Chicken broth is easy and relatively inexpensive to purchase at the store, but making your own is also really simple and uses basic ingredients. Homemade Chicken Broth has extra rich flavor, and one of the benefits is that you can control things like flavor notes and salt content. My method here uses something that is normally discarded- a leftover rotisserie chicken! After you use the meat on the chicken for a meal, instead of tossing the remaining bones and scraps, simmer them with a few more ingredients and it results in a delicious homemade broth. I’m including instructions to make this both on the stove top or in a pressure cooker. If both options are available to you, I strongly recommend the pressure cooker. It will result in a more flavorful and less cloudy broth, and it cooks fast, too!
Ingredients Needed
You really only need basic ingredients to make great broth at home and it’s incredibly flexible. I don’t even always measure the vegetables. It’s also fine if your veggies are just barely starting to go bad. Instead of tossing them out, toss them in the pot!
- Chicken stock bones – This recipe calls for the leftover meat, cartilage, and bones of a rotisserie chicken. You can make broth with a chicken that is mostly picked apart, or one that still has quite a bit of meat on it. This is a great use for a chicken that still has meat on it, but it’s perhaps been in the fridge for a couple days and you no longer want to just eat it plain. You could also use leftovers from any cooked, bone-in chicken or simply use whole, raw drumsticks, or bone-in thighs or chicken breasts.
- Celery
- Carrots – Regular or baby carrots work great.
- Onion – I prefer yellow or white onion. Red will also work, but it may turn your broth a murky color.
- Fresh garlic
- Peppercorns – Peppercorns add flavor but can also be strained out at the end. If you don’t have whole peppercorns and don’t mind pepper flakes in your finished broth, feel free to crack some black pepper into the pot.
- Kosher salt
- Herbs – As desired. Fresh herbs are wonderful, but you could also used dried. Feel free to add different herbs to taste, it’s very flexible!
How to Make Easy Homemade Chicken Broth
- Pull off any large pieces of fat and skin from the chicken and discard. Place the carcass in a pressure cooker (or stove top pot).
- Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, salt and peppercorns.
- Add water.
- In a pressure cooker, I cook on high for 45 minutes and then let it naturally depressurize. On the stovetop you’ll want to simmer, covered, for at least an hour. The longer you cook it the more flavorful it will be, but it will also reduce. Feel free to add more water if needed to make sure all ingredients are covered.
- When it’s done, strain your liquid to remove the solids. I like to use a large-hole strainer to discard the chicken bones and vegetables, and then run it through a fine-mesh strainer to further remove solids. You don’t need to remove all solids if you don’t want to, they usually just add flavor and body to your finished dishes!
- Use or freeze to enjoy later.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished, cooled broth in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 days for best results.
Freezing Homemade Broth
- Food service containers are a great way to freeze broth. I put a piece of masking tape on it and label with the contents and date.
- Another favorite tool for frozen broth are my favorite Souper Cubes, which make it easy to freeze portioned amounts. I freeze into cubes and then transfer the cubes into Ziplock bags, an airtight container, or a vacuum sealed bag for longer term storage.
- To Defrost: Place containers of broth in the fridge a day ahead of time to thaw, or I add the frozen cubes directly into warm pots of soups and sauces to melt.
Frequently Asked Questions
I use this Chicken and Dumplings recipe- just omit the dumplings, add noodles, and replace the milk with broth.
The quick answer is that both broth and stock involve simmering water and vegetables with parts of a chicken. Generally broth is made with chicken meat, like a whole chicken while stock is made with a large quantity of bones. Often in stock, the bones are roasted first as well. Overall, stock is known for having a deeper, richer flavor. Because the bones contain a lot of gelatin, stock usually has a little more body. I think this is true for homemade restaurant quality stock, but when it comes to the store-bought options, there’s not a huge difference (in my opinion). Some companies aren’t even consistent in labeling. So are they interchangeable in recipes? Generally speaking, yes. I buy broth 100% of the time. It’s more widely available and I like the light, clean flavor. The recipe above does contain bones, but it’s mostly the meaty chicken scraps attached that gives the broth its flavor.
You can, if you have a good quantity of leftover meaty bones. Beef broth requires a higher meat/bones to water ratio than chicken. Beef broth will need to cook longer and you may want to replace some of the herbs with a bay leaf. Beef contains more fat as well, so you will need to skim that off as well.
Easy Homemade Chicken Broth
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 rotisserie chicken leftover scraps
- 2-3 ribs celery you can leave the leaves on
- 2 carrots or a handful of baby carrots
- 1 onion, medium
- 3 cloves garlic smashed or roughly chopped
- 10 peppercorns
- 1 heaping tablespoon kosher salt
- fresh herbs a few fresh sprigs of parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf. Rosemary and sage are also good. You can also use 2 teaspoons each of rosemary, parsley, and thyme.
Instructions
Preperation
- Trim any excess fat and skin off of chicken and place it in a pressure cooker or stock pot.
- Give the celery, carrots and onions a rough chop and add to pot. Add all remaining ingredients.
- Add water so it covers the ingredients by a couple inches. If using a pressure cooker, do not exceed the max fill line. In my pressure cooker, I add about 12 cups of water. In a stock pot, I generally add 12-16 cups.
Cook Broth
- Pressure Cooker: Cook at high pressure for 45 minutes and then do a natural release.
- Stove Top: Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer covered, stirring occasionally for 1-2 hours.
- Strain mixture to remove solids. Cool broth to room temp and then store in portioned containers in the freezer for up to 3 months, or in the fridge for about 5 days. Quantity varies, but it will reduce in volume after simmering.
Notes
- Store finished, cooled broth in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 days for best results.
Freezing Homemade Broth
- Food service containers are a great way to freeze broth. I put a piece of masking tape on it and label with the contents and date.
- Another favorite tool for frozen broth are my favorite Souper Cubes, which make it easy to freeze portioned amounts. I freeze into cubes and then transfer the cubes into Ziplock bags, an airtight container, or a vacuum sealed bag for longer term storage.
- To Defrost: Place containers of broth in the fridge a day ahead of time to thaw, or I add the frozen cubes directly into warm pots of soups and sauces to melt.
Questions & Reviews
Every time we have a turkey (which is about 6 times a year….love it) I am always thinking that I should make stock with it. But then the time gets away from me, and I just toss the carcass (yeah, gross word!). I’m doing it this time! Thanks! And thanks to Peggy, cuz I was wanting to know the easy way to strain this giant pot of gook….four sack towel in colander sounds perfect!
We don’t have Costco here….sounds like we need one!
Love your blog and all your recipes…..they are so great with all the pics, too!
I am always saying I am going to make my own but never do. I think I will try this cause I am planning on making chicken and dumplings. I also have to thank you guys for helping me start to use whole chickens (I had a weird goss out thing with them). After i read your fauxtisserie chicken post I decided to tackle my first whole chicken and found out it wasn’t so bad!
I also always feel guilty for throwing my ‘carcass’ (agree not a fun word for your food) away! Now I won’t have to!!! Thanks sooo much!!
I always make your fabulous Fauxtisserie chicken, and after we’ve eaten one meal and I’ve cut off any extra meat for another meal, I dump the carcass right back in the crockpot (I don’t even wash it out–just remove the balls of foil!). Add some water, veggies if I have them, and put the crockpot on low for the night. In the morning, fresh broth. My freezer is now packed with the stuff, since I make a chicken every week or so. 🙂
You can’t beat the Rotisserie Chickens at Costco. They are so meaty and have so much white meat on them. I buy them just because every time I am there too. I’ve made stock before with them before but got out of the habit. I am like you and kind of get squeamish about all the congealed leftover meat the next day. But if I make stock with it….great idea! Thanks for reminding me! Can’t wait for your cookbook!
I made my own stock for years, and finally I read an article about making it in the oven (in a stock pot) instead of on the stove, for super low, even heating. The results were SOOOOOO much better. the next time, I realized that my oven on low was going to be similar to a crock pot, so I transferred everything to the crock pot. Even better, and easier, and safer, and with much less wasted electricity.
I’m like you – I frequently pick up a costco rotisserie chicken just because you can do about a thousand things with them…. and they’re such a good value. One day I was pressed for time on the opposite side of town so I grabbed a rotisserie bird from the grocery store – it paled in comparison…. cost a dollar more, and was way smaller than Costco’s.
We always through any leftover chicken bones in a gallon ziplock bag in the freezer and then when there are enough I make a HUGE batch up. Our boys strip a chicken clean in something like 5 minutes flat so all we EVER have left is a bare naked carcass! LOL We also make our stock in a crockpot and strain afterwards using a colander lined w/ a flour sack towel or cloth diaper (yep much better than cheese cloth!)…
Umm now I think I need to make a run to go get a rotisserie chicken… once the youngest is off to school!!! I have to remember NEVER read your blog on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning!!
Have a great day! (still looking for your book in our area… off to check the ONLY bookstore in the are or maybe I should check Barnes & Noble in Indianapolis… I have an OLD giftcard plus birthday money!!)
I ALWAYS buy a rotisserie chicken at BJ’s, even when I don’t need it, and I ALWAYS start eating it before I leave the parking lot. Hehe 🙂
At the end of last year, I said, “I will start making my own chicken broth after New Year’s.” That hasn’t happened yet. But, thanks for the gentle reminder.