Homemade Chicken Broth
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We’ve given you a recipe for homemade bone broth, and now it’s time for chicken! Bone broth has a very unique taste that not every one can get down with - TBH I prefer to drink chicken broth over bone, it gets along better with my taste buds. Plus, there’s no need to buy the super processed chicken stock off the shelves for soups, recipes, etc. if you make it on your own. We can all eat less processed foods!
There are two ways to make this and neither way is wrong, it’s purely about preference. One option is to use a whole bird in your stock, the other is to buy a chicken stock pack (back, neck, wing tips, chicken feet, etc.) from your local butcher. I choose to use the stock packs because (allow me to be honest) I do not like chicken meat, so having a whole bird around to eat haunting me isn’t my idea of a good time. It is wasteful.
I used a 5.5 quart dutch oven, which yielded about 8 cups and had incredible flavor with the below ingredients. If you use a bigger pot, you’ll need to use more ingredients for flavor, or your broth might be a little watered down. On the contrary, if you use a smaller pot you’ll also need to adjust.
Ingredients
One whole chicken OR one stock pack
One onion
One garlic pod
Two carrots with leafy tops on
Two celery stalks with tops on
Bay leaf
Fresh parsley
One-two sprigs thyme
Salt to taste
Whole peppercorns to taste (crushed pepper will discolor your broth)
Water
Gadgets Needed
Dutch oven or stock pot (we <3 Le Creuset cast iron for 1,00,000 different reasons)
Cooking
Wash veggies + herbs, leaving skin on, do not peel or remove leafy green tops (they add flavor to your broth)
Roughly chop veggies + garlic
Add all ingredients but water and chicken to dutch oven, stock pot, or other large pot
Place your chicken on top of veggies
Add water until everything is covered
Bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer, cooking for 4-6 hours on low
Straining
Remove broth from heat source and allow to cool slightly
Remove chicken and ingredients from pot the best you can
Strain the remaining broth, allowing the broth to cool completely before storing it
Storage
After the broth has cooled, store in one cup allotments in freezer safe containers. (If you are a canner and know how to do it safely, please feel free!) Otherwise, keep broth in your freezer until you’re ready to use.
I wouldn’t recommend freezing glass containers - liquid can change when it becomes solid and I’ve had to clean broken glass out of my freezer too many times to recommend this in good faith.
I love these guys.
