hainan Chicken Rice' and was created by immigrants from Hainan in southern China and adapted from the Hainanese dish Wenchang chicken.
Just like I love good, well brewed coffee the same goes for rice!… yeah, you can use gadgets but I really do appreciate abilities using stove only. This meal looks so good. Comfort food supreme.
free range chicken makes a huge difference in texture and flavor of this dish.
Beautiful ❤
I just love these videos where Bryan hits the road and shows us these new places and new recipes! Great to see this young woman's story!
My Nana would have skimmed off that gray scum before you put the foil and the top on to simmer. Feh.
As soon as I saw the title I thought about the khao man gai I had from a food cart in Portland more than a decade ago and then there she was!!! So happy to learn she continues to thrive, amazing achievements and great job featuring her ATK❤
It thought Khao Man Gai was meh. Dry. That melon soup is great though.
Nong's is what I want for my last meal. For those making it at home, you can take that poached chicken skin and crisp it up for a delicious treat (if you want to buy the fried chicken skin from Nong's, you'll have to get there when they open or they will run out). Also, for those making at home I would recommend this recipe for the chicken and rice but I'm going to use the Nong's sauce I bought online (no sauce I've made at home even comes close).
I will make this!
Khaw mun gai-rice fatty chicken
I remember watching her on Chopped years ago where she won. It's awesome to see her still doing so well. She's just adorable, and such a great story.
I love this restaurant!!
Since I go to Portland a few times a year, I'll go there and let them make it for me! It doesnt look that far from my usual hotel. 😊
This was a childhood favorite for me and the first dish I would eat everytime I visited Thailand. Khao Man Gai is better than the classic Hainanese Chicken Rice based on my preference. The Singaporean version is on the same level though.
Isn't poaching chicken out of season illegal? 😉
I worked for 19 months (between 1997 and 1999) in the Asia-Pacific region. One of my favorite food dishes was chicken-rice in Singapore and Malaysia. A dish that superficially seems simple and uninteresting but is actually quite subtle and pleasing to the palate. I haven't had a decent chicken-rice dish since I returned to the USA. Thanks for reminding me about this under appreciated gem.
I ate Kao Mun Gai several times at an outdoor restaurant near Bang Na…I want say near Secon Square, but I can't be sure…it has been a really long time. I have tried it once or twice here in the U.S.A. but never had anything close that stunning version I had long ago in Bangkok. It was a huge restaurant and they only served two dishes. Kao Mun Gai and the same thing, but with goat instead of chicken. Had to have seated 300 people. Kao Mun Gai is the very definition of comfort food.
Keep the skin!!!
Since I was noting down the ingredients anyway: sharing that here.
4 lbs chicken, poached in Dutch oven in
12 C water
2“ ginger sliced into 1/4“ coins
6 garlic cloves smashed & peeled
2 Tbsps table salt
Bring to a boil, reduce to low, cover w/ foil & lid, simmer until 160' in breast and 175' on legs & thighs, 25 – 35 minutes.
Reserve 3 Cs of broth for cooking rice.
2 Cs jasmine rice, rinsed & drained.
Heat:
1 Tbsp of oil
1 minced shallot
2“ piece ginger, halved
2 minced garlic cloves
1/4 tsp salt
Bloom for 1.5 – 2 minutes.
Add rice. Cook for couple of minutes until some grains are translucent around edges.
Add broth: 1 part rice to 1.5 part liquid. Bring to a boil.
Simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat, let sit for 10 minutes.
Sauce:
1/4 C Thai soy bean paste
1/4 C white vinegar
1/4 C soy sauce
2 Tbsps sugar
2 minced garlic cloves
2 minced Thai chilis
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
Whisk.
Slice scallions to garnish soup.
Shred dark meat. Slice white meat.
What rice?
The link for the recipe won't download…just keeps spinning endlessly.