How to make your own chicken stock recipe
Are you looking for the best chicken stock recipe? There are multiple methods in which you can make your own and not buy the canned ones from the grocery. Homemade chicken stock is much healthier because it will have considerably fresher ingredients and less sodium content. Making them from the comforts of your chicken is super easy.
Chicken stock has been used for millennia throughout human history. More than 2,500 years ago, Chinese medicine used bone broth to strengthen the kidneys and aid in digestion. It then became a staple part of Asian meals up until today. Its many supposed health benefits come from the iron, collagen, and vitamin-rich marrows of the bones it was boiled from.
If you’re not a fan of vegetable soup, using chicken stock to add flavor to it may be right up your alley. Check out this article for some of the best chicken stock recipes.
How to use chicken stock
Chicken stock is liquid that has been boiled from chicken bones, meat, and carcass. It can be used for all sorts of delicious dishes apart from soups and stews. It can also be used to cook grains like rice and quinoa in place of water. Use it to braise white meat from chicken or fresh vegetables as this will add more flavor to it.
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The flavorful stock can be found in many groceries, especially in Asian stores. Store-bought ones are fine, but you may want to check out homemade recipes as a much healthier option. The most common chicken stock recipe uses leftover bones from a chicken carcass, added with vegetables, put to a gentle simmer over a large stockpot or pressure cooker.
This is an excellent way of using leftover roasted chicken during large family gatherings. This way, food waste is lessened in your household while you get to enjoy another completely different yet delicious meal.
Best chicken stock recipe
While making chicken stock is relatively easy, you still might need a few fresh ingredients or cooking tools like a slow cooker or a fine mesh strainer. You can still make do without these, but they are the most traditional way to make chicken stock. One of the easiest yet unfailingly delicious recipes of chicken stock is as follows:
Ingredients
- Stock with leftover bones and chicken
- Leftover pounds of chicken bones and skin can be from a cooked or raw chicken carcass
- One large celery rib and tops, sliced
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 2-inch carrot slices
- 1 bunch of parsley
- A handful of bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- Water
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in an instant pot or slow cooker. Be sure to chop up the leftover bones and skin into relatively smaller pieces so its juices can be easily distributed into the stock.
- Add your vegetables. Onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, and parsley are good options. Cover with water up to the neck of the pot but not too much that it would boil over. Add in the salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover the pot. Bring to a boil over medium to high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Keep partially covered while simmering for at least four hours, occasionally skimming off the foam that floats to the surface.
- Strain the stock. Remove the solids like bones and vegetables with a slotted spoon or ladle and strain the rest with a fine-mesh sieve.
- Optional: If you are making chicken stock to store for days or freeze for a couple of weeks more, you can reduce the stock by simmering it for an hour or two longer. This will help it become more concentrated and easier to store.
- Divide and store in tight-lid jars. Let the chicken stock cool entirely before transferring them onto containers to be kept in the fridge or freezer.
Keeping a layer of fat on top of the stock can help keep out airborne germs and bacteria and preserve the stock for longer. This is only good if you are keeping the stock in the fridge, though. If you are freezing it, then taking out the layers of fat that floats to the top shouldn’t make any difference. It is always best to consume fresh food, but stored chicken stock can do wonders for you during winter and cold nights where you can’t go out to buy ingredients to make fresh soup.
Chicken stock vs. chicken broth
Both chicken stock and chicken broth are usually made from leftover chicken. However, the former tends to be made more from bony parts, whereas the latter is made more out of meat. They are used for soups and stews though broth can be consumed on its own. It is perfect for those suffering from colds and the flu as it is a delicious way to warm the tummy.
The chicken stock also tends to have a fuller and richer flavor thanks to the long hours of simmering chicken bones and carcasses. Chicken broth is often bought in stores in canned or boxed form. It is an easy soup for a busy weeknight dinner. Just remember that anything instant contains plenty of preservatives and sodium. It is still best to make homemade recipes if you are able.
Summary
Homemade chicken stock recipes are easy to make in the comforts of your kitchen. It is also an excellent way not to let good chicken bones and leftovers go to complete waste, especially after preparing a good batch for several people. Chicken stock can also be used to make delicious recipes such as chicken pot rice or braised vegetables.
If you make the chicken stock yourself to store for future use, you are assured of the fresh ingredients you use. It can keep for weeks in the fridge for up to several months in the freezer. You can heat it and serve it for weeknight family dinners or reserve it to make a large batch of delicious chicken soup to share.
