How To Make Homemade Chicken Stock

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: making your own chicken stock is a snap. You don't need to fret about exact quantities of vegetables or hoarding chicken bones in your freezer. You can make stock as soon as you finish roasting a bird using whatever vegetables are in your fridge. No matter what, it's guaranteed to beat anything you buy at the store!

What You Need

Bones and carcass from one roasted chicken
2 onions
3-4 stalks of celery
1-2 carrots
2 bay leaves
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
6-8 parsley stems
Optional Extras - whole garlic cloves, fennel fronds, leek tops, whole pepper corns

Equipment
Pot big enough to hold the chicken and vegetables, typically 4-6 quarts
Strainer

Instructions

1. Use your fingers or kitchen shears to pull the chicken carcass into a few pieces that will fit snugly in your pot.

2. Put the chicken bones in a pot and cover them with water by about an inch. Simmer on very low heat for 2-6 hours. You should just see a few bubbles here and there, a little movement in the liquid, and bit of steam over the pot. Add more water if the bones start to become exposed. Ideal temperature is between 180° and 190°.

3. Peel and roughly chop all of your veggies. The quantities given above are approximate, so use what you have.

4. Skim off any foam or film that has floated to the top of the stock. This isn't strictly necessary, but it will make your stock look and taste more clean.

5. Add the vegetables and herbs. Add more water if necessary to cover. Simmer for another hour or two at the same heat.

6. Strain the stock to separate out the solid pieces. Discard the solids. (If you'd like a clearer broth, strain it again through cheese cloth.)

7. Let the stock cool, then separate into portion-sized containers. Refrigerate stock for up to a week or freeze it indefinitely.

Additional Notes:

• Alternatively, you can cover the pot and put it in a 200° oven. You can also use a slow cooker on one of its lowest settings.

• We'll say it again: the amount and kinds of vegetables given above are just a guideline. Use what you have and your stock will still be great.

• If it fits in your pot, you can cook the stock inside the pasta strainer insert. This makes the job of separating the solids a cinch.

• You can double or triple the recipe depending on how many chicken carcasses you have.

• This recipe makes roughly 1 quart of stock.

Want more smart tutorials for getting things done around the home?
See all of our Home Hacks tutorials

We're looking for great examples of your own household intelligence too!
Submit your own Home Hacks tutorial or idea here!

(Images: Emma Christensen)

Comments (19)

Where does one buy those containers?

I prefer to use the carrot & onion peels for a darker colored stock. And I cut the chicken bones into pieces so the end stock is more gelatinous. After it's chilled (uncovered, so the stock doesn't cloud), I scrape off the chicken fat. Sometimes I save the fat for cooking eggs. But that way, I have very low fat stock. The stock I make is very deeply flavored & is key in making my soups extra delicious.

@Kitalita - The containers are take-out containers gathered from an indian restaurant where I used to eat quite often! But you should be able to find them at any restaurant supply store.

I also like to roast the chicken parts/veggies before putting them in the pot for added flavor.

Is there a reason simmering the chicken first without the vegetables? I just throw everything you listed in the pot and boil it covered for a few hours. When it's done, I run it through a strainer and then cheesecloth and let it cool. Then I pour it into a fat separator and from there into the jars/containers for freezing.

Maybe boiling the chicken first and scooping up the foam eliminates the need to separate the fat later?

Nothing beats home made chicken stock!

I have made my first chicken stock this past weekend. But instead of simering for hours, I used my handy dandy pressure cooker. In one hour I was putting my stock in containers, ready for the fridge.

oh, and, I took the veggies from the stock and saved them to use in chicken pot pies.

I find that 2 hours simmering is perfectly adequate. Saves energy and you'll still get a very rich and delicious stock.

@ iliketocook - I think the theory behind adding the veggies later is that after a certain point they aren't adding any more flavor and just start to disintegrate, which makes your stock cloudier (and possibly bitter?). In Ratio, Michael Ruhlman also mentions that they start to soak up a lot of the stock liquid, which you'd obviously rather keep AS stock!

Don't boil the stock--the fat will emulsify. It's better to let it simmer gently, rather than get to a roiling boil.

I use a crock pot. The stock doesn't come out quite as clear as it does on the stove (since you don't skim) but the time savings is well worth it to me. I refrigerate the stock and skim off the fat before moving it to freezer containers. As far as freezer containers, I use wide mouth mason jars. I think they're much easier to clean than plastic, and I've never had a problem with breakage (just make sure to leave enough head space).

Nice guide,thank you.
Was wondering,what is peoples opinion on mixing cooked chicken pieces and raw chicken pieces to make a stock?

The recipe lists the carcass of a roast chicken, what would be the difference with an uncooked carcass? Do you need to cook those longer, is the taste different??? I've always wondered!

I also like to add a couple of glugs of sherry vinegar to the stock.

Scoop, feel free to mix cooked and raw chicken bones in stock. I find having just a bit of raw chicken (necks, backs, wingtips etc) in the pot makes the stock fresher tasting.

I stow bones from roast chickens, raw necks and giblets (just not the livers!) in a bag in my freezer. I also toss green onion tops, parsley stems, the tough bottoms of celery, carrot and parsnip peelings into the bag whenever I cook with them. When the bag is full, I dump it in a stock pot and proceed as in the recipe above. This 1. makes delicious stock and 2. makes you feel like the most frugal, responsible, green person in the neighborhood.

Evainnl, Making stock with a raw carcass is completely acceptable. You get a milder flavor and lighter color stock. Using the bones from a roasted bird adds a bit more flavor and is a good way of getting a second use out of something that would normally be thrown out.

Thank you Comicgeek! I'll be saving up my roast chicken carcasses in future (freezer). I always used a whole chicken up till now, removing the meat from the bones after about half an hour, but I was never really happy with the result..

We ask at the local butchers for raw chicken carcasses (they cut off the breasts and legs but leave loads of meat underneath) and we make stock from several at a time in a huge stockpot. They are free, and we pick off the meat afterwards and feed the dog as well.

We also make it from cooked chicken carcasses. I have never noticed a difference, but then, I have never compared directly.

I always use my crockpot for stock. I use on sale chicken legs, cut an onion and half and stick it in there. I cut the end chunk off of celery and put it in there, two carrots cut in large chunks with peels, garlic, salt, pepper, and other veggies scraps if I have them (this batch has squash ends.) It takes 2 minutes to throw together and tastes way better than anything I make on the stove. I mix the meat with brown rice cooked in the rice cooker and give it to my dogs as a treat meal.