Total time: Approximately 1 hour (or longer if you have time)
Yield:: About 2-3 quarts Recipe by: Kyle Zegel
Making homemade chicken stock can be easy!
Not only do you save money because you don’t have to buy boxed stock, the stock itself is so much healthier for you and you can control the flavor. The best way to have a steady flow of homemade stock is to always save the bones when you cook any type of chicken (or other meat for that matter). Just rinse off any strong sauces or seasonings and freeze them until you’re ready to make stock. You can be flexible with what aromatics you add in based on what you have (garlic, onion, leek, carrot, celery, parsley, rosemary, etc.)
Ingredients
- 4 lbs of leftover chicken bones (from whole carcasses, wings, and/or legs) that have been hacked with a cleaver into 2-inch pieces
- 1 large yellow onion or 1 large leek, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 medium celery ribs, chopped
- 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
- A few sprigs parsley or rosemary (optional)
- 2 quarts of boiling water
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 2 bay leaves
- Olive oil
Directions
- Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large stock pot. Add the chopped onion/leek, carrot, celery and garlic cloves. Sauté until softened and slightly colored – 2 to 3 minutes.
- Fill a large tea kettle with 2 quarts of water, bring to a boil.
- Raise the heat level to high, add the chicken bones, 2 quarts of boiling water, 2 teaspoons of salt, 2 bay leaves and sprigs of herbs if using. Return to a low simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, then cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes. If you have time, the longer stock cooks the better! I usually cook my stock in a slow cooker or pressure cooker for 12-24 hours.
- Strain stock through a large fine sieve, and discard solids. (It helps to remove the big pieces of bone with a slotted spoon first.)
- Pour into jars and let cool, before putting into the refrigerator. Stock will last a week or so in the refrigerator or frozen for several months. If freezing, skim off the fat, and leave at least one inch of head space (this allows the liquid stock to expand as it freezes solid–otherwise it will break the jar).