This is OP. Thanks for the responses. I poach on low heat, so after I poached the breasts, I removed them and brought the liquid up to a boil for a few minutes, then brought it back down to a simmer and added back the breasts plus veggies and noodles to make the soup. To 16:40, your answer makes perfect sense but I still felt better bringing the liquid to a boil for a few minutes!

Why not just roast the chicken for the soup? It will have more flavor and you won't have to worry about the broth. Just use store bough chicken broth.

I buy a rotisserie chicken, we eat that, then I use the leftovers (carcass if you will) to make the broth--boil with plain water and seasonings of choice, onions, celery, carrots. Simmer for an hour or two, then strain.

You don't have to poach them you know--you can buy the whole bird at a grocery store, no need for stealing.

Anonymous wrote:If the chicken is safe to eat, then the liquid that you cooked it in is safe.

Think about it this way. If the liquid wasn't safe, then you would have bacteria-laden liquid all over your cooked chicken, so your chicken wouldn't be safe either!

I know, logical, right? Yet when I poached some chicken breasts last week I asked myself the exact same question as the OP. There's just something about tossing a raw, slimy chicken breast into a pot of water that makes you wonder about the water ... even if you don't wonder about the chicken!

If the chicken is safe to eat, then the liquid that you cooked it in is safe.

Think about it this way. If the liquid wasn't safe, then you would have bacteria-laden liquid all over your cooked chicken, so your chicken wouldn't be safe either!

A lot of stock recipes start out by boiling raw chicken, so I think you should be fine as long as you boil it well!

Example: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/easy-chicken-stock

Anonymous wrote:Breasts make good stock! The best stock is made from good meat, so you are good. The only challenge is your stock will only have the breasts in it for a short while, so it won't be flavorful. After your breasts have cooked, I'd take them out and set them aside, and then throw some veggies into the stock (carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf) and simmer it for another 45 minutes if you can. Or cook the breasts in veggie stock (water, above veggies simmered for an hour).

Don't worry about the bacteria. If the chicken is cooked you can assume the stock it cooked in is cooked too.

PP, the OP is not making stock with the breasts. She is using presumably boxed stock to cook the breasts. It will already have all that flavor in it.

Breasts make good stock! The best stock is made from good meat, so you are good. The only challenge is your stock will only have the breasts in it for a short while, so it won't be flavorful. After your breasts have cooked, I'd take them out and set them aside, and then throw some veggies into the stock (carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf) and simmer it for another 45 minutes if you can. Or cook the breasts in veggie stock (water, above veggies simmered for an hour).

Don't worry about the bacteria. If the chicken is cooked you can assume the stock it cooked in is cooked too.

No, I don't think so, because unlike the marinade, you are bringing the broth to a higher temp.

I want to poach chicken breasts for soup. If I poach the chicken in broth, do I need to discard the broth afterwards? I want to use the broth as the soup's base, but I'm concerned about bacteria since raw chicken breasts will have gone in at a very low temperature (eg, when I marinade chicken, I always discard the marinade it was sitting in or else bring it to a boil before using the marinade again). Maybe I just answered my own question, that I need to bring the broth to a boil and then I can use it as my soup base? Thanks - novice soup maker here! (and I do know using the carcass of a cooked chicken is better, but I only have breasts so am making due!)