1
Place the chicken breasts at the bottom of a large, straight-sided wide skillet or pot. The wider the pan, the more chicken breasts you can fit. Don’t overcrowd them. Depending on the size of your pan, you should be able to poach 4 chicken breast at a time.
2
Add enough water so that you cover above the chicken breasts, with at least 2 inches of water.
3
Add onion, carrot, celery, thyme or parsley, bay leaf and whole black peppercorns. Add 1 teaspoon table salt or 1 tablespoon kosher salt.
4
Bring the water to a boil, then lower it to a simmer. You should see a few gentle bubbles rise up from time to time, but definitely not a full rolling boil. Partially, cover the pot with a lid.
5
Simmer for about 10 minutes, then turn off the heat, cover the pot tightly with the lid and let the chicken breasts stand in the hot water for another 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how big the chicken breasts are.
6
After 15 to 20 minutes, take the chicken breasts out and serve right away. You can also shred, slice or chop the chicken breast. Whatever you don’t use – let it to cool completely, place it in a tightly sealed container or zip lock bag, and then the refrigerator.