How do you braise chicken?

The key ingredients when braising any meat are low heat, moisture, and time.

The oven or a crock pot/slow cooker usually serve as the best cooking instruments when braising because you can easily maintain a (relatively) low temperature with a fair degree of accuracy and consistency. If using the oven, a heavy dutch oven, glass or ceramic baking dish, or even an oven bag will do to hold the meat and liquid (and vegetables) while braising.

Common braising liquids are water, wine, and beef/chicken stock. These can be used separately or in combination, and contrary to common belief, the meat does not need to be completely covered by the liquid. Your dish should be covered during braising to minimize moisture loss.

Lastly, give it time. Depending on the choice of meat, you should plan on 4-8 hours cooking time at temperatures between 250-300 degrees. The best measure of doneness is whether or not you need a knife to cut it. If it's done, you won't. You should check the meat occasionally--if you can--during the braising process. Once every 30-90 minutes is enough to rotate the meat in the liquid and check for tenderness.

Larger cuts of meat such as beef and pork roasts should be seared in oil or butter before braising, while this step is often skipped for poultry. When selecting cuts of meat to braise, you want to select cheap, fatty cuts. Blade and chuck roasts work well for beef, and thighs and drumsticks are great for chicken. The time, heat, and moisture break down all the fat and connective tissue, leaving only the tender, flavorful meat behind.

An easy example of braising: throw some chicken legs and thighs into an oven bag along with barbecue sauce, a few cloves of garlic, half an onion (chopped), a dash of brown sugar, salt and pepper, a splash of liquid smoke, and a little water to loosen. Toss it in the oven at 250 before you go to work. When you come home, open the bag and remove the bones and skins (all the meat should literally fall off), drain and save the excess liquid, and shred the chicken. Wrap some meat in a large, flour tortilla along with shredded cheese, diced green onion, and some of the extra liquid for an great tasting barbecue pulled chicken wrap.