Homemade Chicken Stock is very easy to make. After roasting a whole chicken, or taking the chicken meat off a rotisserie chicken, take a couple of extra steps to make your own homemade chicken stock. It tastes better and saves you money. And it’s nice to always have chicken stock on hand.
If you think about what you spend for a box of chicken stock, by the time you make stock and put it away in your freezer, you’ve made up the cost of a whole chicken and then some. The last time I made chicken stock, I filled one large container with 8 cups of stock and 5 smaller containers with 3 cups each. That’s a total of 23 cups of chicken stock. The same amount of boxed chicken stock would cost an average of $16.50.
How to make chicken stock
Once you’ve removed all the chicken from the bones, break the bones up into pieces that will fit into a stock pot. Include any skin that you remove as there is a lot of flavor in the skin. If you’ve roasted a chicken and filled the cavity, some of the items in the cavity improve the stock and some are detrimental. It’s okay to use onion or celery. Citrus, like lemons or oranges will leave a bitter flavor due to the white pith next to the peel. Herbs will turn your stock green, so remove those. I use my pasta pot, which makes it easy to lift out the bones when the stock is ready.
Add as much water as possible, allowing room for simmering. Bring to a boil and simmer for about two hours with the lid slightly off. Even an hour will work. When finished, carry the pot to the sink. Lift out the bones with the pasta strainer, or pour through a colander into a very large bowl or another stock pot. Discard bones. I don’t worry too much about fat on the surface of the broth. It’s difficult to get it all off. Once your containers are refrigerated or frozen, the fat solidifies at the top and is easy to remove before use.
Let cool slightly. Pour into container sizes of your choice. Large containers holding 8 cups are great for soup recipes. Smaller containers of one to three cups are perfect for smaller amounts in recipes and for making rice. I find it helpful to use a four cup measuring cup to “ladle” the stock into containers until it can easily be poured from the stock pot. When pouring the very last of the stock, there will be an accumulation of solids and pepper at the bottom. Discard this last bit.
Homemade Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- Bones and skin from a roasted chicken.
Directions
- Step 1 Remove and save chicken meat..
- Step 2 Break the bones up into pieces that will fit into a stock pot. Include any skin that you remove. Include onions or celery used inside the chicken cavity, but not citrus or herbs. Use a pasta pot, which makes it easy to lift out the bones.
- Step 3 Add as much water as possible, allowing room for simmering. Bring to a boil and simmer for about two hours with the lid slightly off.
- Step 4 Lift out the bones with the pasta strainer, or pour through a colander into a very large bowl or another stock pot. Discard bones. Don’t worry about fat on the surface of the broth. Once containers are refrigerated or frozen, the fat solidifies and is easy to remove before use.
- Step 5 Let cool slightly. Pour into container sizes of your choice. Use a four cup measuring cup to “ladle” stock into the containers until it can easily be poured from the stock pot. When pouring the very last of the stock, there will be an accumulation of solids and pepper at the bottom. Discard this last bit.
