Chao Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Rice Porridge) (2024)

Published: Jan 15, 2021 · Modified: Sep 13, 2021 by Kaylie This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Vietnamese Chao Ga is a nutritious and aromatic chicken rice porridge cooked in chicken stock made with ginger, onion and seasoning. Garnished with fresh herbs and a squeeze of lime. It’s a bowl of comfort that fills your tummy with healthy goodness and warms you up when you’re feeling down with a cold.

Chao ga is the first thing I make the kids when cold symptoms creep up. Growing up, it has always been a nourishing and healing meal for me and my family, and now I enjoy making it for the boys.

Making this dish at home with simple and nutritious ingredients is so easy and it's served with this Vietnamese chicken salad, which is a great way to use up the rest of the chicken meat from this recipe. Check out below for a no-fuss and super tasty chicken chao your whole family will love!

Ingredients

Whole Chicken - free range chicken or Gà Đi Bộ (“walking chicken” in Vietnamese) is best as the meat is more flavorful and has a chewy texture. Free range chicken can be found at local Asian markets and even at Whole Foods Market.

If you do not have access to free range chicken, using regular chicken or even chicken thighs is fine. I don’t recommend using chicken breast as it doesn’t have enough fat, and it will be too dry when boiled for a long time. Also, “no fat” equals “no flavor.”

Onion - A whole onion will help add a bit of sweetness to the porridge.

Ginger - Provides a heavenly fragrance and is a great ingredient to combat a cold and soothe a tummy ache.

Salt - I use Kosher salt.

Natural mushroom seasoning - I love adding this to my soups and broths. Ingredients in this seasoning are mushroom powder, salt, mushroom extract, vitamin B and calcium. It really adds an umami flavor and brings out the natural chicken flavor in the broth without having to add MSG. It can be found at most Asian markets like HMart in the seasoning aisle.

Jasmine Rice - You can use uncooked or cooked rice. I recommend using uncooked rice. I roast the rice inthis chao ga recipe, giving it additional flavor. Uncooked rice will take longer to cook and will yield a thinner chao. Cooked rice will cook quicker and give you a thicker broth.

Garnish - There are many options, I use green onions, cilantro, lime and ground pepper. You can also add rau ram (Vietnamese cilantro) which can be found at Asian markets, fried shallots, chili sauce and soybean sprouts.

Instructions

Chao ga is really easy to make. I’m not joking, you literally add everything to the pot and let it simmer for about 40 minutes!

Prepping and Making the Broth

Add the chicken, onion, ginger, salt and mushroom seasoning to a 6-8 quart pot. Fill the pot with about 4 quarts of water (filtered preferred), or enough to cover the chicken and ingredients.

Take the heat to a boil and then reduce down to a simmer. Cook for about 40 minutes.

Keep in mind, for a bigger chicken, you will need additional cooking time.

Once the chicken is done cooking, remove it and set aside to cool down.

Make the Porridge

If using uncooked rice, rinse and drain it well. Then roast it in a pan over medium heat by adding a bit of oil to the pan and then add the rice. Roast until the rice is dry. Add the rice to the broth and continue to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until the rice expands and is fully cooked.

I use ¾ cup of uncooked rice for about 4 quarts of water. You can use less if you like the consistency of the chao more watery, add more rice if you like a thicker broth.

For cooked rice, use about ½ cups of rice and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Serve It

When ready to eat, shred the chicken meat into bite size pieces with a fork or your hands. I usually shred only enough to eat for the meal. Try to keep the chicken whole when storing it in the fridge to prevent the meat from drying out.

Spoon the chao into a bowl and top it with the chicken meat.

Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and ground pepper with a squeeze of lime for some acidity.

Pro Tips

• To check the doneness of the chicken, use a chopstick to poke through the thickest part of the chicken thigh. If a slightly pinkish juice leaks out of the chicken, then give it some more time to cook. The juice should run clear.
• To store, keep the chicken whole and place it in an airtight container. Store the pot of porridge in the fridge or in an airtight container.This will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

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