Easy Homemade Chicken Broth
Tuesday I shared one of the easiest and BEST Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipes around. In my opinion, the key to making it the best soup around starts with the broth. I know the idea of making your own homemade chicken broth might be scary, but trust me, it’s not!
The best part, you can make a big batch now, use the leftover chicken meat in the soup recipe, and then freeze the rest for later. I even saw this great idea on The Kitchn for using ice cube trays to freeze individuals portions.
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Ok, back to the broth!
Easy Homemade Chicken Broth
- 3-4 pound chicken (organic preferred)
- 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut in half
- 2 turnips, quartered
- 2 celery stalks, cut in half
- 2 onions, quartered
- 1 head of garlic, halved
- 1 tsp. pepper corns (or cracked black pepper)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- Place the chicken in a large pot, remove giblets.
- Put the rest of the stock ingredients in the pot along with the chicken.
- Put enough water in the pot to cover the chicken- approx. 12 cups. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1-1 ½ hours or longer, until chicken is cooked.
- Remove chicken from stock and let cool.
- Finely strain the vegetables and herbs out of your stock. Discard skin and bones and hand shred chicken meat from chicken and set aside. Use stock immediately for The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, or refrigerate up to one week or freeze for up to 3 months.
Here are some more soup recipes we love!
- Sausage Tortellini Soup
- Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- The Best Crockpot Minestrone Soup
- The Best Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Crockpot Lasagna Soup
Easy Homemade Chicken Broth
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Ingredients
- 3-4 pound chicken organic preferred
- 3-4 carrots peeled and cut in half
- 2 turnips quartered
- 2 celery stalks cut in half
- 2 onions quartered
- 1 head of garlic halved
- 1 tsp. pepper corns or cracked black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
Instructions
- Place the chicken in a large pot, remove giblets.
- Put the rest of the stock ingredients in the pot along with the chicken.
- Put enough water in the pot to cover the chicken- approx. 12 cups. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1-1 ½ hours or longer, until chicken is cooked.
- Remove chicken from stock and let cool.
- Finely strain the vegetables and herbs out of your stock. Discard skin and bones and hand shred chicken meat from chicken and set aside. Use stock immediately, refrigerate up to one week or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
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Post updated September 2020
May I ask what you do with the strained out carrots, garlic, onions, etc.? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone offer directions for these. Are they just discarded? Thanks. BTW – love your blog – made it a favorite.
Since you are making just the broth in this post, you need to strain them out. Depending on the veggies, I sometimes will reuse some to snack on 🙂
You could always use them in the Chicken Noodle Soup
could I do this with a bird that’s already cooked?
No, you will start with a raw chicken 🙂
Yes!! Just take the meat off the bones first, then put the rest of the chicken (including fat and skin) in your pot. This is great to do if you buy lots of rotisserie chickens. Just use the chicken like you normally would, then use the bones to make stock.
Another question – could you use several chicken breasts that are still on the bone? My family won’t eat the dark meat so I hate to waste it. Thanks!
I haven’t tried that before, but it’s worth a shot. You will need to add an element of fat. So I would add a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
I do mine a bit differently……When I make a whole chicken for dinner I take the carcase and throw it in a freezer bag and freeze it. I also save and freeze peelings, ends and skin from carrots, onions and celery (washed and organic) and freeze those too. Once I have accumulated 4 or 5 frozen chicken carcasses I put them in a big pot that I line with cheesecloth (this makes straining a breeze). I add the frozen veg bits, water and a couple tablespoons Apple cider vinegar (helps release minerals). I let it simmer for 48 hours so that I get a mineral dense bone broth. I freeze a lot of the bone broth in ice cube trays so I always have some on hand. Making broth this way is practically free 🙂
This is pretty much how I do it too. I also use apple cider vinegar or some people use lemon to release the minerals. I let it simmer for 48 hours and usually don’t add the veggies till the second day. I find that if I don’t let it come to a boil I am most likely to get the holy grail of bone broth- the gelatinous broth 🙂 after a day in the pot the veggies aren’t good for anything but pigs or gardens/compost but if I am using peelings who cares? Another trick for amazing taste and that gelatinous viscosity that lets you know that u got the best of the vitamins and minerals- gelatin etc is to add chicken feet or necks (I like feet). I can usually get five organic feet for a couple dollars. I know it sounds yucky but it’s next level yum.
I’m so glad I read these 2 replies! I never knew that ACV released the minerals or that simmering for 48 hours ( no boil) makes it the holy grail of broth! I’m going to have to try this! I feel like my broth tastes different each time- sometimes has no flavor other times it’s flavorful. Not sure what I’m doing wrong.
Will it be OK to do in a slow cooker? I don’t like the idea of having my gas cooker on during the night.
Yes, you can make this is the slow cooker.
I had a problem with the water boiling out and had to add more water before it had simmered 48 hrs, any ideas on how to prevent that?
Do u keep adding more Water as the stock boils due to evaporation?
Ice cube trays!! What a great idea! I already make bone broth like this pretty frequently. I’ll get some of those Extra large silicone cube trays!
Thanks for the idea. 🙂
How do you line the pot with cheesecloth and attach it so it doesnt move? Sink with teh ingredients…this is a bril idea if it works!
I also do this! Old fashioned, but that is the way of the war and post war years. Waste not want not.